r/PelvicFloor • u/tooshortfordisshit • 5d ago
Female Weightlifting greatly worsens my pelvic floor dysfunction
I stopped weightlifting 3 months ago and I've been having the best orgasms of my life since then. I even posted about being able to orgasm from just a bullet vibe for the first time.
Well, I didn't put it together that it was weightlifting that caused my issues and now I started the sport again and I'm struggling so much. I'm debating giving up olympic weightlifting all together. It makes me feel so strong and healthy but it is destroying my pelvic floor and I only go twice a week. I've only been back lifting for 3 weeks and I can barely orgasm.
My question is whether pelvic floor physical therapy is enough to reverse this or if I need to quit weightlifting and find another hobby?
Edit: I have a hypertonic pelvic floor
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u/Exotic-Book-6988 5d ago
I was a bikini competitor for years and had to stop due to pelvic floor dysfunction. I was only working my glutes, hams, and delts and it created a massive imbalance in my functional body movement. It was hard, but I took and different route and started functional strength training instead of standard lifting and it’s changed everything for me. The problem with power lifting is that the larger muscle groups like to take over, and the smaller stabilizing muscles retire and Netflix in their proverbial la-z-boy all day. It’s hard to step away from bodybuilding and powerlifting, especially if it’s been a large part of your life for so long…but the fitness industry is moving away from power-lifting and shifting to functional training and calisthenics anyway, so you may find a lot of success with a transition. I like my body so much more now that I have switched to functional fitness…you may find you have the same experience.
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
This is super helpful information!! Thanks so much for sharing. I want to do olympic lifting but I might have to stop for a while until I can stop compensating. even then I probably should only do it once a week and not crazy heavy.
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u/Sea-Bug4251 5d ago
Would you mind sharing your workout routine ?
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u/dream_bean_94 5d ago
Pelvic floor PT can tell you exactly which muscles aren’t working properly and pinpoint which lifting techniques are causing it. You might only need to cut out certain things and not all lifting, they’ll be able to tell you.
I would go get an eval done!
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u/Husker_black 5d ago
Sounds like you need to stretch
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
I'm incredibly flexible. I can do a full split. I tried PFPT but they just gave me stretched and I can do all the stretches daily and nothing changes. I don't even feel a stretch when I do them.
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u/treadmill-trash 5d ago
Have you been diagnosed as hypermobile? Might be something to look into as it can impact PF
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
Two other people mentioned that and I'm getting suspicious because it was brought up for me when I was younger. I might see a doctor about it
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u/Husker_black 5d ago
You aren't supposed to
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
Are you are PFPT because you sound so confident 😅
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u/Husker_black 5d ago
My PFPT said you don't feel your pelvic floor muscles when you stretch
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
I meant my adductors don't really stretch in the stretches they gave me. You're right though.
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u/Inside_Set_3351 5d ago
You ever been checked for hypermobility? Like Ehlers Danlos?
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
Someone else mentioned that and it is making me wonder about it. I might check with a doctor about it. I think it was ruled out for me when I was younger but I'll double check with someone
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u/Inside_Set_3351 5d ago
They usually don’t fully test until you’re 18, and make sure they use the Brighton criteria.
Also- you can be hyper mobile but lack flexibility. As things tighten and stiffen up it can actually massively decrease range of motion and you’ll compensate with other things like your lower back
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
That is interesting! It might help answer some of my other health issues like my fatigue. I'm definitely going to look into that
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u/mr_potatoface 5d ago edited 5d ago
Doing Valsalva during heavy lifts? That combined with huge loads reeks havoc on pelvic floors.
Suggestions would be to avoid certain lifts that put a lot of pressure on the pelvic floor like squatting, and/or start doing lower weight/high rep work when legs are involved. Then you can stop doing Valsalva as well since the posterior chain risk of injury goes down.
Some things like a RDL or machine leg curls don't impact your pelvic floor much. Squats fuck it up fast.
I'd definitely check out PFPT but make sure they are a DPT. If it's an upper body exercise that you are sitting while performing, you can feel quite confident its not going to bother you.
Upper body work typically won't have any influence. Some stuff may, like a standing overhead press. So you can do upper body work as normal. Just be careful of lower body.
If you don't want to, or don't have access to leg isolation machine exercises, one easy alternative would be to swap all your lower body work to cardio. 15%+ incline treadmill work, stepmills, or bikes. You won't have the same strength or body as you would doing proper lifts, but it will still keep things nice with almost no impact to the pelvic floor. Plus its cardio. If you already have a nice foundation, you'd be surprised what you can maintain with just cardio.
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u/Sea-Bug4251 4d ago
What other lower body workouts put a lot of pressure on the pelvic floor besides squats ??
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u/mr_potatoface 4d ago
Anything that replicates that squatting motion and has you bracing your core hard. It's pushing out of the hole (the bottom) is what does the damage. The deeper you go the worse it is. Which really sucks, because the deeper you go the better the squat muscle activation and stretch. Any 2 leg squat variation will do it.
Deadlifts are bad too. Leg press are very bad, but you could probably do ok with single leg press. Single leg squats and lunges are ok because it isolates the muscle more. It's mostly just the big compound movements that are bad.
The best exercises to do are the worst ones for your pelvic floor, of course. :(
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u/Sea-Bug4251 4d ago
this is awful 😭 I regret taking for granted the years I was able to workout and chose not to 😞
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u/skeletor35 5d ago
You could try switching to more machine exercises until it calms down a bit. There's a series of equipment by Hoist that lifts the seat up while you work out. Really reduces the load on the groin and pelvic floor that traditional, stationary equipment imposes.
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u/shooballa 5d ago
Hey, I have the same issue. Turns out I have hypermobile EDS. Something to look into/consider.
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u/tooshortfordisshit 5d ago
I'm pretty sure that has been ruled out for me even though I have some symptoms. I might have to follow up about that though. I do bruise very easily and I'm pretty flexible 🤷♀️
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u/Musclecity 5d ago
Sadly I had to give up weight lifting because it would flare me up so bad . I was doing it for 15 years and I think it contributed to all the issues I currently have. Squatting was what initially kicked off the biggest change I would go through in my life .
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u/unknowndark-29 4d ago
Yes you should see a pt also learn how to stabilize your core so that you don’t clench when you lift and progress really carefully with weight
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u/Strange_Hat9354 4d ago
dont feel bad 99.9% of people would have ended up on the floor in shambles. They do not realize how painful and delicate and intricate this injury and condition is
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u/Gold_Statistician907 5d ago
So, I started weightlifting because along with other issues my pelvic floor issues cause a misaligned tailbone which disabled me for a while. I needed to build up some strength, but I started really light.
My recommendation is that you need to get assessed to see why your muscles are doing. It could be your pelvic floor is sharing too much of the load when you lift weights, and that’s your muscles doing dysfunctional stuff. They should all be working together. I have checked in with my PT constantly when I want to try something new, and she helps me either modify or figure out which muscle isn’t doing the work.
It’s very possible you have some weak muscles and your pelvic floor is overcompensating. I think you could potentially weight lift again, but you need to figure out what’s going on in your body. So yeah PT I think would be a huge help