Pelvic floor advice is everywhere, and a lot of it is either half-right or plain wrong. Some of the myths just waste your effort; a couple can actually make things worse. Here are the ones worth clearing up, with what's actually true in their place. A theme runs through most of them, so watch for it: the pelvic floor can be too tight as well as too weak, and a lot of bad advice comes from assuming it's always weakness.
Myth: everyone should just do Kegels
Kegels strengthen a weak pelvic floor, and for that they're excellent. But not every problem is weakness. If your floor is already too tight and overactive, more squeezing makes it worse, and the fix is learning to relax and release instead. That's what reverse Kegels are for. So "everyone should do Kegels" isn't true; the honest version is "people with a weak floor should, and people with a tight one usually shouldn't." Working out which you are is the first step, covered in signs of a weak pelvic floor.
Myth: only women need pelvic floor exercises
Men have a pelvic floor too, and it does the same jobs: supporting the bladder and bowel and helping with continence. Pelvic floor exercises are relevant for men dealing with leakage and are commonly recommended around prostate surgery. The evidence in men is a little less settled than in women, so it's described with slightly more caution, but the idea that this is a women-only exercise is simply wrong. There's more in the men's pelvic floor guide.
Myth: it's only a postpartum thing
Pregnancy and birth are common reasons the pelvic floor needs attention, but they're far from the only ones. Age, the hormonal changes of menopause, a chronic cough, ongoing constipation and straining, heavy lifting, high-impact exercise and some surgeries can all play a part, in people who've never given birth and in men. Filing the pelvic floor under "postpartum" means a lot of people who'd benefit never think it applies to them.
Myth: more is better, squeeze as hard as you can
This is the one that can actually cause harm. The pelvic floor isn't a muscle you want permanently clenched; it needs to contract and fully relax, and the release is half the exercise. Grinding out maximum-effort squeezes all day can leave you with a tight, overworked floor that functions worse, not better. Quality and full release beat brute force every time. If you're not sure what "correct" feels like, how to do Kegels correctly walks through it.
Tight is as real a problem as weak.
Most pelvic floor myths come from assuming the answer is always "strengthen." If contracting hurts, or your floor feels tight and hard to relax, that's the opposite situation, and more Kegels are the wrong move. Pain is always a signal to stop and get assessed.
Myth: stopping your pee midstream is the exercise
Interrupting the flow of urine is a well-known way to locate the pelvic floor muscle, and as a one-off it's a fine trick for finding it. But it's a locating tool, not a workout, and doing it routinely as your exercise can interfere with how your bladder empties. Use it once to find the muscle if you need to, then do your actual practice away from the toilet.
Myth: it's too late to start
Muscle responds to training at any age. Starting in your fifties, sixties or beyond isn't a lost cause, and it's often exactly when the pelvic floor starts asking for attention, so later can be the most useful time to begin. As with any age, results build over weeks to months, not days. There's more on this stage in menopause and your pelvic floor.
Bonus myth: if you can't feel it working, it isn't
The pelvic floor is internal and the exercise is invisible, so you won't get the burn or the visible progress you'd get from, say, a bicep curl, and the payoff is slow. That absence of feedback is completely normal and doesn't mean nothing's happening. It's also, honestly, why so many people quit, and part of why a paced, guided approach helps you keep going through the quiet middle.