Advanced Kegel exercises for men: six patterns, step by step

New to all this? Start with how to do Kegel exercises and come back once the basics feel easy. This page picks up where that one stops.

Every pattern below comes from the GoBeast app, where each one has its own voice cues and a set place on a 10-level ladder. To be straight with you, the patterns, hold times and rep counts are our design, kept deliberately gentle. They aren't copied from a trial, and nobody has tested whether they do more than plain squeezes.

Before you try any of these

An NHS physiotherapy leaflet for men describes "two types of exercises, slow and fast", and says "it is important you do both".¹ Slow means a squeeze you hold, building toward 10 seconds. Fast means a quick squeeze you let go of straight away, about one a second.¹ Every pattern on this page is a variation on those two.

So get those right first. Run through this list after your normal session. If every line has been true for a week or two of sessions, you're ready for your first pattern.

• You find the muscle every time, a small lift between your scrotum and your anus.
• You can hold a slow squeeze for about 5 seconds and breathe through it.
• You can do 10 quick squeezes and let go fully between each one.
• Your belly, buttocks and thighs stay soft. The cue from the best-known UK trial was to try to avoid holding your breath, pulling in your abdomen or tensing your buttocks.²
• The muscle drops all the way back after each squeeze.
• Nothing hurts, during or after.

If a line fails, stay with the basics for now. 7 Kegel mistakes men make shows the usual causes.

What advanced means here

Advanced doesn't mean harder or better. It means more varied. Each pattern asks the muscle for something a plain squeeze doesn't: climbing in steps, rising slowly, letting go slowly, switching on fast, or holding again and again.

Most patterns use rough levels of effort: a quarter, a half, three-quarters and your strongest. Strongest always means your strongest comfortable squeeze, never a strain. Nobody can measure these levels without equipment, so they're rough on purpose. Find your strongest comfortable squeeze once, then judge the others against it. If your buttocks or belly join in, you've gone past it.

How to read the curves

Each pattern has a curve. Time runs left to right and effort goes up the page. Gold is squeezing and holding. Blue is letting go and resting. Look at how every rep ends: back at zero, fully relaxed, before the next one starts.

Elevator: climb in four steps

The Elevator climbs in four steps, from a quarter of your strongest squeeze to your strongest, then lets go slowly. In GoBeast it's the move that teaches every level on the effort scale.

How to do it

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent, or sit tall. Breathe normally.
2. Floor one: squeeze lightly, about a quarter of your strongest, and hold for 2 to 4 seconds.
3. Floor two: squeeze up to about half and hold just as long.
4. Floor three is about three-quarters. Floor four is your strongest comfortable squeeze. Hold each for the same count.
5. Let go slowly over 3 seconds, all the way to zero. Rest for 3 to 4 seconds before the next one.

When to try it

Once you can hold a clean 5-second squeeze and tell a half squeeze from a full one. In GoBeast it arrives at Level 3, alongside 5-second holds. Start with 2-second floors, so the whole climb takes about 10 seconds. With 4-second floors it lasts about 18, so build up to those slowly.

Don't strain

Floor four is your strongest comfortable squeeze, not your hardest possible one. If you hold your breath or your buttocks clench on the way up, stop at floor three for now. The ride down counts too: let go evenly, not all at once.

Ramp: build a little each second

The Ramp builds the squeeze a little more each second, like turning up a dial, then lets go all at once. It trains control on the way up.

How to do it

1. Start fully relaxed.
2. Squeeze a little more each second for 3 seconds, up to about three-quarters of your strongest.
3. At the top, let go all at once and feel the muscle drop.
4. Rest for 2 seconds, then start the next one.

When to try it

Once your slow squeezes feel smooth rather than jerky. GoBeast adds it at Level 3, next to the Elevator. Later the climb stretches to 4 seconds.

Don't strain

The top is three-quarters, not your strongest. If the squeeze jumps instead of building, make each step smaller.

Fade: squeeze fast, let go slowly

The Fade is the Ramp turned around: a quick squeeze, then a slow let-go, as if you were lowering something heavy. It trains control on the way down.

How to do it

1. From relaxed, squeeze quickly, in under a second, to about three-quarters of your strongest.
2. Let go as slowly as you can over 3 to 4 seconds, all the way to zero.
3. Rest fully for a moment before the next one.

When to try it

After the Ramp feels smooth. GoBeast adds it at Level 4. If the muscle drops all at once halfway down, shorten the let-go to 2 seconds and build back up.

Don't strain

Keep breathing while you let go. A slow let-go is easy to turn into a breath-hold without noticing.

Peak: slowly up, slowly down

The Peak puts the Ramp and the Fade together. You squeeze slowly up, then let go just as slowly, with no pause at the top.

How to do it

1. From relaxed, squeeze a little more each second for 3 to 5 seconds, up to about three-quarters.
2. Without pausing at the top, let go just as slowly, over the same count.
3. Rest at zero for a moment before the next one.

When to try it

Once both the Ramp and the Fade feel even. It arrives at Level 5 in GoBeast. Count the same number up and down: start with 3 and work toward 5. The free Kegel timer has two voice-guided sets of Peaks in its Quick + slow preset, if you want to try one for free.

Don't strain

If you run short of breath near the top, shorten the count.

Surge: fast to your strongest

The Surge is the strength move: a fast squeeze to your strongest comfortable effort, held briefly, then let go completely.

How to do it

1. From relaxed, squeeze fast, in under a second, to your strongest comfortable squeeze.
2. Hold it for 2 to 3 seconds. Keep breathing and keep your buttocks soft.
3. Let it all go and rest for 2 to 3 seconds before the next one.

When to try it

Only once everything above feels clean. In GoBeast it arrives at Level 6 as your first full-strength set, and each set lasts about half a minute.

Don't strain

Strongest comfortable is the ceiling. The faster you squeeze, the easier it is to brace your belly or hold your breath, so check both on every rep. If your buttocks lift you off the floor, ease off.

Ascent: five holds, each one longer

The Ascent is the endurance move: five firm squeezes held for 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 seconds, with a full let-go between each.

How to do it

1. Squeeze to about three-quarters of your strongest and hold for 1 second.
2. Let it all go for 2 seconds.
3. Do the same with holds of 3, 5, 6 and then 7 seconds, letting go fully for 2 seconds between each.
4. After the last hold, let go slowly over 3 seconds, all the way to zero.

When to try it

Once a clean 8-second hold feels easy, because the last hold comes after four others. In GoBeast it arrives at Level 7, after at least 30 sessions.

Don't strain

If the 6 or the 7 starts to shake, or your breath catches, stop at 5 for now. The whole set takes under 40 seconds. It isn't a test.

Putting them together

Don't do all six at once. Add one new pattern to the session you already do, keep it for at least a week of sessions, then add the next. Always finish with a relax set.

GoBeast's own levels mix the patterns differently. Level 5, for example, runs the Elevator, Peak, steady holds, Two-Step (half, then full), quick squeezes and a let-go set. Level 10 is the full ladder in about 8 minutes.

Quick flicks and long holds

You'll see two other names for advanced Kegels elsewhere.

Quick flicks are the fast squeezes from the NHS leaflet: tighten quickly and let go straight away, about one a second.¹ In GoBeast they're called Quickfire, and they stay in every level. Keep them light and even. Small and even beats big and fast.

Long holds are slow squeezes held for longer. The NHS leaflet aims for 10 seconds,¹ and we don't push single holds past about 10 seconds in GoBeast either. The Elevator keeps you squeezing for longer overall, but only its top floor is at full effort. How long to hold a Kegel has a hold ladder and a way to time your own clean hold.

When not to progress

Go back a step, or back to plain squeezes, if:

• you hold your breath, or can't count out loud through a hold;
• your buttocks, belly or thighs join in;
• the muscle won't drop fully between reps, or feels tight or tired afterwards;
• anything aches or hurts, during or after.

Pelvic-floor strengthening isn't right for everyone. If you have pain in your pelvis, genitals, perineum or bottom, pain when you ejaculate or pee, or trouble starting to pee, your pelvic floor may be too tense rather than too weak, or something else may be going on. Guidelines advise against Kegel-style strengthening for pelvic pain with a tender pelvic floor. Stop, see a doctor, and ask about a pelvic-floor physiotherapist.^3,4

In studies, pelvic-floor training caused few or no reported side effects, but men with pelvic pain weren't included. Pain isn't normal: stop.^5,6

Our guides to a tight or hypertonic pelvic floor and reverse Kegels cover the let-go side.

How GoBeast helps

GoBeast is a voice-guided Kegel trainer for men. The patterns on this page are built into its levels, so you don't have to remember any of them.

• Ten Kegel levels, with each new pattern in its place on the ladder. After 5 sessions at a level you move up, as long as the last 2 didn't feel too hard.
• A voice that calls every floor, squeeze, hold and release, so you can follow a pattern with your eyes closed. The first time you meet a new pattern, the app shows you its shape before you start.
• Miss a few days and your level holds. After a week or more off you go back one level, and there's an easy warm-up session for coming back.
• A let-go set at the end of every session, and a Pain button that stops the session and switches you to a relax-first path.

Comparing apps first? Here's how the main Kegel apps for men compare.

Questions