We are delighted to partner with She Leaps and British Gymnastics to help raise awareness of the importance of pelvic floor health
When you train and compete in gymnastics, your body does amazing things — jumping, flipping, landing, and balancing. But there’s one important part of your body that you might not hear about much… your pelvic floor muscles.
💡 What are pelvic floor muscles?
Your pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis (think of them like a hammock inside your body).
They help:
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Hold your bladder (where pee is stored)
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Support your tummy and organs
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Help you stay dry when you cough, sneeze, or land a jump
They’re working all the time — even when you don’t notice!
🏃♀️ Why does this matter in gymnastics?
Gymnastics involves lots of:
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Jumping
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Tumbling
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Hard landings
These movements create big forces through your body. Sometimes, those forces can be too strong for your pelvic floor muscles, especially if they’re tired or not strong enough yet.
🚨 What can happen?
Some gymnasts might notice:
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A small leak of pee when landing or jumping
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Feeling like you need to rush to the toilet
This is called urinary incontinence, and it’s more common than people think — especially in high-impact sports like gymnastics.
👉 Important: This is not something to be embarrassed about. It’s something you can get help with.
🎥 Learn more (simple video)
Here’s a short video from Continence Health Australia, that shows where these muscles are and how they work:
https://youtu.be/q0_JAoaM6pU?si=w6AX55tLYmvPuKpx
🗣️ What should you do?
If this happens to you:
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Tell your coach, parent, or another trusted adult
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You can also talk to a physiotherapist.
Getting help early means you can:
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Keep performing your best
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Learn how to protect your body as you grow
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Stay confident
💪 Remember
Your pelvic floor muscles are just like any other muscles:
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They can get tired
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They can get stronger
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And you can train them!
Taking care of them is part of being a strong, healthy gymnast 🏅
Increase muscle strength
The classic contraction, Squeeze is designed to help strengthen and build up your pelvic floor muscles.
How-to: Squeeze, lift, and hold your maximum contraction, and hold for a specified duration. Release, relax and repeat.
Squeezing your pelvic floor
Coordination and speed
Rapid exercises, or "quick flicks" are designed to help with overall coordination, and ultimately increase the speed of your muscle contractions.
How-to: Squeeze and lift your pelvic floor muscles rapidly. Release and relax. Repeat.
Endurance and function
Often the trickiest exercise to master, Enduro helps with overall pelvic floor function.
How-to: Squeeze and lift to half your maximum, and hold for several seconds. Then, without relaxing, squeeze and lift to maximum, and hold again. Relax back to half your maximum squeeze, hold, then relax.
Coordination and control
This is the "Squeeze Before You Sneeze" exercise—The Knack is all about regaining control when you're most vulnerable or prone to leaks, in addition to helping with your overall coordination.
How-to: Do a maximum squeeze, lift immediately, then cough! Relax and rest, then repeat.
Video guidance
Need some visual aid, or a refresher on the pelvic floor? View our How-To videos below.
