Does Your Vagina Need a Personal Trainer?

You've probably heard of kegel exercises — movements meant to help strengthen your pelvic floor. Tone up those muscles that support the uterus, bladder, and bowels, and you can likely improve some of the discomforts of late pregnancy, like leaking urine and hemorrhoids.

These exercises aren't new — but one new high-tech system in the marketplace suggests they're important enough that it's time we took them more seriously. Basically, it wants to be a personal trainer for our vaginas. Are you paying attention yet?

The sexual health and wellness product company Minna Life recently released kGoal, an interactive training device and app for pelvic floor exercise. The goal is to get all women to recognize the importance of doing the exercises — including the 17 percent who didn't know what kegels were, according to a survey that the brand conducted. The survey also showed more than half of women don't really know how to do a kegel.

What sets the new product apart from other stuff already out there? Well, Minna Life says kGoal has a customizable shape to fit all kinds of women, and it was designed in collaboration with pelvic floor physical therapists. It also says the product's squeeze pillow is super sensitive to contractions, and provides feedback through the app as well as gentle vibrations.

Whether or not we actually need all that high-tech stuff to hone our pelvic floor strength, kegel exercises can be beneficial for all kinds of women. In addition to the pregnancy benefits mentioned above, kegels are known to enhance sexual responsiveness. (So yay to that!) Plus, they improve core strength in general, which is key for posture and balance.

So you tell me: Would a high-tech tool encourage you to do kegels?

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Alesandra Dubin is a new twin mom. She's also a Los Angeles-based writer and the founder of home and travel blog Homebody in Motion. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Twitter.

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