Lift & Let Go

A pelvic floor exercise program for women that starts with the part most guides skip: knowing you are doing it right.

Pelvic floor exercises (Kegels) work: in a Cochrane review of 31 trials, women with stress leaks who trained were far more likely to report being cured than women who did not. But in one well-known study, only about half of women given clear spoken instructions made a correct squeeze, and one in four squeezed in a way that could encourage leaks. This book is built around closing that gap.

Who it is for

Women who leak a little when they cough, sneeze, laugh, run or lift; who rush to the bathroom; who are pregnant or have had a baby; who are around or past menopause; or who simply want to keep these muscles working. It assumes you know nothing about the pelvic floor.

What you will do

• Find it. Where the pelvic floor is, shown on real anatomy illustrations, and your first squeeze step by step, including how to let go fully (the half most people skip).
• Check it. Four checks you can do at home in private: a mirror check, a finger check (optional), a hands check for the buttock, thigh and tummy muscles that try to help, and a voice check for breath-holding. Each has a clear "That's it / Not quite / Stop" so you know what right looks like, and when to stop and get checked.
• Test your numbers. How long you can hold, how many times, and how many quick squeezes. Those three numbers set your own starting dose instead of one target for everyone.
• Train for 16 weeks. Four stages (lying down, then sitting, standing, and on the move), with a simple rule for when to step up and when to repeat a week. Re-tests at weeks 4, 8, 12 and 16.
• Use it every day. The knack (a squeeze just before a cough or sneeze), lifting with your pelvic floor, a routine to calm a sudden urge, and everyday habits that take pressure off.

Also inside

• Three worked examples followed through the whole book: Dana after a forceps birth, Joan at 61 with cough and urgency leaks, and Priya in pregnancy, with their checks, numbers, tracker pages and results.
• Pregnancy, the first days and months after birth, menopause, and pain, tightness and prolapse.
• When to see someone, in both health systems: a table of what needs urgent care, a same-day appointment or a booked appointment, with US and UK routes side by side; who's who (pelvic floor physical therapist / pelvic health physiotherapist, ob-gyn / GP); how to find one; what happens at an appointment.
• A US/UK word list and a numbered list of sources (NHS, NICE, ACOG, Mayo Clinic, NIH, the UK specialist physiotherapists' guide, and published research).

The tracker

A test card, a 3-day bladder diary, 16 weekly logs, a progress chart and a keep-it log for afterwards, at the back of the book. The same pages, plus two cut-out pocket cards, also come as separate printable files.

What you download

• Lift & Let Go (62 pages, PDF, US Letter, color): the whole book, with bookmarks and a contents page.
• Tracker, US Letter (15 pages, PDF) and Tracker, A4 (15 pages, PDF): the printable tracker pages and pocket cards.

Good to know

• This is health information, not a diagnosis. The book says plainly when to see a doctor or pelvic health physical therapist first, including pain, a bulge, trouble emptying, pregnancy and after birth, and no improvement.
• The 16-week plan follows published guidance (NHS, NICE, UK specialist physiotherapists, NIH), but the plan itself has not been tested in a trial. A professional may adjust it for you.
• US words first, with UK words alongside. This is a PDF download; no physical book is shipped.