There are countless reasons for working out regularly: to improve your health, to relieve stress and to fit into those size 2 jeans. Need a new motivation? As it turns out, regular exercise can improve your sex life, contributing to both your libido and immediate sexual arousal. Your workout routine will not only have you looking good, but feeling good — literally.
MIND AND BODY
Sexuality, of course, isn’t entirely physical. Yoga can help improve the mental components of your sex drive and sexual experience.
“Yoga allows you to become more aware of parts of yourself that you’re usually not aware of, and then when you are you can make choices about how you want to use your body and energy,” says Nick Beem, co-owner and teacher at Evanston’s Grateful Yoga. “The whole body is an erotic area potentially, so the more present you are in your body and the less you’re in your head thinking about other things, the more sensation will be there and the more pleasure you will be able to have because you’re completely aware of it.” Of course the strength, flexibility and balance achieved from practicing yoga lend themselves nicely to the physical aspects of your sex life.
Whether or not you buy the theories behind the connection between sex and exercise, their relationship is undeniable.
“When you exercise and are in shape, you’ll look and feel more attractive,” says Tony Battle, owner of Chicago Fitness Coach. “If you feel more confident in your body, you’ll attract more confident people.”
WORKOUT AS FOREPLAY
For those who want a more immediate response, the University of Texas at Austin’s Sexual Psychophysiology Lab’s current research has shown that working out can significantly increase sexual arousal.
“Exercise primes the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system that’s responsible for increasing blood pressure, heart rate, dilating your pupils and all of the things that go along with a fight-or-flight response,” says Tierney Lorenz, a doctoral candidate at the Sexual Psychophysiology Lab. “If you then introduce an erotic cue, genital arousal will be significantly increased above and beyond normal arousal.” In other words, your best sex could happen right after your best workout.
Unfortunately, the window of this increased stimulation is short. According to Lorenz, these effects start to diminish as early as 15 minutes after cardiovascular exercise and an hour after strength training. Your best bet is to jump off the treadmill and into your partner’s bed.
Worried about hygiene? Just multitask in the shower.
YOUR REGULAR ROUTINE
“Obviously if you are exercising regularly, you are going to be more likely to have good physical health, and that’s going to lead you to have good sexual health as well,” Lorenz says. “There have been suggestions that exercise can increase your levels of testosterone, and in that sense it could also increase your sex drive.”
Battle says he believes in the connection between libido and exercise.
“Total body movement is what’s going to do that,” he says, referencing a change in your usual routine for the sake of one’s sex life. “It’s not like any specific body part movement is going to make a difference. When you work out in a complete aerobic or boot camp atmosphere, the high intensity will release endorphins and increase your testosterone.”