Exercise suitable for overly tight pelvic floor?

[BadgertheBodger]

Looking for any suggestions at all for safe exercises to do with a chronically tight pelvic floor please!

I’ve been doing a lot of swimming but I really want to lose weight and having got my initial fitness up with swimming and walking I’ve plateaued with the weight loss and I think I need something a bit more intense. I’m on Week 5 of C25K and doing ok with that but everyone I know seems to be doing fabulously well with HIIT workouts and bootcamps type classes, both of which are totally unsuitable for me.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated! I’ve got 3 stone to lose so definitely need something

I didn't know a pelvic floor could be too tight. How does that manifest itself?

I’m not exactly sure how an overly tight pelvic floor manifests itself but hot yoga might be worth a try as the heat apparently loosens up all your muscles and makes them ‘give’ a bit. Not for the faint hearted but really worth it. Don’t go to a Bikram studio though - your money would go to support a rapist.

The best way to describe it is that it sort of grabs other nerves - in my case, the pudendal and sciatic nerves, causing fairly horrible pain which I am only just getting under control. To give context, I couldn’t sit, walk far or cope without serious amounts of medication. I’ve been unable work and have had spells where I’ve had to use a wheelchair. I’ve done a lot of yoga as part of my recovery but in terms of weight loss I don’t find it particularly effective - albeit very enjoyable!

That sounds like a tight periformus pinching the sciatic nerve.

Where have you got the idea this is to do with the pelvic floor muscle?

... which can easily cause very significant pain and mobility issues if not deal with adequately.

Well FATE, I got the idea from the consultant who diagnosed me, after I saw a lot of other doctors who looked at various bits of me and confessed themselves baffled before shuffling me off to someone else I have, of course, been checked for piriformis syndrome and that is not what I have.

If you're enjoying C25K and are ok with running, then this may be all you need. There are loads of ways you can increase your fitness through running.

• work up and beyond the 5km distance. It took me about 6 weeks to get from finishing c25k to a 10km run. Then about 3 more moths to get the half marathon distance.

• speed work. Finish c25k and get to 5km. Then aim on beating your PB time for the distance.

• speed games and pace work. Look at interval training and a technique called fartlek.

• Hill repeats. Brutal, but work wonders for your fitness levels

• have a look at the bleep test for a quick session to test out your max running speed. Repeat it fortnightly or monthly. There's also pyramid training.

• run more frequently. Lots of people run every day, just very the intensity and distance each run.

Thanks, lots of things I hadn’t thought of in there!