Strength refers to the maximum weight that your pelvic floor muscles could theoretically lift. It is related to the maximum pressure you can exert on the superficial sensor (located at the bottom of your Perifit Care and near your vaginal entrance where the pelvic floor is sensed when inserted).
The strength indicator presented by Perifit is computed as the difference in pressure applied to the superficial sensor between your relaxed and squeezed states.
A score of 80g means that the pressure applied on the superficial sensor between your relax and squeezed states is 80g.
Note that a score of 80g does not mean that you could lift an 80g Kegel ball. The reason behind this is that holding a Kegel ball is not the same force as pushing on that Kegel ball (which is what measures Perifit Care). Perifit Care does not measure absolute strength but relative strength.
3 Key ideas to know about Strength
You need to work on Contraction Quality before
Prior to starting to improve your strength, make sure that you are doing proper pelvic floor contractions. Just like any muscle, you need to learn the technique before aiming for higher strength of the muscle.
How is your contraction quality? Take a look at your Progress tab:
Contraction Quality from 0 to 80%: there is room for improvement. 20 to 100% of the time, the sensors in Perifit Care feel more pressure from your abs than your pelvic floor. You could benefit from refining your contraction technique, using the Kegel Coach presented to you in the Exercises tab.
Contraction Quality from 80 to 100%: you're doing good already! You can work on aiming for higher strength.
Target is not "Aim as high as you can".
Having an over-tight pelvic floor is a thing and a painful one.
You want to aim for a strength that is adapted to your body and daily activity needs. It's a different target for every woman and will highly depend on anatomy and activity needs.
As always! Don't take this target as absolute truth. It's a simple computation to give you a rough idea of what would be a reasonable strength. The most important is the evolution of your symptoms.
And remember that, because we all have very different anatomies & conditions, there is no point in comparing yourself to other users that you don't know much about in terms of health background.
Respect the rest time!
This is a game changer for a lot of our users. A pelvic floor is a muscle group that fatigues pretty quickly. No need to say that it does more harm than good to keep on training a fatigued muscle.
To build strong muscles, it's preferable to perform a small number of high-intensity contractions with resting times in between rather than 200 quick flicks in a row.
Similarly, pelvic floor strength is improved by squeezing as hard as you can when the game requests so, without compromising your Contraction Quality. Your strength benefits as much from an improvement in your relaxation as an improvement from your contraction.
Tips to improve pelvic floor's Strength
Train in the morning: yes, that makes a difference! Our whole body has more strength in the morning and hormone levels are at their highest so a lot of users report higher strength when training at that time of the day.
Train consistently and regularly: that is what we're trying to make easier for you by offering games because we know that a lot of users had a hard time before Perifit Care to get motivated and get time to train. If the games don't do the trick, you can:
Set up reminders to train from Settings > Notifications > Training Reminders.
Chill around the Community tab to read training tips, and stories on progress, and find motivation & support from other users.
Pay attention to your Contraction Quality: as mentioned above, dedicating time to learn and integrating how to do an isolated pelvic floor contraction will save you a lot of time later and will result in more effective training.
Top games pick to work on Strength
Moving Out
Sacred Lotus
Concentric
Space Odyssey
Cloud Gate
Exercise in Practice Lab to practice Strength
Start relaxed. Take your time if you need to.
Contract your pelvic floor strongly once. Immediately release slowly afterward.
Take a 10 seconds break.
Repeat 5 times and get back to a relaxed state. Can do it only twice? Don't worry, you'll get there with training. Twice is good already!
Contract your pelvic floor strongly, 3 times in a row, releasing fast between each.
Release slowly and take 10 seconds to break.
Repeat 5 times and get back to a relaxed state. Can do it only twice? Don't worry, you'll get there with training. Twice is good already!
What can affect your pelvic floor's Strength?
Overall fatigue: just like any muscle, when you feel generally tired, there is a good chance that your pelvic floor does not feel at its best either.
Overtraining: Specialists recommend training no more than 30/45 minutes a week, split into sessions of 10-15 minutes.
Pelvic floor's contraction of low quality
Hormone variation: you will observe lower strength during your periods (lower levels of estrogen) or if you have menopause. If you have menopause and observe important symptoms of pelvic floor weakness, vaginal dryness, and mood swings, you might want to consider reaching out to a specialist as they sometimes prescribe estrogen medication on the side of pelvic floor training.
If all our tips do not help, it might be a good idea to book an appointment with a pelvic floor specialist. She'll be able to draw a full diagnosis with you and usually has a broad set of tips to offer. What's more, they usually know about Perifit Care and will be able to give you tips to get the maximum benefits of its use.