Leaking Pee with Heavy Lifts

If You’re Not Peeing, You’re Not PRing.

We’ve all heard it from coaches, teammates, and your favorite powerlifter’s social media comment section. If you’re struggling with peeing when you lift, it probably makes you feel better and less self-conscious with lifting heavy (I know it does for me!).

But is this actually unavoidable? Is it something you should strive for? If you didn’t pee, did you undershoot the lift? Let’s take a look!

First and foremost, let’s get one thing cleared up: it is NOT something you should strive for and not peeing does NOT mean you undershot your lift. Lifters leak urine for many reasons, and effort is only part of the puzzle.

So Why DOES Peeing Happen?

Well it depends on the lifter, their pelvic floor, and their bracing strategy. Most often, I see issues when a lifter has an intra-abdominal pressure mismatch, braces with a “Bear Down” strategy, has had a recent low back/ core muscle injury, or any combination of these.

Intra-Abdominal Pressure and the Pelvic Floor:

In a heavy lift, your body will naturally take a bigger breath, hold off on the exhale, contract the core muscles, which increases intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). The heavier the lift, the bigger the inhale, the bigger the core contraction, and the higher the IAP. This happens whether you’re thinking about it or not, and of course if you are thinking about it, you’ll be able to brace even bigger!

Most of us consider the big inhale, the breath hold, and the core squeeze to fill and brace the core, but the forgotten piece is often the pelvic floor. If we’re doing all this work to brace the core from the top (holding your breath) and from the sides (squeezing you core), but we’re NOT doing ANYTHING to brace from the bottom (your pelvic floor), then we’re obviously going to leak that brace where there’s nothing to hold it.

We’re only as strong as our weakest link, right?

Now don’t get it twisted- that does NOT mean you need to be performing a max effort kegel every lift. In fact, I insist you don’t as it will probably make your leaking worse. All you should need is a light contraction- just enough to push back on the IAP you’ve built in the core.

Bearing Down in Your Brace:

This is really just part 2 to everything we just talked about. If you’re taking your big breath, and big strong brace, and pushing ALL THAT PRESSURE down into your pelvic floor, then you are asking far more than your pelvic floor can handle.

Let me hold your hand while I say this. You cannot out-kegel a bear down bracing strategy. You will pee or poo or fart or an extra special combo of any or all.

Instead, direct that pressure out into your abdominal wall. Out in front is easiest for most people, but pushing into your obliques (sides) and lats (back) as well will create a stronger, more stable base.

Low Back and Abdominal Injuries:

I’ve seen several cases where someone has a low back injury, then starts having a pelvic floor leaking issue when they had never struggled before. What happens is the muscles in the back and core switch to protecting the injury and guarding the area.

Everything will be extra. Extra inhale for extra IAP. Extra IAP for extra brace. Extra brace for extra protection. And with the incoordination of the core muscles after the injury, we’re often missing at least one piece of the brace, usually the core or pelvic floor.

Similarly, if you’ve had an abdominal surgery, hernia, or the abdominal stretching of pregnancy, the core is disrupted and the brace can take a little more effort and concentration.

So If We Fix All of These Things, Then We Won’t Pee Anymore?

Welllll, we are still only as strong as our weakest link. So, if the pelvic floor is still your weakest link, we’ll still pee when weights get heavy and form breaks down.

BUT THAT DOEN’T MEAN WE SHOULDN’T TRAIN IT.

Okay, I’m sorry to yell, but that was really important.

If your form failed by rounding your back, you’d train your back extensors to stay upright through your lift. If you failed your squats out of the hole, you’d train your quads and glutes to get out of the hole stronger.

So why is it that when we fail at the pelvic floor, we decide it’s not something worth working on? Probably because you can still make the lift and it doesn't leave you limping away from the rep. But big dawg, as we’ve just put together, the pelvic floor is DEEPLY intertwined with the whole brace. So if your pelvic floor goes, the brace has gone too, which can open you up to misgrooves and back strains.

The good news? The pelvic floor is a muscle group that can be trained just like anything else, and addressing weaknesses there will lead to a stronger brace and BIGGER PRs than just letting the pee flow.

Not addressing this is leaving kilos on the platform, so let’s start working on it. We'd love to work with you online or in-person at our clinic or you can attend the Pelvic Floor for Lifters Virtual Lecture where we'll dive into these topics in more detail!