Here's the frustrating thing about Kegels: you can't see the muscle, so it's genuinely hard to know whether you're doing them right. You squeeze something, you hope it's the right something, and you carry on. If you've ever wondered whether you're getting it (or wondered why nothing seems to be changing), these are the tells.
Doing it wrong vs. doing it right
Signs you're probably off
- You feel it most in your buttocks, thighs, or stomach.
- You're holding your breath or clenching your jaw to do it.
- You feel pressure pushing down or out, rather than up.
- You can't really feel anything at all: no sense of a lift.
- You're regularly doing them on the toilet, stopping your flow.
- Months have passed with no change whatsoever.
Signs you're on track
- A subtle lift up and in, felt inside, separate from everything else.
- Your belly, thighs and buttocks stay relaxed.
- You keep breathing normally the whole time.
- You can both squeeze and then fully let go.
- You can repeat it without the rest of you joining in.
- Over weeks, things are slowly, quietly improving.
Three quick self-checks
None of these need equipment: just a quiet moment to pay attention.
- The relax check. After a squeeze, can you fully release and feel everything soften? If you can only ever clench and never let go, you're gripping, not training: the release is half the exercise.
- The isolation check. Rest a hand on your belly. If it tightens when you squeeze, your abs are doing the work your pelvic floor should be.
- The breath check. Try to breathe slowly through a hold. If you have to hold your breath to keep the squeeze, ease right off: you're overdoing it and probably bracing the wrong muscles.
If you want certainty, a pelvic floor physiotherapist can confirm your technique directly: it's the one fully reliable way to know.
Downward pressure means you're bearing down.
If the main thing you feel is pressure pushing down or out (like a gentle strain), you're doing the opposite of a Kegel, and it's the one mistake that can make leaks worse. Stop, reset, and aim for a gentle lift up and in instead. Our full guide on how to do Kegels correctly walks through the cue.
How to stop guessing
The reason a written checklist only goes so far is that it can't tell you about the rep you're doing right now. That's the entire idea behind Kegelia: it paces the squeeze and release with a calm rhythm and puts a gentle buzz on the lift, so "am I doing this right?" becomes something you can simply feel: every rep, in real time. It doesn't measure your muscle; it gives you a tempo to follow, which is usually the missing piece.