What is the PC muscle? Where it is and how to train it

This page covers the name, where the muscle sits, what it does, and how to train it without overdoing it. If you only want the method, our step-by-step guide to Kegel exercises for men has all of it.

What the PC muscle is

The name comes from the two bones it joins. Pubo is the pubic bone, at the front of your pelvis. Coccygeus is the coccyx, your tailbone. One medical reference puts it simply: the pubococcygeus "runs from the pubis to the coccyx".¹

It doesn't work alone. Your pelvic floor muscles are the levator ani plus a smaller muscle called the coccygeus, and the levator ani has three parts of its own: the puborectalis, the pubococcygeus and the iliococcygeus.^1,3 Of those three, the PC is the part nearest the midline.²

Online, "PC muscle" often means more than that one strip. Forum posts and app listings use it as a nickname for the whole pelvic floor. That's loose, but it makes little difference when you train, because exercise instructions don't ask you to pick out one part. The NHS leaflet we follow simply tells you to tighten "the pelvic floor muscles".⁴

Where the PC muscle is

Think of a shallow funnel of muscle stretched across the bottom of your pelvis. One anatomy reference describes the levator ani as "funnel-shaped" and says it "supports and raises the pelvic floor".³ The PC runs along that funnel from front to back, one strip on each side.

Your urethra (the tube you pee through) and your anus pass through the gap the PC frames.² Around the back of that gap, the puborectalis loops behind the point where the rectum meets the anal canal. Further out, the iliococcygeus forms the outer part of the sheet.^1,2

None of this is visible from outside. The skin between your scrotum and your anus is the perineum, and anatomists place the perineum below the pelvic diaphragm, their name for the levator ani and coccygeus together.⁵ So the PC sits deeper, inside your pelvis. What you can feel is the lift when you squeeze: that patch between your scrotum and anus draws up and in.

The PC muscle and its neighbours

The first three make up the levator ani. The last two belong to a thinner outer layer, and they are the ones the research on erections and ejaculation looked at.

What the PC muscle does

Support comes first. Anatomists link the PC and the iliococcygeus with lifting and supporting the pelvic organs, which in men include the bladder, the prostate and the rectum.² An NHS physiotherapy leaflet lists the jobs of the male pelvic floor as bladder control, bowel control, sexual function, stabilising the pelvis and supporting the pelvic organs.⁴

The muscles most linked with sex sit in that outer layer, not in the PC. Men have a pelvic floor too. Two of its muscles sit at the base of the penis: squeezing them raises the pressure inside an erect penis, and they contract in rhythm during ejaculation. Erections start with blood flow, not with these muscles.^7,8,9

You don't need to aim for one of these muscles when you train. The cues below are the ones NHS and trial instructions use for the pelvic floor as a whole.^4,10 For the full layer-by-layer picture, see our guide to male pelvic floor anatomy.

PC muscle vs Kegel

The PC is a muscle. A Kegel is the exercise. The muscle is named after the bones it joins, and the exercise after Arnold Kegel, the American gynaecologist who first described it in 1948.^1,11 By 1952 his papers were naming the pubococcygeus as the muscle being exercised.¹²

So "PC muscle exercises", "PC training", "pelvic floor exercises" and "Kegels" all point at the same thing: squeezing your pelvic floor and letting it go. And the PC vs the pelvic floor? The PC is one part. The pelvic floor is the whole group. If you're curious about the man behind the name, read what is a Kegel.

How to find your PC muscle

The quickest cue comes from that NHS leaflet: "tighten your back passage as if you're trying to stop yourself passing wind".⁴ You should feel a small grip draw up and in, between your scrotum and your anus.

Then check it. In a mirror, you should be able to see the base of your penis move nearer to your abdomen and your testicles rise.¹⁰ Check what shouldn't move, too. The cue in the best-known UK trial was to try to avoid holding your breath, pulling in your abdomen or tensing your buttocks.¹⁰

Don't make a habit of finding it on the toilet. The leaflet says not to practise stopping the flow of urine midstream, "as this may interfere with the normal process of emptying your bladder".⁴

Still not sure you have it? Our guide to finding your pelvic floor has three checks, a side-view diagram and a 20-second first try.

PC muscle exercises for men

PC muscle exercises are Kegels, and the NHS leaflet uses two kinds: slow squeezes that you hold, and fast ones that you let go of straight away.⁴ Here's a first session built from both. It takes about two minutes, lying on your back with your knees bent.

1. Settle. Take two slow breaths and let your belly, buttocks and thighs go soft.
2. Slow squeezes. Breathe in. As you breathe out, squeeze up and in, then breathe normally while you hold for 3 seconds. Let go fully and rest for 5 seconds. Do 5.
3. Quick squeezes. Squeeze and let go straight away, about one a second. Do 5, light and even.
4. Let go. Take four slow breaths and let the area between your scrotum and anus go soft. Don't push.

Build up slowly from there. The NHS leaflet works toward 10-second holds, then 10 slow and 10 fast squeezes, three times a day.⁴ Nobody has pinned down a best amount: a systematic review of pelvic-floor training trials in men found no best programme.¹³ Add time or reps only while every squeeze still feels clean.

Our printable 4-week Kegel plan takes it from here, and the free Kegel timer counts a session out loud in your browser.

How to relax your PC muscle

Letting go is half the exercise. The NHS leaflet says "it is important to feel the muscles relaxing and softening as you let go".⁴ A reverse Kegel takes that one step further. On a slow breath in, you let the pelvic floor soften and drop, without pushing.

You can practise that with our guide to reverse Kegels for men, or follow the free voice-guided pelvic floor relaxation session. If squeezing ever hurts, stop and read the box under "When to stop" first.

When to stop

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.^14,15

Think your pelvic floor may be tight rather than weak? Read tight or hypertonic pelvic floor in men before you train.

See a doctor before you train if

• You have new or changing urinary symptoms, like a weak stream, straining, peeing more often or at night, or new leaks. See a doctor before starting pelvic-floor training.¹⁶
• You have had prostate or pelvic surgery or radiotherapy. Follow your care team's plan first. GoBeast isn't designed for recovery after surgery.¹⁷
• There is blood in your pee. Ask for an urgent doctor's appointment.¹⁸
• You can't pee at all. Get urgent medical help today.¹⁶

How GoBeast helps

GoBeast is a voice-guided Kegel trainer for men. It does the counting and the cueing, so you can train your PC muscle with your eyes closed.

• Your free plan starts with the same find-the-muscle cues as this page and a guided first squeeze.
• Ten Kegel levels, with reverse Kegels built in and a relaxation set at the end of every session.
• Voice and haptic cues for every squeeze, hold and release. In the phone apps they work with the screen locked; the web app keeps the screen on.
• A Pain button that stops the session and switches you to a relax-first path.

Questions