This Device Made Me Realise Just How Weak My Pelvic Floor Really Is

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Other than at the gym and when I have a UTI (which is, unfortunately, pretty often) my pelvic floor isn’t something I’ve ever given much thought to.

Admittedly, I pee probably 20 times a day (for real) but I’d always attributed that to the fact I drink a shit ton of water, tea, and coffee.

Whenever I see those ‘do your kegels with me’ videos on TikTok or Instagram reels, I’ll follow along (I’m fickle, after all). And by my judgement, it does seem like I know how to do a kegel.

But otherwise, I go about my life pretty much entirely ignorant of my pelvic floor health.

When I heard that Smile Makers Collection – the creators of some of my favourite sex toys like the Ballerina and Poet – was venturing into the wellness category with the launch of Pelvic Partner, I wasn’t exactly excited.

I mean, vibrators are one thing, but pelvic floor trainers are another thing – perhaps necessary, but they’re not going to give you any thrills. Or, so I thought.

When I received the Pelvic Partner, though, that changed everything I thought I knew about the pelvic floor.

If, like me, you’re wondering why the pelvic floor really matters, it might surprise you to learn that strengthening this group of hidden muscles can help prevent unwanted symptoms as you age.

The muscles surround the bladder, bowels, and reproductive organs, which means they can weaken as you age, during menopause, or during and after childbirth.

Weak pelvic floor muscles can result in incontinence, instability, lower back pain, and needing the toilet often, while having a pelvic floor that is too tight can also result in constipation, pain during sex, and erectile dysfunction.

To prevent your pelvic floor weakening as you age, the NHS recommends doing daily pelvic floor exercises. This involves squeezing your muscles to engage them for two seconds and releasing, and repeating 10 times.

Not sure how to tell you’re doing it right? The NHS describes the sensation as the same as when you’re stopping yourself from peeing and farting. So it’s about to get hot and sexy up in here.

Thankfully, Pelvic Partner easy as to use (you’re not going to get me to do exercise any other way).

After charging it using the USB cable, you simply slather the surface in lube, pop it inside your vagina up until the ‘comfort line’ and bend the tail towards your belly button.

You then turn it on, using the button at the end of the tail, and switch between the eight ‘training programmes’ the toy is equipped with.

Just like you’d train at the gym, Smile Makers Collection recommends using the Partner three times a week for two to three sets, at 10-15 reps per session.

To start with, the brand suggests choosing a setting you can complete all your exercises with. Settings one and two are ‘gentle’ to teach you how to engage your pelvic floor; three and four are ‘building’; five and six are ‘strong’; and seven and eight are ‘advanced’.

Once you feel like it’s easy to complete your session, you can move up to the next setting. This would be easy, I thought.

About me: I’m a 26-year-old woman who doesn’t have children. I’ve been testing sex toys and sexual wellness products for around five years, both in this role and my previous role at Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, and Men’s Health, as well as while running my podcast/magazine, Sextras.

I’ve been using Smile Makers Collection’s Pelvic Partner for three weeks, making sure to not testing any other pelvic floor products at the same time.

As someone who has never done pelvic floor exercises consistently, I made sure to stick to a regime of three times a week. I also followed the brand’s instructions of how to use the trainer to make sure I was getting the most out of it.

First up, this little orange device has two bulbous spheres that are supposed to sit inside your vagina – and just from giving it a squeeze with my hands, it felt fantastic.

Covered in smooth silicone, the toy has a cushiony feel to it, which is unlike other internal sex toys and pelvic floor trainers I’ve tried. This also makes it slick enough for washing it to take seconds.

Upon turning it on, I could tell exactly how the toy would work. It’s loaded with 360 degrees of haptic squeeze sensors, which means it vibrates when you’re engaging your pelvic floor.

To make sure you know what setting you’re on, the trainer will buzz the same amount of times, making it extremely intuitive.

Even better, it doesn’t require an app, so I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about it storing any of my sensitive data.

As someone who has done mat Pilates at least once a week for the last few years, I have always believed myself to know where my pelvic floor muscles are, and how to engage them. I’ve also never had any serious health conditions linked to my pelvic floor, so I didn’t think I had any issues with strength down there.

The first time I tried this trainer, it became clear just how wrong I was. While its first two settings felt like light work – it immediately vibrated at even the slightest contraction on the first one – the move up to the third setting was significant.

While I could easily do 10 reps, it felt tricky (to say the least) to keep going after just one set. I just about managed two, and thought I’d move up to the fourth programme just to see if I could hack it. But no ball. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not make the damn thing buzz.

Now, I’m not exactly a competitive person, which is why I’ve always been a begrudging exerciser. With this trainer, though, I started to feel myself become competitive the more I used it.

Determined to move up through the strengths, I committed to using it three times a week.

And in the span of a mere seven days, I was able to move up to the fourth setting with no problem at all.

I even think the trainer has helped with my posture and my workouts. At my weekly Pilates class, I have found myself engaging my core in a way I didn’t know I needed to previously.

Another welcome side effect is that my orgasms feel slightly stronger, or at least I’m more aware of my pelvic floor during penetration – and I’m excited to see how this builds as I work up through the programmes.

Overall, I’d rate the trainer five stars – both for design, ease of use, and results I didn’t know I needed.