Anal training is the practice of gradually dilating your booty hole at a comfortable pace so you don’t experience pain or discomfort during anal intercourse. As pleasurable as anal sex can be, the fact of the matter is that it’s still a high-pressure act that’s susceptible to injuries and afflictions like microtears, hemorrhoids, skin tags, and fissures.

The muscles that require anal training are the anal sphincter muscles, which are a little over an inch inside your butt. Both the internal and external sphincter muscles form a ring around the anus, and their primary function is to prevent you from unexpectedly farting and shitting yourself.

This is to say they’re used to being closed tight the majority of the time, so when you suddenly attempt to penetrate these muscles, they can get shocked, in a sense, and become sore as a result. Kind of like when you lift too heavy at the gym and your muscles are sore the next day.

The anal sphincter, like all muscles, requires training to perform at their best. Only instead of lifting weights, anal training uses toys and penises to stretch the muscles and help them relax for penetration. And instead of progressing toward heavier weights, the goal of anal training is often to progress toward larger sizes.

Not only does anal training help the muscles relax, it also allows for skin elasticity and toughness courtesy of the friction and continual stretching involved with anal training. Both factors will also help prevent injury.

Anal Training 101

As a concept, anal training is simple. Start with a small toy, and gradually work your way toward larger sizes as your body gets comfortable. Anal training usually takes anywhere from four to six weeks, with each dilation session lasting about three to five minutes.

During these sessions, you will insert a toy to its widest point (or where it’s comfortable) and remove the toy, repeating this process 15 times for two sets. Stick with each toy for roughly two weeks. Though you will likely feel that you can upsize earlier, you want the muscle memory to understand relaxation.

These are just general guidelines, however, and some people have different goals and different holes. Some people’s skin and muscles are tighter than others, so if you take a little longer than expected, be gentle and don’t give up.