Your Sex Life Needs Regular Exercise

We all know that we need to exercise to improve our physical lives. But if you need even more incentive to hit the gym, how about the fact that exercise can also improve your sex life? It seems almost obvious. As Carla Robinson, GoodRx’s medical editor, says, “ Exercise increases blood flow throughout the body, which helps stimulate arousal and improve libido.”

But that’s not all exercise can do to help increase your sex life. Here’s how a workout can heat up the environment in both the gym and the bedroom.

Exercise increases blood flow, strength and endurance

“When you exercise, your heart rate increases, which leads to increased blood flow throughout your body, including to your genitals,” Dr. Simran Shamanur, sexual medicine consultant at Allo Health , tells Lifehacker. “This increased blood flow can lead to stronger and more satisfying sexual experiences,” including possibly stronger erections in men. In addition, a 2021 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that women who exercised had significantly higher levels of desire, arousal, lubrication, and orgasm.

Not only can regular exercise improve your overall fitness, which can lead to increased strength and endurance during sexual activity (which can help you last longer and enjoy sex more), Robinson says strength training is a popular way to potentially increase testosterone levels 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 that older men may experience greater increases in testosterone levels after aerobic exercise .

Testosterone has also been shown to help improve sex drive in postmenopausal women. Studies have shown that the increase in testosterone levels from HIIT training is even greater than from other workouts.

It also reduces stress: there’s a reason why you feel so good after a workout. “Exercise releases endorphins and helps regulate moods like depression and anxiety,” says David Zall , a clinical psychologist and deputy director of the NYPD’s Health and Wellness Division. “Your sex drive is linked to your emotional health, so when you feel sad and depressed, sex becomes less enjoyable and your libido decreases. A brighter mood makes you more confident and relaxed during sexual activity.”

Exercise helps maintain the pelvic floor and improves orgasms.

“Regular Pilates is correlated with orgasm relief and enhancement, as well as an overall improvement in your sex life,” says Frame Fitness founder Melissa Bentivoglio. “Pilates is known for its ability to engage and improve pelvic floor health through a series of exercises designed to improve pelvic floor muscle tone. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that support the pelvic organs, including the bladder, uterus, and rectum, and play a critical role in sexual function and pleasure.”

Often, weak pelvic floor muscles lead to less effective and weaker contractions, resulting in a weaker overall orgasm or no orgasm at all, says Bentivoglio.

“The more you learn to effectively engage your pelvic floor with deliberate, controlled movements, the more your body can intuitively identify and isolate the right muscles to relax and turn on,” she says, which will help sustain your orgasms.

It can also improve flexibility and we need to be a little nimble when it comes to performing in the bedroom. Robinson says that incorporating flexibility-enhancing exercises into your workouts, such as yoga, can also have a positive impact on your sex life. While 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 orgasm. And, if anything, regular body stretching through yoga or Pilates will reduce the likelihood of cramps when you try new sexual moves.

How to Incorporate Exercise into Your Daily Routine to Help Your Sex Life

You should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week, along with strength training at least two days a week, Zall says. Shamanur advises to “mix it up” and try different types of exercises to keep you interested and on track, with particular attention to activating your core as “your core muscles are important for sexual positions that require balance and stability.”