Fountain of Youth's Next Door Neighbor -

Long squeeze: hold PC muscle clamped tight for a count of twenty... or as long as you can.

Stair steps: tighten and loosen in increments.

PC flutter: tighten the PC muscle as slowly as you possibly can. At some point it will "flutter," and you'll feel energy sparkling up your spine. Concentrate on deep, slow breathing while you do this - great for restoring energy when you're running down!

Kegel exercises both strengthen and tone the pubococcygeal (PC) muscle-which runs from front to back in men's and women's pelvises--as well as the surrounding pelvic muscles. The PC muscle is what helps bring a man or woman to climax, and, along with other pelvic muscles, it also controls urination.

In his recent book, "The New Male Sexuality (Bantam Books, 1992), psychologist Bernie Zilbergeld, Ph.D., claims that many of his male patients who practiced pelvic-muscle contractions over time reported increased sexual sensation and more intense orgasms. That's not all. Over the past 20 years, William Hartman, Ph.D., and Marilyn Fithian, Ph.D., co-directors of the Center for Marital and Sexual Studies in Long Beach, California, have prescribed Kegel exercises to more than 1,300 male patients who were troubled by erection problems. Most of the men who did the exercises as prescribed reported firmer erections than before.

What's more, nearly 200 of Dr. Hartman and Dr. Fithian's male patients who practiced Kegels learned to delay ejaculation, enabling them to prolong sex to their own and their partner's satisfaction. And most surprising, 10 percent of these men were eventually able to have multiple orgasms--that is, two or more climaxes during a single act of intercourse before ejaculating. (Orgasm and ejaculation don't always occur simultaneously in men.)

With so many sexual benefits, Kegels are the perfect "sexercises" for men as well as women to master. Besides helping to create the physical conditions that enhance lovemaking, the exercises can spice up sex in another way as well. "Partners can take turns tightening their pelvic muscles during intercourse," explains Dr. Hartman. "Each will feel the other's muscle contractions, which adds to the excitement."

For a man who wants to learn how to perform Kegels, the first step is locating the PC muscle. Here's how: Some time when he has the urge to urinate, he should sit on the toilet with his legs spread, start to urinate, then try to stop the flow. (The PC muscle is the one he squeezes to do this.) After restarting the flow, he can practice stopping and restarting the stream of urine. It may take several attempts to actually isolate the PC muscle--the buttocks muscles have a tendency to kick in if the legs aren't kept wide. When a man has familiarized himself with the sensation of contracting the PC muscle, he's ready to practice holding the contractions. He should first try holding a contraction for several seconds three or four times a day. Over the next few weeks, as he continues doing Kegels, he can gradually increase the time of the contraction until he is holding it for 10 to 15 seconds. Next, he should alternate these Kegel holds with a series of short, quick contractions. Dr. Hartman recommends that men gradually work up to a daily routine of 100 quick PC contractions and five holds. (Women who want to learn how to do Kegels should follow these same steps, but they only need to do the long holds for five seconds; men, however, need the 10- to 15-second hold for delaying ejaculation.)

After a few months of diligent practice, a man should be ready to try using the Kegel hold during intercourse to delay ejaculation. But first he must familiarize himself with the sensation known as ejaculatory inevitability--the point at which he can no longer hold back an ejaculation. He will feel an uncontrollable urge to ejaculate as his prostate gland and seminal vesicles contract. Once a man has developed an awareness of this sensation, he can then learn to produce a PC contraction before he reaches that point of no return. (Another option is for a man to try practicing this technique on his own while masturbating.)

Most men can do Kegels anywhere, since they're seldom aroused by the exercises; women may want to practice Kegels in private since for them, the increased blood flow to the pelvic region is more likely to spark arousal. Continued over a lifetime, the exercises can help men (and women) head off urinary incontinence later in life. That plus greater arousal, enhanced orgasms and longer-lasting sex make these some of the simplest, most beneficial exercises a man or woman can do. I do at least 5 sets of a hundred every day, and some days I even go for 10 sets.. This exercise, without a doubt, can increase your sexual performance 10 fold.

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