Female pelvic health is your business
A cheat sheet for gym owners and coaches
Pelvic floor dysfunction is more common amongst active women than you think.
Here’s what you need to know….
What is Pelvic Floor?
A group of muscles at the base of the pelvis supporting the bladder, bowel and uterus. It controls continence and plays a key role in sexual function.
How does it work?
The pelvic floor is part of the deep core. It works in sync with the diaphragm and the breath. On inhale it relaxes and descends; on exhale it lifts and contracts — coordination, not just strength.
How common is it?
1 in 3
Women experience pelvic floor issues
Up to 50%
Of eomen experience leaking when exercising
Only 38%
Ever seek help for it (and most won’t tell their coach)
Common symptoms include leaking during exercise (running, jumping, lifting), urgency, pelvic heaviness or pressure, pelvic pain, and pain during intercourse. Active women are significantly affected.
What this looks like in your gym
- Multiple toilet trips before or during a workout
- Avoiding or scaling back impact (jumping, running) without injury
- Rigid, breath-holding movement patterns – especially under load or impact
- Requesting modified movements but not explaining why
- Going AWOL during pregnancy, postnatally or around perimenopause
- Stopping exercise altogether – often without telling you the reason
If your members are leaking, you’re probably leaking revenue.
Research by Dakic et al, 2021 showed that 46% of women experiencing pelvic floor symptoms stopped exercise they had previously participated in. Even young women and those who haven’t had kids.
Members who experience symptoms might quietly disengage, or leave.
Pelvic health isn’t a niche women’s issue. It’s a retention issue.
3 myths worth busting
Myth 1 — “Strong women have a strong pelvic floor”
The pelvic floor isn’t just about strength – it’s about flexibility, timing, and coordination. A pelvic floor that is too tense or tight or a bit off with its timing is just as problematic as a weak one. Clenching the pelvic floor even more is rarely the solution.
Myth 2 — “It’s just a postnatal problem”
Yes – pregnancy and birth are major risk factors. But pelvic floor dysfunction spans the entire female lifespan: it affects teens in high-impact sport, women with no children, and is extremely common during perimenopause and menopause when falling oestrogen reduces pelvic tissue support.
Myth 3 — “You just have to stop lifting/running/training”
Research shows that symptoms lead many women to reduce or stop exercise entirely (Dakic et al, 2021) which harms long-term health. With the right support, most women can continue to exercise. Gyms and coaches play an important role in creating environments where they feel safe discussing their issues.
Coaching Considerations
Open the conversation
Normalise pelvic health questions in your screening forms. A simple question asked in a sensitive way, signals a safe space and often surfaces symptoms that would otherwise stay hidden.
Know the signs
Recognise avoidance of impact, breath-holding under load, and unexplained absences as possible pelvic health flags – not just technique issues or motivation problems.
Understanding pressure and breath
Breathing strategies, such as “exhale on exertion” for lifting or “relax and keep breathing” during skipping, help manage intra abdominal pressure and ensure the pelvic floor muscles can do the right thing at the right time.
Refer with confidence
A specialist pelvic health physiotherapist can transform outcomes. You don’t need to fix this — you just need to know when (and who) to refer to.
Honour the lifespan
Adjust programming expectations for pregnant or postnatal members, those in perimenopause, and anyone returning after pelvic surgery.
Make it a differentiator
Breathing strategies, such as “Gyms and coaches who take pelvic health seriously build deep loyalty, especially among women in their 30s–50s. It’s a genuine competitive advantage.
Want to make your gym or coaching business pelvic-health friendly?
Get in touch to learn how I work with gyms, coaches and fitness professionals to uplevel their women’s health knowledge and better support their members.
Hi, I’m Beth, a personal trainer, coach and educator working to bridge the gap between pelvic health, and the fitness industry, With 13 years of coaching experience and having helped hundreds of women who were experiencing pelvic floor issues, I bring depth, nuance and practical application to a topic that often gets put away in a little box labelled “women’s issues” and forgotten about (and let’s not forget that men have a pelvic floor and may also experience leaking, or haemerroids).
Contact me on
07947 498341
Or via my website www.bethdaviescoaching.co.uk