Stop Doing Kegels (seriously)
 

I found this article enlightening!

Wow. Now I know why I should be doing all that stretching I've been skipping. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting article. I might have missed it, but how long do we stay down in the squat for it to be effective? I think I read three times a day, right?

Great article..thanks for posting! Now I have one more reason to keep up my glute exercises (squats and all). The first reason I found out was for the sake of my knees (muscle imbalance causing them to turn in too much and causing chondromalacia) and now for the sake of my pelvic floor. Hmm, maybe someday I can actually do jumping jacks again!:o

Interesting read. I'd love to hear more opinions. I can see how the squats could be effective, but for me the article didn't have enough info to justify abandoning kegels entirely (but I could be missing something).

Life changing, seriously. Thankyou for posting this. I may order the DVD.

Very interesting. Good news for me since my pelvic floor could definitely use some strengthening, but I could never make myself do kegels. (I can't do jumping jacks without a little pee escaping; however, I can usually do a light jog with no issues.) I'm excited about adding some deep squats to my daily routine!

Good article. Maybe I should order the Killer Butt dvd :)

Thank you very much. I don't have trouble with this particular issue yet, but I want to make sure it stays that way. I'll also be adding some deep squats throughout my day whenever possible.

I would like to see and maybe order her other DVDs as well. I was able to requested through interlibrary loan 5 of her DVDs that relate to issues I would like to deal with .

Found these video samples on Katy Bowen's website. Not sure if they are clips of her dvd(s), but thought they might be of interest on this thread.

http://www.alignedandwell.com/index....2107&Itemid=92

I'm not fond of kegals either.

When I first started jumping on my rebounder this summer with abandoned joy, I felt the pressure to run to the bathroom after five minutes, like clockwork. Now I don't, in fact I nearly bonked my head on the ceiling the other day and I still don't get the urge. I have a happy suspicion the rebounder is better then kegals too.

There have been some good threads lately addressing Katy's method (and blog). Here's one of them, along with a link to the discussion re: kegels between Katy and the KegelQueen:

http://forum.videofitness.com/showthread.php?t=168231

Well, I never do kegels and I have given birth to 10 children and have never suffered from incontinence, ever, not even while a was pregnant. I can do 200 jumping jacks while sneezing and I have no leakage. I always attributed it to having such a strong pelvic floor. Now, I know that is why for sure. I am a squat queen, so there you have it. That article is so true for me. People would always ask me how I could do all those jumping jacks after having all those babies. I didn't get it back then, but over the years I have talked to many women with that problem. So everyone, keep squatting!!!!

Cheryl

Wow...that's a pretty good testimonial for squats!

I've never had any children, and I'm a pee-er :mad: And I do squats, have been doing them for about 10 years now.

I have a desk job and I am convinced that my chair is slowly eroding my glutes. I do exercises just for the glutes in addition to squats and lunges. Maybe I need to haul out the step again, because that always punched things up for me.

Kegels never helped. Does having a tipped uterus factor into any of this (yes, I am anatomically ignorant)?

I don't know -- never had peeing issues during or after any of my three pregnancies, but I do like squats and I do kegels regularly. There are other benefits to doing kegels regularly and keeping all those muscles strong, ahem.:p

I think heredity can play a role in this problem, too. I don't know. I have had a tipped uterus since baby #1. Googling it can give you some information about the causes and how to prevent it.

LOL!!! How true that is, the added benefits!!!

Cheryl

That's truly an enlightening article. I'm going to try to squats every day now.

Pam, please share your thoughts on her DVDs after you are able to review them from interlibrary loan. There are a few I am interested in and would love your feedback before ordering.TIA

Kelly

Same here!

I can't do squats like the one pictured. Or rather, I can, but my heels come off the floor. I wonder where the problem is--calf flexibility? Hip mobility? Any thoughts on how to get my heels down?

I will be glad to share my thoughts on her DVDs that I am getting through interlibrary loan. Hopefully they will be in by the weekend.

As a rep counter and form fanatic, I need specifics. I see that expecting moms should squat 3 times a day. I was thinking 10 x day would be good for me (not expecting but pelvic floor inadequacies).

Also, how long to stay in the squat position? Rise to a full stand then squat again?

I can get my heels flat but my spine is not as upright as in the picture shown. I feel like my spine is neutral but I'm leaning forward a little so that I don't tip backwards.

Miscellaneous aside: I've been on hold for 20 minutes now re my free ballet slipper order, supposedly I am number one in line. Maybe they just don't have reps at night?

Sorry to veer off topic, but I need to know more about this free ballet slipper order. :D

Yes I'd like to know too how to keep my heels down :confused:

Katy Bowman is great! I have some of her DVDs. I like them. Each DVD has 5 exercises as well as tips for addressing the particular condition of that DVD. The exercises are a separate chapter. There is some overlap with some exercises on multiple DVDs. I do her exercises regularly, but only occasionally with the DVD, mostly on my own throughout the day.

Here is Katy's progression for doing a squat:
http://www.alignedandwell.com/?p=131...ess&Itemid=223

Danielle

Danielle, do you know if there are any benefits to doing this in a turned-out position? Or does it have to be strictly parallel?

Agree with Danielle that Katy's DVD's are excellent, and it's important to note that:

1) they are rather short, and more intended as instructional rather than follow along (although you can, you would probably want to do more repetitions/hold for longer on your own)

2) there is some overlap of segments among DVD's - frex, if you have Knees and Hips and Down There, two exercises occur on both.

There was a discussion of this some time back and a poster (Donna?) made a useful table of what exercises show up on each DVD, but I can't for the life of me find her post. I hope she pops in here.

Re: feet turned out vs. in - in the absence of any bone-on-bone restriction, the general recommendation is to work towards keeping feet parallel - more involvement of inner thighs and rotators. But letting them turn out is more relaxing (at least for me). I can't remember what Katy specifically says about it, though. eta: Katy says keep foot bones parallel.

According to Katy, it looks like you should work up to parallel. Similar questions were asked in the comments of the blog post. I'll quote them here:

Sally says:
July 1, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I have a question…. I used to dance and Did from the age of 3 when I squat I do so with toes pointed out, knees over toes, it just feels natural for me, is it still correct?

Reply
Katy says:
July 5, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Sally, you can squat with your toes out, but to really get the knee, calf, lower leg and foot health to improve, the feet should point forward. You’ll probably have to elevate the heels for awhile before your lower leg stretches back to it’s best length! Good luck! – Katy

Ginger says:
August 9, 2011 at 4:15 am
I’m confused… Is it okay to squat turned out? I was having trouble staying parallel without my prego belly getting in the way. But I think as a former dance student that my turnout is coming all the way from my hips, not twisting my ankles/knees. This seems to be the natural position I use to squat down and get something.

Reply
Katy says:
August 9, 2011 at 5:45 am
It’s ok – and probably necessary – when you are super-prego, but the turnout is affecting how the tissues in the hips, knees and feet work. Once you’re not pregnant any more, it is time to undo the years of poor hip and lower leg alignment before long-term damage sets in! Congrats on your baby-to-be!

Debby says:
March 18, 2011 at 7:31 am
I think I lost my reply (sorry if I post it twice)

I have been trying to do more squating, but now I am 6 months pregnant with my 3rd, my belly is so huge that it is getting
difficult to have my feet facing forward while squating.

What to do?

Reply
Katy says:
March 18, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Hi Debby!
I can tell you — I totally get where you are right now…I’m 35 weeks myself!
Remember, it’s not your feet that are getting in the way of the belly, it’s the knees! Feel free to widen your knees — start with your feet out, and then if you can work on turning your feet more forward after a bit, do it in the order.

In the end, it’s most important to open the hips — the feet can be dealt with less intensely. Congratulations!

Katy


Danielle

Yes, I think a lot of foot position is anatomically decided. My knees are seriously stressed by parallel feet -- even sustained a relatively serious knee irritation by forcing that issue a little too ambitiously. Tread carefully (sorry).

Agree completely. Following the thread and comments Danielle posted, I like the bottom line - allow the hips to take priority, then work on the feet. But with the caveat - as long as no stress is felt in the knees.

Sophie, I remember that discussion with the table that listed which exercises are on which DVD. I did a search and can't find the thread either.

Danielle

I agree with this as well.

Danielle

Thank you for that, Sophie :o

I'm not being cheap -- just can't get these DVDs until I'm in the States again.

And, yes, turned-out is *way* more relaxing for me which is why I asked. I could squat like that for a long time and be perfectly content. Should've known it wouldn't do me any good in this regard :D

Ooooh, everyone was posting at once!

Danielle, thank you. I should have read the comments first, my bad...

Sharon, yes, I feel very stressed on my knees in the parallel position. I will do it turned out and see if I can slowly straighten... If not, I promise not to push it. My knees are far too cranky to risk it.

That's the position I assume when weeding. :D

The chart of Katy Bowman's DVDs and exercises is on this thread:

http://forum.videofitness.com/showthread.php?t=163826

It's in the first post by Donna D.

Apparently the Jill Miller thread changed course!

Linda

Thank you Linda!

Danielle