Eight week pelvic floor programme
Most pelvic floor advice stops at the instruction to squeeze. This is a programme: defined sets, defined hold times, defined rest, and a rule for when to progress.
Before starting
Read the technique page first. A large share of people who believe they are training the pelvic floor are bracing the abdominal wall or squeezing the buttocks, and no programme fixes that. The contraction should feel like an inward and upward lift around the urethra, vagina and anus. Buttocks stay soft, thighs stay soft, breathing continues.
If you cannot feel a contraction at all, or you are not sure, ask for a referral to a pelvic health physiotherapist before spending eight weeks on it. One examination settles the question.
Do not start this programme if penetration is painful, if you have pelvic pain, or if previous attempts at pelvic floor exercises made symptoms worse. Those point towards an overactive pelvic floor, which needs release work rather than strengthening.
The programme
Three sessions a day, on most days. Each session is one set of long holds followed by one set of short contractions. A session takes a few minutes.
| Week | Long holds | Rest between holds | Short contractions | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hold 3 seconds, 8 times | 6 seconds | 8, fast on and fully off | Lying down |
| 2 | Hold 4 seconds, 8 times | 8 seconds | 10 | Lying down |
| 3 | Hold 5 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 10 | Sitting |
| 4 | Hold 6 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 10 | Sitting |
| 5 | Hold 8 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 12 | Sitting and standing |
| 6 | Hold 8 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 12 | Standing |
| 7 | Hold 10 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 12 | Standing |
| 8 | Hold 10 seconds, 10 times | 10 seconds | 12, plus the knack during daily activity | Standing and during activity |
Long holds train endurance. Short contractions train the fast response that prevents a leak during a cough. Both are needed.
The rules
- Quality decides progression, not the calendar. Move to the next week only when the final repetition of the set is as strong and as clean as the first. If it fades, repeat the week.
- Rest fully between contractions. The release must be felt as a distinct letting go. If it is not, the rest is too short or the hold is too long.
- Never hold your breath. Count out loud if that helps.
- Stop the set when the contraction stops being clean. Six good repetitions beat twelve ragged ones.
- If a week feels too easy, do not jump two weeks. The hold times increase faster than they look.
- Never practise by stopping the flow of urine. It is a one time check, not an exercise.
- Missing a day is normal. Missing four days in a row means repeating the week.
The knack
From week one, use this whenever it applies, regardless of which week you are on. Contract the pelvic floor deliberately just before and during a cough, sneeze, laugh, lift or jump. It restores the timing of the reflex and often reduces leaking within days, well before any strength has been gained.
How to tell it is working
- Leaking episodes become less frequent, or smaller, or happen only with bigger provocations.
- The hold time increases without the contraction fading.
- The contraction is easier to find, and does not need a run up.
- Standing exercises feel similar to lying ones, which they will not at first.
- The knack works reliably.
Expect the first noticeable change at around six to eight weeks and a fair judgement at three months. Muscle adapts slowly. Written explanations of the same principles from another angle, for example https://inwonderstate.com/blogs/stories/kegel-exercises, are sometimes worth reading when the technique has not clicked, because a second description of the same movement often lands where the first did not.
After week eight
Training gains fade if training stops. Most people who had symptoms continue with one session a day on most days, indefinitely, at the week eight level. That is enough to hold the improvement.
If symptoms have improved but not resolved, continue and ask for a physiotherapy assessment rather than adding more repetitions. If nothing has changed at all after three months of correct practice, the diagnosis is worth revisiting.
When to stop the programme
Stop and seek assessment if pelvic pain develops, if penetration becomes painful, if urinating becomes more difficult, or if symptoms are clearly worse than when you started. Those are signs that strengthening is the wrong approach for this pelvic floor, not signs that more effort is needed.
Where this information comes from
This programme follows public guidance and patient information published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the National Health Service, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Last reviewed: September 2026