We Tried To Make Our Vaginas More Powerful, And This Is What Happened

Pussy power. ✊

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Vaginas. We love 'em and everything they do for us, but do we ever get the chance to really harness their insane power? Well, four of us decided to push our vag strength to the limit by doing Kegel exercises every day for a week.

Typically, women do Kegel exercises to tone their pelvic floor muscles, which increases bladder control and reduces prolapses later in life.

E!

"I think Kegels are great, and you're never too old or too young to do them," said Mary Jane Minkin, OB-GYN and clinical professor at Yale School of Medicine. "They help keep the pelvic floor muscles strong, and do give women much better control over their bladders."

"An easy way to try to understand what a Kegel is, is to stop your urinary stream while you are peeing. The muscles you have just contracted constitute doing a Kegel. Next time you are getting a pelvic exam, you can ask your examiner to assess your Kegel tone to make sure you are doing things correctly and to assess your strength."

Find out more about how to do Kegels here.

To track our progress, we got our hands on an Elvie: a wearable Bluetooth device that gives you live feedback from your pelvic floor muscles while you are exercising.

https://www.elvie.com/page/why-elvie

https://www.elvie.com/page/why-elvie

Yes, that cute lil' egg thing goes in your vag with the tail part sticking out — kind of like a tampon — and the harder you squeeze, the higher your number will appear on the app. They are measured in something called "LVs." (Also, to clarify, we got our hands on four Elvies. We did not share. Don't do that. Like, ever.)

So, let's see just how much power lives within our vaginas, y'all.

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Chrissy's health history:

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Going in, Chrissy knew her vagina was a boss bitch.

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Chrissy's expectations: My vagina has always been good to me, so I think she'll pull out all the stops this week. Let her true power come THRUUUU.

But working out your pelvic floor muscles every day can lead to serious soreness.

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Chrissy's challenges: Dang, I had no idea going so hard on the Elvie would leave me hurting All. Damn. Day. I never, ever want my insides to feel this mistreated again. *whispers to crotch* I'm so sorry, bb.

Chrissy's results after one week:

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Highest score: 65 LVs

Lowest score: 24 LVs

Average score: 49 LVs

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Lara's health history:

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Considering Lara's health history, she was not stoked to try Kegels.

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Lara's expectations: I am really, really nervous and anxious about using this. My vaginal health has always been a source of disappointment and sadness for me, so trying to get myself geared up to face it head on is incredibly difficult. I don't think it will go well, and I am dreading it. I'd rather burn my tongue 1,039 times in a row.

Most days, Lara couldn't get herself to use the Elvie, but she was proud of her progress.

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Lara's challenges: It was definitely a challenge to get myself mentally AND physically prepared to do this every day, and honestly, most days, I didn't get there. But I did my best, and in a small way, I'm proud of myself.

Lara's results after one week:

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Highest score: 31 LVs

Lowest score: 4 LVs

Average score: 13 LVs

Note: Lara couldn't complete exercises for first four days.

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Sheridan's health history:

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Sheridan was nervous to start the Kegel exercises and wasn't sure how she'd do.

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Sheridan's expectations: I will either rock this or be extremely terrible at it — there'll be no in between. In all seriousness, I'm a bit nervous; it's not every day you have to test your vaginal strength.

But she quickly realized she'd have the hardest time actually using the device.

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Sheridan's challenges: I think I underestimated just how much my vagina did not want this thing in there. Also, it was interesting to see how I thought I performed vs. what the numbers said.

Sheridan's results after one week:

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Highest score: 54 LVs

Lowest score: 11 LVs

Average score: 35 LVs

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Morgan's health history:

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Before using the Elvie, Morgan knew giving birth would make the experience a lot different for her.

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Morgan's expectations: After giving birth, things can get so crazy down there, it's easy to write off any and all problems as childbirth-related (especially when you had third-degree tearing like I did.) Elvie's got me thinking about my pelvic floor health in a new way.

While doing the Kegels, Morgan found out that she was unable to relax her pelvic floor muscles.

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Morgan's challenges: I thought I had strong pelvic floor muscles, but what I didn't know is that they are retentive as hell. Like, I literally cannot relax my vagina, and that just doesn't seem right, y'know? The jewel almost never moved at all.

Morgan's results after one week:

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Highest score: 12 LVs

Lowest score: 2 LVs

Average score: 5 LVs

In the end, we realized all our vaginas are incredibly different but equally awesome.

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Chrissy: TBH, all that soreness was worth it — I now have a vag death grip. 10/10 would do again.

Lara: Would I ever do this again? No. Do I think other women should give it a try? Sure, but it's not the end-all, be-all. I think if anything, I want women to walk away from this pledging to talk about their vaginal health more. Talk about it, talk to your doctors about it, and advocate for yourself because sadly, if you don't, no one else will either.

Sheridan: I'd probably try this again, definitely after having kids if I'm lucky enough to be able to. I want to see what happens!

Morgan: I would probably do this again or continue doing it. I mean, I feel like the Elvie has thrown down a personal gauntlet against me to be able to drop that jewel. ALL I WANT IS TO DROP THE JEWEL, MAN.

Body Positivity Week is a week of content devoted to exploring and celebrating our complicated relationships with our bodies. Check out more great Body Positivity Week content here.

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