How to Do Kegel Exercises for Men – The Complete Guide ([CURRENT_MONTH_YEAR])

Most guides teach you one exercise: squeeze and hold. That's a kegel – but it's only one of four exercises your pelvic floor needs. This guide covers all four, with step-by-step instructions based on what clinical research (Ben Ami et al., 2022; Pastore et al., 2014) shows actually produces correct muscle activation. For the full research behind these protocols, see our clinical studies breakdown.

First: Find Your Pelvic Floor

This is the step most men get wrong. Research found that only 6.8% of men with PE could correctly identify their pelvic floor before training (La Pera, 2012). With the right cues, 94% can.

Sit down on something firm. A chair or the edge of your bed.

Squeeze like you're holding in gas. Tighten your anus – not your butt cheeks, just the inside. You should feel a tightening deep between your sit bones. That's your pelvic floor.

Confirm it: Try to retract your penis inward without using your hands, like you're shortening it. If you feel your scrotum lift slightly, you found the right muscle.

Check your form: Put a hand on your stomach. Is it tight? If so, you're using the wrong muscles. Your abs, butt, and thighs should be completely relaxed. Only the inside should be working.

These cues come from Ben Ami et al. (2022), which tested six different verbal instructions with ultrasound validation. "Squeeze your anus" and "shorten the penis" achieved 94% correct activation – the highest of any cue tested.

See it in action: Watch Dr. James demonstrate proper pelvic floor activation in our tutorial video series.

Exercise 1: Standard Kegel (Hold)

What it trains: Slow-twitch muscle fibers. Builds baseline strength and endurance. Critical for erectile function.

How to do it:

1. Squeeze your pelvic floor as hard as you can
2. Hold for 3 seconds (build to 10 seconds over weeks)
3. Release completely – go fully limp. The full release is as important as the squeeze
4. Rest for equal time (3-second hold = 3-second rest)
5. Repeat

Common mistakes: Squeezing your abs, glutes, or thighs. Holding your breath. Doing too many weak reps instead of fewer maximum-effort reps.

Exercise 2: Reverse Kegel (Push Out)

What it trains: Conscious relaxation of the pelvic floor. The key exercise for ejaculatory control. Most apps skip this entirely.

How to do it:

1. Take a deep breath into your belly – let your stomach expand
2. As you breathe in, gently push outward through your pelvic floor
3. Think of the sensation of starting to urinate
4. You should feel everything relax and drop slightly
5. Hold the relaxed position, then return to neutral

Common mistakes: Pushing too hard (if you feel pressure in your head, you're way too hard). Bearing down with your abs instead of isolating the pelvic floor. Confusing this with straining.

Why this matters: Pastore et al. (2014) found that learning to relax the pelvic floor during arousal – not squeeze harder – is the mechanism that gives men control over ejaculation. Read more about the evidence.

Exercise 3: Pulse (Quick Flick)

What it trains: Fast-twitch muscle fibers. Builds reflexive control – the kind that fires automatically when you need it.

How to do it:

1. Contract your pelvic floor as fast and as hard as you can
2. Immediately release – no holding
3. Repeat rapidly: squeeze, release, squeeze, release
4. Think of it like a light switch, not a dimmer

Common mistakes: Holding the contraction (this turns it into a standard kegel). Going too slow. Sacrificing force for speed.

Exercise 4: Alternating Contractions

What it trains: The ability to switch between contraction and relaxation on command. The most advanced exercise and the closest to what your body actually does during sex.

How to do it:

1. Standard kegel: squeeze and hold for 3 seconds
2. Release and immediately transition to a reverse kegel: push gently outward for 3 seconds
3. Return to a standard kegel squeeze
4. Continue alternating

Common mistakes: Rushing the transition. Not fully switching between contraction and relaxation. This exercise should be done slowly until the transition feels natural.

How Often to Train

• 1 session per day is sufficient for most goals
• 2 sessions per day (morning and evening) for ED specifically (per Dorey protocol)
• 3 sessions per day is the maximum – overtraining creates chronic tension (hypertonia) that makes problems worse, not better
• Each session should be about 5 minutes
• Consistency over weeks matters far more than intensity in individual sessions

How Long Until Results

Based on the clinical research:

• Weeks 1-2: Learning to find and control the muscle. No performance changes yet.
• Weeks 3-4: First signs of improved awareness. Some men notice better control.
• Weeks 6-8: Noticeable results for many men.
• Week 12+: Full benefits. This is the timeline the major studies measured.
• 20 sessions is the approximate threshold for PE control specifically (Pastore et al., 2018)

For a detailed breakdown of the evidence, read How Long Do Kegels Take to Work? or our week-by-week results timeline.

Guided Training

If you want structured daily programs that guide you through all four exercises with progressive difficulty and haptic feedback, Kegel King implements the protocols described above. The app adapts the exercise ratios based on your specific goal – more reverse kegels for PE, more sustained holds for ED. Free for 7 days, no credit card.