The Surprising Link Between Your Workout and Your Poops: Could Exercise Be Making You Constipated?

You'd think that being active would help with constipation, right? Exercise is supposed to get things moving. But here's something most people don't realize: the way you exercise—and specifically how you engage certain muscles—can actually make chronic constipation worse.

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but stick with me. There's a whole network of muscles in your pelvis that control bowel movements, and if you're not using them properly during exercise, you might be inadvertently creating digestive problems.

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Constipation

Think of your pelvic floor muscles as a hammock of muscles that supports all your pelvic organs. These muscles need to be able to contract when you need support and relax when you need to let things go.

The problem is, many of us have pelvic floor dysfunction that shows up as muscles that are either too tight or not coordinated properly. And exercise can make this worse if you're doing it wrong.

The main culprit is a muscle called the puborectalis muscle. This muscle normally keeps a slight "kink" in your rectum to hold things in place until you're ready to go. When you're ready to have a bowel movement, it's supposed to relax and let that kink straighten out.

But if this muscle is chronically tight or doesn't know how to relax properly, it's like having a stubborn gate that won't open. Everything backs up behind it, causing constipation.

The levator ani muscles and external anal sphincter are also part of this coordination team. When they're not working together properly, you get pelvic floor dysfunction that can show up as constipation, difficulty with bowel movements, or feeling like you need to strain.

How Exercise Form Affects Digestive Health

Here's where it gets interesting: your glute muscles and pelvic floor are connected through fascial pathways and work together functionally. When your glutes are strong and doing their job properly, they support your pelvis and take pressure off your pelvic floor.

But when your glutes are weak or not firing correctly (which is common from sitting all day), your pelvic floor has to compensate. It ends up doing work it's not designed for, which can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction and digestive issues.

During exercise, if you're gripping with your pelvic floor instead of using your glutes properly, you're training your pelvic floor to stay tight. Over time, this can make it harder for those muscles to relax when you need them to for proper bowel function.

Think about it: if you're doing squats or deadlifts and unconsciously clenching your pelvic floor the whole time, you're essentially training those muscles to stay contracted. Then when you need them to relax for a bowel movement, they don't know how, leading to exercise-induced constipation.

Proper Exercise Technique for Better Bowel Function

Proper exercise technique isn't just about preventing injury or maximizing muscle gain. It's also about training your muscles to work together in a coordinated way that supports digestive health.

When you exercise with good form and proper muscle activation:

• Your glute muscles do the heavy lifting for hip stability

• Your core provides appropriate support without over-gripping

• Your pelvic floor can respond appropriately to pressure changes

• Your breathing supports the whole system

When your exercise form is off:

• Your pelvic floor compensates for weak glute muscles

• You might hold your breath or breathe shallowly

• Muscles that should relax stay contracted

• You train pelvic floor dysfunction instead of function

Natural Constipation Relief Through Targeted Exercise

I created something called the FLOW Formula (Functional Liberation Of Waste) specifically to address exercise-induced constipation. It's a routine that combines muscle activation, relaxation, and breathing techniques to help retrain your pelvic floor and glutes to work together properly.

The idea is to teach your glute muscles to do their job so your pelvic floor can do its job. It also includes specific relaxation techniques for the pelvic floor muscles that tend to get stuck in contraction.

What makes this approach different is that it's not just about doing more exercise or eating more fiber for constipation relief. It's about addressing the actual muscular dysfunction that might be causing the problem in the first place.

You can download the FLOW Formula PDF to get the specific exercises and techniques. It's designed to be simple enough to do at home but targeted enough to actually make a difference.

When and How Often to Practice These Exercises

For best results, aim to do this routine 3-4 times per week. The key is consistency rather than intensity.

Good times to practice:

• First thing in the morning to get things moving for the day

• Before bed to help your body relax and prepare for overnight elimination

• Before or after your regular workout to support proper muscle coordination

The most important thing is finding a time you can stick with consistently. Even 10-15 minutes a few times a week can make a real difference.

The Bigger Picture

Chronic constipation is miserable, and it can affect your mood, energy, and overall quality of life. But instead of just adding more fiber or taking laxatives, it might be worth looking at whether your exercise habits are contributing to digestive problems.

By understanding how your glute muscles and pelvic floor work together, and training them to function properly, you can address constipation from a completely different angle. Sometimes the solution isn't more of something—it's doing what you're already doing differently.

If you've been dealing with chronic constipation and regular exercise doesn't seem to help (or maybe even makes it worse), this might be the missing piece of the puzzle.

Coming up next in this series: How stomach massage can provide natural constipation relief.

This is part of a series on constipation relief: Part 1: The Surprising Link Between Your Workout and Your Poops: Could Exercise Be Making You Constipated? Part 2: Belly Bliss: How Stomach Massage Can Relieve Constipation Part 3: Poop Like a Pro: How Posture Affects Your Potty Performance Part 4: Beyond the Bathroom: Why You Need These Supplements for Superior Poops Part 5: When Pooping Becomes a Problem: Unraveling Dyssynergic Defecation and Cathartic Colon