We all know we should exercise to improve our physical life. But if you needed even more incentive to hit the gym, how about the fact that exercise can also improve your sex life? It seems almost fairly obvious. As Karla Robinson, medical editor at GoodRx, puts it: “Exercise increases blood flow throughout your body, which helps stimulate arousal and improve libido.”
But that’s not all exercise can do to help ramp up your sex life. Here’s how working out can heat things up inside both the gym and the bedroom.
Exercise increases blood flow, strength, and stamina
“When you exercise, your heart rate increases, which leads to increased blood flow throughout your body, including to your genitals,” Dr. Simran Shamanur, a consultant in sexual medicine at Allo Health, tells Lifehacker. “This increased blood flow can lead to more powerful and satisfying sexual experiences,” including possibly having a harder erection for men. Additionally, a 2021 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine showed that women who exercised demonstrated significantly higher levels of desire, arousal, lubrication, and orgasm.
Not only can regular exercise improve your overall physical fitness, which can lead to increased strength and stamina during sexual activity (which can help you last longer and enjoy sex more), but Robinson says weight training is a popular way to potentially boost testosterone and improve sex drive. “It is possible to see a modest increase in testosterone levels in men after resistance training,” she explains, although she notes older men may see more of a boost in testosterone after aerobic exercise.
Testosterone has also been shown to help improve a woman’s sex drive post-menopause with research suggesting the testosterone boost from HIIT workouts to be even greater than other workouts.
It also reduces stress: There’s a reason why you feel so good after a workout. “Exercise releases endorphins and helps regulate mood, such as depression and anxiety,” says David Tzall, a clinical psychologist and the deputy director for the health and wellness unit of the NYPD. “Your sex drive is tied to your emotional health so when you are feeling sad and down, it makes sex less enjoyable and decreases libido. A brighter mood makes you more confident and relaxed during sexual activity.”
Exercise helps support the pelvic floor and creates better orgasms
“Practicing pilates regularly has been correlated to facilitating and strengthening orgasm as well as overall improvement in your sex life,” Frame Fitness founder Melissa Bentivoglio says. “Pilates is known for its ability to engage and improve pelvic floor health through a series of exercises that target and improve muscle tone in the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that support the pelvic organs, including the bladder, uterus, and rectum, and play a crucial role in sexual function and pleasure.”
Oftentimes, weak pelvic floor muscles lead to less effective and weaker contractions thus producing a weaker overall orgasm or not being able to achieve orgasm at all, Bentivoglio says.
“The more you learn to engage the pelvic floor effectively with deliberate, controlled movements the more your body will intuitively be able to identify and isolate the correct muscles to relax and engage,” she says, which will help support your orgasms.
It can also improve flexibility, and we need to be a little nimble when it comes to performing in the bedroom. Incorporating workouts that increase flexibility into your exercise routine, like yoga, may have a positive impact on your sex life too, Robinson says. Although research on yoga and sexual health is still limited, she says there is evidence that yoga can help reduce pain during sex and improve lubrication, arousal, and orgasms. And if anything, regularly stretching your body through yoga or Pilates will leave you less likely to cramp out while trying out some new sex moves.
How to incorporate exercise into your routine to help your sex life
According to Tzall, you should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week, along with strength training exercises at least two days per week. Shamanur advises to “mix it up” and try different types of exercise to keep things interesting and to keep you on track with an emphasis on activating your core since “your core muscles are important for sexual positions that require balance and stability.”
