Men, get ready for a different kind of workout.
A new device will help you perform a variety of pelvic floor exercises -- a.k.a. Kegels -- that can boost sexual stamina and prevent leaks from your bladder, making it a nice idea for guys young and old. It's called the kGoal Boost and it kind of looks like a black and blue vagina.
The thing is basically a big pulsing button that you sit on. You can put it on your office chair, your church pew, whatever. The kGoal Boost may not be the first such device, but it might be the most interactive. It connects to a smartphone app and gives you a variety of exercises and activities centered around flexing that region between your penis and butt. It's designed to work even if you're wearing pants.
(Please wear pants.)
"All of our guided workouts and games are five-minute chunks. If you're doing a workout for five minutes a day, every day, you're going to be in a real good spot," Brian Krieger, CEO of Minna Life, the company behind the device, told The Huffington Post in an interview Wednesday.
Here's what a "real good spot" means, according to Minna Life: You'll have greater control over your orgasms, better bladder control and an easier time recovering if you've just had prostate surgery.
There's an entire realm of pelvic floor physical therapy that taps into these ideas for men who've undergone certain procedures or have conditions like diabetes, and the Urology Care Foundation recommends Kegel exercises to prevent urine leakage.
In truth, you don't really need a device to do Kegel exercises. You could be doing them right now! Just flex your no-no zone.
But the activities in the kGoal Boost smartphone app are designed to give you varied workouts. In addition to simple flexing exercises, there's also a version of the classic arcade game "Breakout!"
"Depending on the day, you can work on muscle strength or muscle endurance," Krieger said.
"The pelvic floor is actually a network of muscles rather than a single muscle. Our exercises are actually going after the network," Jonathan Thomas, Minna Life's chief operating officer, added.
Another bonus, depending on how dedicated you are: The kGoal Boost app will remind you to do your exercises, and Minna Life hopes to incorporate a competitive aspect that will allow you to measure your Kegel fitness against others'.
Minna Life is currently looking for cash on Kickstarter -- it's about halfway to its $100,000 goal. But this isn't exactly the company's first time delving into the pelvic floor: A previous device, the original kGoal, is readily available to help women boost their strength down below.
“"If you're doing a workout for five minutes a day, every day, you're going to be in a real good spot."”
- Brian Krieger, CEO of Minna Life
"We got interested in sexual health because it's an area that has this sweet spot where it's a really important part of the human experience as a quality of life driver, but it has a low standard of solution in the space," Krieger said. "There's a lot of bad products, or a lack of products to help people."
Indeed: Sex truly is an important part of the human experience. It is, in fact, the action that makes all human experience possible to begin with.
If you're curious about the kGoal Boost, you can check out the Kickstarter here. If you'd like to boost your pelvic floor without sitting on a button, the Mayo Clinic has some recommended techniques you can try.