More anatomy
There are several muscles in the male pelvis that lie close together, yet have little to do with Dr. Kegel’s exercise. The original purpose was for women to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles and prevent urine leakage. It progressed to being an aid to better sex and then progressed to men. Since we have different anatomies, the way to find the muscle is a bit different than with women.
The urethra (urine tube from the bladder to the outside) in women is very short, right up front, and surrounded (at a slight distance) by the pubococcygeus muscle (PC muscle). Telling a woman to start and stop her urine flow is a good way for her to find that muscle. The urethra in men is quite a bit longer and the sphincter that controls urine flow is in a different place than the muscle that causes the penis to “jump” under conscious control (more about this in our upcoming article on anatomy/erection/ejaculation). It really takes very little effort to stop your urine flow. You don’t have to clamp down hard. The next time you urinate, try to very gently stop the flow. It’s almost automatic. But doing that won’t help you find the right muscle to relax during a reverse Kegel.
The point of doing the reverse Kegel is to allow the muscles to relax so your hanging, manual stretching or pumping can work better at stretching the tissues and ligaments without interference and “back pull” by the muscles. To see how that relaxation feels, do this: After all the urine is out of your bladder see if you can push out a little more. The feeling is of a slight increase in lower abdominal pressure. You don’t have to strain. Just increase the lower abdominal pressure a bit. Now do it while inhaling. If you can create that slight amount of relaxation/increased lower abdominal pressure while breathing in, then you won’t be using your diaphragm to increase the pressure too much. This can happen when you hold your breath. So breathing in at the same time as you gently try to force out more urine will provide the sensations you need to feel during the reverse Kegel.