The pubococcygeus muscle - better known as the PC muscle - is a powerful body part. Acting like a supportive sling for your pelvic floor, it weaves around your genitals and tailbone in a figure-eight shape, playing a crucial role in your intimate well-being.
No matter your anatomy, everyone has a PC muscle! It naturally contracts during orgasm, but with awareness and practice, you can learn to engage it intentionally. Strengthening this muscle supports your pelvic health but can also lead to more intense pleasure and a deeper connection with your body. Let’s explore how you can tap into its full potential!
A Strong Pelvic Floor Is Great For Sex
The PC muscle is not an erogenous zone, but strengthening and exercising your pelvic floor outside of the bedroom can have sexy effects inside it. Deliberately flexing your PC muscle during sex enhances pleasure by intensifying sensations and increasing blood flow to your genitals. As a result, orgasms will be stronger!
PC muscle control is the base of all multiple orgasm techniques, so if you're curious about exploring this, it's time to get squeezing! Especially considering that some lucky bunnies with particularly well-toned pelvic floors can bring on orgasms just by rhythmically squeezing and releasing their PC muscle!
Benefits Of A Strong PC Muscle For Women & Vulva Owners
Rhythmically squeezing and releasing your pelvic floor during sexy time encourages the natural flow of vaginal juices, and the actual movement of the PC muscle stimulates the internal clitoris.
During penetrative sex, a person with a well-toned PC muscle can massage the fingers or penis of their partner to a mind-blowing effect. We call this 'penis-practice' (if it involves a penis, obvs) - squeezing and releasing around the penis until one or both of you orgasm.
A well-toned pelvic floor has other health benefits for women & vulva owners, like keeping stress incontinence at bay. While leaking pee is annoying at best of times and downright awful at worst, the good news is that doing regular squeezes can dry the drips.
Benefits Of A Strong PC Muscle For Men & Penis Owners
A strong PC muscle can be a game-changer for men & penis owners, leading to firmer, longer-lasting erections - yes, even strong enough to hang a towel! Increased strength in this muscle also means better control over ejaculation, allowing you to last longer and build up to more powerful, mind-blowing orgasms. And the benefits don’t stop with you - more stamina and control often translate to heightened pleasure for your partner as well, making intimacy even more satisfying for both of you.
How To Locate Your PC Muscle
The easiest way to locate your PC muscle is when going for a pee. Stop mid-flow without tensing your thighs, back or stomach. Practice isolating the PC muscle a few times. This technique is helpful for learning how to recognise the right muscle, but shouldn't be used once you've gotten the hang of it.
If you want to be 100% sure you're exercising the right muscle, try sliding a lubed-up finger into your bum while squeezing and releasing the pelvic floor. You will feel the contractions around your finger - voila!
How To Exercise Your PC Muscle
PC muscle exercises - better known as Kegels - are like a secret superpower for your pelvic floor. The best part? You can do them anytime, anywhere, and no one will ever know (well, unless you pull some truly spectacular concentration faces!). Whether you’re stuck in traffic, waiting in the school pickup line, tackling the never-ending pile of laundry, or just lounging in front of the TV, those little moments can be put to good use. A few squeezes here and there add up to big results, so why not make strengthening your pleasure muscles part of your daily routine? Bonus points if you can do them without anyone noticing!
Four-Step PC Muscle Exercise Program
- Contract and relax your PC muscle 25 times, twice per day.
- Once you can easily contract and relax for the count of 25, double the reps to 50. Practice twice per day.
- Once you've mastered that (go you!), go back to doing 2 x 25 reps, but hold each squeeze for the count of 3.
- Work back up to 50 reps, two times per day.
PC Muscle Flexing & Breathing
For kegels to be efficient, you need to practice regularly. And by regularly, we mean daily. The game aims to improve the number of repetitions and how long you can hold each squeeze.
Try to breathe in time with your flexes - inhale as you squeeze and exhale as you relax.
Relaxing the PC muscle is just as important as being able to contract it, so give your vagina or penis a break in between reps.
Kegel Exercises With Love Balls Or Butt Plugs
There is no must-have kit for PC exercising. However, it can be helpful (and pleasurable) to have something inside to squeeze against.
For women & vulva owners, love balls worn inside the vagina are the easiest and most fun products for doing kegels. Think of love balls as weights for your vagina- they work the muscle faster and more efficiently. And you might find you quite enjoy the benefits of better blood flow, sensual rubbing against the G-spot and arousal...
For men and prostate peeps, a butt plug would be the tool of choice. Make sure to lube it up and have fun squeezing and releasing against the plug.
Risk Management: Never put love balls up the bum. They are not safe for anal use and will likely get sucked up by the butt. If this happens, you might have to go to A&E. So - don't do it.
Re-Learn How To Orgasm
The time to enjoy the fruits of your kegel labour is during sex - practice your pelvic floor squeezes during play, and we promise you'll never look back!
Another good tip is to pay attention to your breathing during sex, especially if you struggle to climax. Women, in particular, are prone to holding their breath during sex, which means your body can't let go and surrender to an orgasm. Deep breathing in time with pelvic floor flexing may well help you get over that last hurdle. Practice solo, and then invite a partner to admire your new skills!
It's common for women & vulva owners who have had a long break from sex to find that orgasms with a new partner are hard to come by. This can be because their PC muscle has had little or no exercise in the intervening years, making orgasm through penetration much more difficult to achieve. If this is you, we recommend strengthening your PC muscle with kegels, as well as locating your G-spot, as this magical combo can help you find your orgasm again... Enjoy!
