So up until recently, we bet you never saw a woman lift a surfboard with her hoo-ha. Or, say, a chandelier. But the Internet is full of unexpected gifts, and one of them is — wait for it — vaginal weightlifting.
As we recently told you, Kim Anami is a holistic sex and relationship expert who has spent the last two decades practicing something she calls "vaginal kung fu."
While that calls to mind all kinds of really wrong cartoons, Anami describes it as an ancient Taoist practice that strengthens the pelvic floor and increases sexual pleasure. She pops a little jade egg with a string attached into her lady bits, then uses her crazy-strong pelvic floor to lift all kinds of bizarre stuff.
Like, you know, a coconut.
Our first reaction: Ouch!
Our second: Wait a second. Anami claims to be able to lift up to 10 pounds with her vagina. And have 20 orgasms in a row. Should we all start studying vaginal kung fu?
The answer, in short, is: hell, no.
"It's ridiculous," says Dr. Teresa Hoffman, MD, a board-certified OB/GYN at the Family Childbirth and Children's Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. "Just because you can do something with your body doesn't mean it's a good idea."
Your pelvic floor is a network of muscles, ligaments, connective tissues, and nerves that hold up your vagina, uterus, bladder, and rectum. They simply aren't designed to lift weights, says Dr. Hoffman.
Doing so could cause two problems. One, in the short term, is sexual function. You know how an obsessive body builder has sooo many muscles that he can barely bend over? Well, the muscles in your vagina can bulge too, Dr. Hoffman points out. And to the point that a penis might no longer be able to fit.
That's bummer #1. Bummer #2: the long-term probs.
More from The Stir: 10 Amazing Things Your Vagina Is Doing Right NOW
Ever heard of prolapse? That's when the muscles and walls of your vagina have had enough and kind of give up. Pelvic organ prolapse is a thing, too, where your uterus, bladder, etc., start to fall out of their usual positions. Without medical attention, they can fall into the vagina. Or out the vaginal opening, which sounds all kinds of terrible.
Obviously, if your va-jay-jay is strong enough to lift a chandelier, prolapse is not going to happen tomorrow. "But think of a strong man who can pull a car with his teeth," says Dr. Hoffman. "He might not know he has a problem until he's 65."
The bottom line (excuse the pun)? "At no point in anyone's life do they need to be lifting heavy things with their vagina," says Dr. Hoffman.
But you can — and should — simply strengthen your V-muscles.
"I have many patients who suffer from muscle spasms in the vagina, which result in pain from sex," says Dr. Nicole E. Williams, MD, FACOG, a board-certified gynecologic surgeon at the Gynecology Institute of Chicago. "With pelvic floor therapy, which often involves strength training, a woman can learn to contract and relax those muscles."
Think Kegels, though. Not hoisting tropical fruit on a chain.
The benefits of learning about, and gently toning, that muscle group can help you have deeper orgasms and decreased urinary incontinence, says Dr. Williams.
But as for vaginal kung fu, "I would consider that an extreme sport and those activities cannot be condoned," she says.
Image via kimanami/Instagram
