I am Jennifer Vollmann and this is my Kegelbell story...
I gave birth to my daughter 4 years ago. An avid crossfitter, hiker, and olympic lifter at the time, I worked out until 12 hours before went into labor. I was lucky enough to have a fast and natural birth in the care of a midwife and doula. I had wonderful follow-up care at my birth center and continued to see my naturopathic doctor for ongoing health support. I say all of this to show that even though I had, in my opinion, an ideal pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care, I had no clue the extent of my pelvic floor weakness and the issues I would experience because of it.
Nowhere in my check-ups or in the many books I read about pregnancy and postpartum care, did I learn that I should be doing kegels for 100 minutes a week. Nowhere did I learn that it is not normal to pee when I jump rope. Or that feeling like my organs were going to fall out when I ran more than a mile is a sign of organ prolapse. And no where did I learn that if left unaddressed, my pelvic floor would continue to weaken and cause serious issues down the road. I maintained my fitness and strength during my pregnancy so I assumed my body was good to go after I gave birth. I thought leaking and heavy sensations when I run was just my new normal, my “gift of motherhood”, and I would just have to adjust.
Then I met Stephanie and she introduced me to Kegelbell. It changed my life. In just two weeks of using Kegelbell for 5 minutes 3 days a week, I stopped peeing when I lifted heavy weights. I could run five, then eight, then thirteen miles without feeling like my organs were going to drop out of my vagina. Being an athlete is a huge part of who I am. Without Kegelbell, I would be spending my time thinking about how uncomfortable it was to run, or trying to quickly wipe the pee off the weight platform instead of pushing my body to be stronger and faster. I now compete in long distance triathlons and after hours and hours of racing, never once do I need to worry about my body supporting my efforts.
Pelvic floor weakness is affecting millions of women. Many of whom, like me, assume that this is just their life and nothing can be done. If I didn't start using Kegelbell, who knows how long my body would hold up with all my training before I had to take serious measures, like surgery. We don't need surgeries, we don't need expensive equipment. We just need 15 minutes a week to dedicate to Kegelbell and we can make a huge difference in our health lifting where it counts. For these reasons, I now work with Kegelbell to help other women too.
