You already know sex is good for you! With ample benefits for the heart and mind, a healthy sex life, whether it’s with yourself or a partner, contributes to overall wellness and one’s sense of satisfaction.
But can you intentionally use sex to work toward physical health goals?
Sex does indeed burn calories, but don’t be misled. Almost everything we do burns calories—laughing, singing, dancing. Everything joyful, sex included. One study found that most people’s average 25-minute sex session only burns around 70-100 calories or so, compared with aerobic activity, which burned around 300 calories in that same amount of time. But another study revealed that actual penetrative sex typically doesn’t last 25 minutes, so far fewer calories will be burned.
All that is to say, you shouldn’t rely on sex alone to remain fit, but if you do practice healthy living, your sex life will improve, and you can build up the energy and stamina to have more energetic, longer-lasting, calorie-burning sex. Some sex more arduous positions will absolutely burn more calories than others, and the more acrobatic ones can definitely make your muscles sore the next day. If you have sex in conjunction with other forms of exercise—aerobic, in combination with low-impact stretching types of exercise like pilates or yoga—you can certainly consider yourself a sexercise enthusiast. If you eat right and make healthy lifestyle decisions, you’ll enjoy the results of a healthy, active lifestyle in and out of the bedroom.
Aerobic Exercise
Sex can be (delightfully) rigorous. If you’re not in shape, all too quickly, you can find yourself out of breath or tired just when things are starting to feel really good. Cardio training can help improve blood flow.
Cardio can be anything from sprinting to jazzercise. Doctors recommend people get an average of 30 minutes of cardio a day. Squats, push-ups and crunches can also improve agility and build and strengthen the very muscles that are used most often during sex.
Stretching
If you’ve ever tried to do a fancy girl-on-top position without having stretched beforehand, you know the pain of the day (sometimes days) after, trying to move like a normal person without drawing attention to your newfound duck walk. The more limber and flexible you are, the easier it’ll be to bounce back from more trying sex positions.
Stretching before and after sex can help improve your agility, get your muscles warm and loose for the main event, and break down any lactic acid buildup acquired during your session. There is some suggestion that stretching can even increase your sensitivity; getting your body moving will increase blood flow, leading to more reactivity to touch.
Yoga and pilates are both amazing ways to increase energy and flexibility. Poses that work out the abs, hamstrings and glutes are especially helpful when it comes to really nailing more complicated positions. Butterfly, bridge and pigeon poses are great practice, as are shoulder-stands and warrior poses. Iyengar yoga, a style that focuses on holding poses for a long time, is a wonderful study to incorporate into your practice. If you can stay in warrior pose or plank for several minutes, you’ll have no problem spending a long time on your hands and knees in the boudoir!
Mula Bandha!
Or more commonly known as Kegel exercises, what’s known in yoga as the “root lock” position entails squeezing the root chakra, or the pelvic floor muscles, when engaged in holding various yoga positions.
We’ll never stop telling you to do Kegels or about the benefits of doing your pelvic floor exercises. Prevention of incontinence, a more snug fit, and better control over your orgasms—what’s not to love? There are plenty of exercises outside of Kegels that can sculpt your PC muscles, such as upward-facing dog, bridge positions, and truly just squeezing them while you do other yoga poses and sun salutations.
To consciously work out your Kegel muscles, squeeze the same muscles you’d use to stop urinating mid-stream. Hold and release for ten seconds each. It’s pretty easy, and you don’t need to do it a lot. Ten to 20 reps every other day will keep your floor muscles right and tight.
Sex Positions for the Athletic and Acrobatic
So you’re feeling quite fit and you want to show off a bit? Here are a few positions that require a bit more elbow grease to pull off!
Standing-up sex presents its own challenges, but when the penetrating partner lifts up the receiving partner and bounces them up and down on their member, they’re going to use a lot of back, arm and leg muscles that their partner won’t soon forget!
The Push-Up and Push-InAlthough girl-on-top seems pretty standard, it isn’t easy to sustain. It’s a great workout for your abs, glutes and thighs, and if the person on top is particularly strong, they can escalate the position by resting on their feet instead of their knees, assuming more of a froggy or squat pose, offering them great control over their partner’s thrusts.
