Pelvic floor exercises for men: a step-by-step guide

Published 22 October 2026

Pelvic floor exercises are free, generally safe and can be done anywhere, but they are easy to get wrong, and done wrongly they achieve little. This guide covers finding the muscles, the four kinds of squeeze and how long improvement takes, and sets out plainly what the evidence says about leakage after prostate surgery, after-dribble and erection problems.

What do the pelvic floor muscles do in men?

The pelvic floor is a sling of muscle stretching from the pubic bone to the tailbone. It supports the bladder, prostate and bowel and helps keep the urethra and back passage closed until you choose to let go. In men it has three jobs:

• Holding urine, by squeezing around the urethra and bracing it against sudden pressure.
• Emptying the urethra, with a final contraction after you pass urine. If that squeeze is weak, the remainder leaks out shortly afterwards.
• Erections and ejaculation. The ischiocavernosus and bulbocavernosus muscles raise the pressure inside the erectile tissue, and the bulbocavernosus presses on the deep dorsal vein of the penis, limiting the outflow of blood. It also pumps out semen.

Bladder & Bowel UK and the Gloucestershire NHS physiotherapy leaflet list surgery on the prostate, bladder or bowel, straining on the toilet, a chronic cough, extra weight, lack of exercise, age and nerve damage from conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes as causes of weakness. Bladder & Bowel UK adds that muscles which are too tight can also cause leakage, erection difficulties or pain, so strengthening is not automatically right for every pelvic symptom.

How do you find your pelvic floor muscles?

Imagine stopping yourself passing wind and, at the same moment, stopping the flow of urine: the squeeze and lift you feel inside, behind the scrotum, is your pelvic floor. When you have it right, the base of the penis draws in and the scrotum lifts, which you can check in a mirror. Fingertips resting on the skin behind the scrotum should feel it lift away, not bulge down.

Advice on stopping urine midstream varies. Prostate Cancer UK suggests trying it once or twice to find the muscles, but not regularly, because doing it all the time could cause problems emptying your bladder; the Gloucestershire Hospitals men’s health physiotherapy service says no more than once a fortnight; Bladder & Bowel UK says not at all. Where it is suggested at all, it is only a way to find the muscles, never the exercise itself. If you are unsure you are using the right muscles, a physiotherapist can check your technique.

How do you do pelvic floor exercises, step by step?

A session is a set of slow holds followed by a set of fast squeezes, and takes a few minutes. These steps follow the Prostate Cancer UK, Bladder & Bowel UK and Gloucestershire NHS leaflets.

1. Start sitting on a firm chair, feet flat and legs slightly apart. Lying on your back with knees bent, or standing against a wall with knees slightly bent, also works.
2. Relax your thighs, buttocks and stomach, and breathe normally throughout.
3. Squeeze and lift around the back passage and, at the same time, as if stopping urine.
4. Hold for as long as you can, up to 10 seconds. If you manage only 3 seconds, hold for 3 and build up gradually.
5. Let go completely and rest for about 10 seconds. Relaxing fully is part of the exercise.
6. Repeat up to 10 slow holds. The NHS recommends at least 8 contractions each session.
7. Add fast squeezes: tighten as quickly and strongly as you can, hold for a second, release. Do up to 10.
8. Do a session three times a day, linked to something routine such as brushing your teeth, or with a phone reminder.
9. Progress to standing once you feel able, as Prostate Cancer UK recommends, and later squatting.

Slow holds build strength and stamina so the muscles can support the bladder through the day. Fast squeezes train them to react instantly when a cough or sneeze raises the pressure in your abdomen.

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How long do pelvic floor exercises take to work?

Allow three to six months of regular practice for the full effect, Bladder & Bowel UK and the Gloucestershire service advise, though small gains can show within weeks. The NHS advises keeping a programme going for at least three months. Prostate Cancer UK says you may notice a small improvement each week but that a real difference can take up to three months, and Bladder & Bowel UK asks men to persevere for at least six weeks before judging.

Avoiding constipation, treating a persistent cough and losing excess weight reduce the strain on the muscles, and cutting down on caffeine helps because it can stimulate the bladder.

What is ‘the knack’, and when should you use it?

The knack is a quick, firm squeeze made just before, and held during, anything that suddenly pushes down on the bladder: a cough, sneeze, laugh, lift or getting up from a chair. Timing is the point. If the muscles are already tight when the pressure arrives, they help hold the urethra closed; squeeze only once the leak has started and you are too late. Practise by tightening first and then coughing deliberately, then build it into everyday movements.

What are the most common mistakes?

Most mistakes come down to squeezing the wrong muscles, and Prostate Cancer UK warns that exercises done incorrectly may not help. Watch for:

• holding your breath;
• clenching your buttocks or thighs, or pulling in your stomach, instead of the pelvic floor;
• pushing down instead of lifting up, the opposite movement, which the fingertip check will reveal;
• using the stop-midstream test as a workout;
• doing too many, since tired muscles work less well;
• giving up before six weeks, or stopping once you feel better;
• exercising while a catheter is still in.

When should you start pelvic floor exercises after prostatectomy?

Learn them before the operation, stop while you have a catheter, and restart as soon as it is removed. Prostate Cancer UK suggests starting four to six weeks before surgery for prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate, so you can do them properly afterwards; it might also help you stop leaking sooner. After the catheter is out they are safe and will not cause damage, but build up gradually. Early on, use the knack as well as the sessions, because, as Prostate Cancer UK notes, leaks often happen as you stand up, bend or cough.

A 2015 Cochrane review of 50 trials and more than 4,700 men found that men’s symptoms improved over time whatever management they had. It found moderate evidence of an overall benefit from pelvic floor training, though pad-test results did not confirm it, and concluded that the trials conflict and better ones are needed. The exercises remain free, generally safe and recommended by Prostate Cancer UK and the NHS. If leakage is not settling, our Life After Prostate Surgery (LAPS) Clinic page explains how it is assessed and treated.

Can pelvic floor exercises stop after-dribble?

Often, yes. After-dribble (post-micturition dribble) is a small leak shortly after you finish, usually once you have left the toilet. The Bladder and Bowel Community attributes it to weak pelvic floor muscles around the urethra: without a strong final squeeze, the last few drops stay in the urethra and escape when you move. Alongside the exercises, two techniques help:

1. The squeeze-out. Tighten your pelvic floor strongly as soon as you finish. Prostate Cancer UK says this should clear urine left in the urethra.
2. Urethral milking. Wait a few seconds, place your fingertips about three finger-breadths behind the scrotum and apply gentle pressure, then slide them forward along the midline under the scrotum towards the base of the penis, and shake out the urine. Do this twice; it can be done discreetly through a trouser pocket.

Dribbling with a weak stream, straining or a feeling of not emptying is a different pattern that can point to the prostate or a narrowed urethra; see problems passing urine.

Do pelvic floor exercises help erectile dysfunction?

They may help some men, but the evidence is limited and they are no substitute for finding out why erections have changed. A 2004 UK randomised trial in the British Journal of General Practice tested them. Fifty-five men were taught the exercises by a physiotherapist over five weekly sessions, with biofeedback and lifestyle advice, then continued at home; a comparison group had lifestyle advice alone for three months before receiving the same programme. At three months, erectile function scores improved significantly more with exercise. By the end of the six-month study, across all 55 men, 40% had normal erectile function, 34.5% had improved and 25.5% had not.

It was a single small trial with no formal sample-size calculation, about four in ten men did not complete the programme, and the exercises were combined with biofeedback and lifestyle advice, so their own effect cannot be separated. Men with neurological conditions or previous urological surgery other than TURP were excluded, and the authors suggested men with severe problems of blood supply or nerve function may not benefit. Prostate Cancer UK says only that some men find the exercises help erections after prostate cancer treatment, and the NHS does not list them among its treatments.

Treat them as an addition, not a plan. The NHS advises seeing a doctor if erection problems keep happening, as they can signal a treatable condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes or a hormone problem. See our erectile dysfunction treatment page or, if you are younger, our guide to erectile dysfunction in young men.

When should you see a specialist pelvic floor physiotherapist?

See a pelvic health (men’s health) physiotherapist if you cannot feel a clear squeeze and lift, are unsure of your technique, or have seen little change after three months of regular practice. Persistent leakage after prostate surgery, after-dribble that does not respond, and pelvic pain, where the muscles may be too tight rather than too weak, are also good reasons.

A physiotherapist will assess how well you can contract the muscles and tailor a programme. They may suggest biofeedback, such as an ultrasound scan showing whether you are contracting correctly, though Prostate Cancer UK notes many clinics do not offer it; for people who cannot contract the muscles at all, the NHS describes electrical stimulation. Your GP can refer you, and some NHS physiotherapy services accept self-referral. If pain is the main problem, you may need to learn to relax the pelvic floor rather than strengthen it; our guide to chronic prostatitis explains how pelvic pain is assessed.

When is leakage or dribbling a reason to see a urologist?

When it is new, unexplained or worsening, or comes with a weak stream, straining, urgency or waking at night to pass urine. Exercises strengthen muscle; they cannot clear a blockage from an enlarged prostate or a stricture, and although they may help with urgency, an overactive bladder needs its own assessment.

Call 999 or go to A&E if back pain comes with new leakage or difficulty passing urine, loss of feeling around your genitals or back passage, or weakness or numbness in both legs.

Get help the same day from NHS 111, your GP or an emergency department if you suddenly cannot pass urine despite a full, painful bladder, pass visible blood in your urine, or have a fever with shivering, flank pain and pain when passing urine. After recent prostate surgery, the same applies to passing clots, a swollen, painful calf or breathlessness: contact your surgical team, NHS 111 or your nearest emergency department.

How can The Andrology Centre help?

If exercises have not solved the problem, our consultants, who all practise at Guy’s & St Thomas’, named by Newsweek in 2025 as the number one urology service in Europe, can assess the cause. We see patients at HCA at The Shard, HCA at Canary Wharf and HCA at Guy’s Hospital. Self-funding patients need no GP referral; insured patients usually need one plus pre-authorisation (see fees and insurance). Call +44 7889 318584 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm), email contact@theandrologycentre.co.uk or use our contact page.

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References and further reading