For some women exercise can be a sexual experience. That is according to a new study from Indiana University, finding that exercise can lead to female orgasm.
I can remember being in an indoor cycling class at a health club years ago, with a woman who moaned the entire time. The funny thing was she would start out the class in baggy sweat pants and sweatshirt and shed her clothes until she was down to short-shorts and a sports bra.
Thankfully, the guy on the bike next to her was her husband. Perhaps she was having what researchers featured on ScienceDaily.com call a “coregasm”. The referred-to study is published in an issue of Sexual and Relationship Therapy.
In fact Debby Herbenick, study researcher at Indiana University’s School of Health says,"The most common exercises associated with exercise-induced orgasm were abdominal exercises, climbing poles or ropes, biking/spinning and weight lifting."
Not to mention, most of my clients report that exercise helps them to feel empowered and to have a positive body image. It is my experience as a trainer, that positive body image will have you exuding more sex appeal which can translate into a better sex life.
I knew the participants in my striptease class were exercising while perfecting ways to turn on their guys’ libido. But, for those who also stayed for my Pilates based core class, they will themselves “feel” the benefits and later effects of turning him on.
This newly documented research proves what I have known as a Pilates instructor. Your core muscles are not only are your powerhouse, helping you walk up steps and sit up straight, they are also the deep pelvic floor muscles that, if contracted during sex, can help you reach new heights.
The problem is that many women I find who walk into the Pilates studio for the first time, due to lifestyle, or lack of body awareness have a disconnect with their pelvic floor muscles. According to an article published in the Huffington Post, by Pilates Instructor, Corrie McCRae, “The pelvic floor is a group of muscles in your pelvis that support your bladder and uterus. The bottom layer of muscle wraps around your vagina, anus and urethra. “
McCRae is the creator of “The Bad Girl Workout” which “is a Pilates-based exercise program specifically designed to jumpstart a girl’s sex life.”
Finding that awareness deep in the pelvic floor muscles and learning to contract those muscles brings more body awareness. Working deep into the pelvis in Pilates class and transferring that knowledge into the bedroom can help escalate pleasure.
As far as the Exercise Induced Orgasm study findings, more than half of the pleasurable experiences occurred while doing abdominal exercises. This makes sense since Pilates works deeps into the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.
Online References:
“Exercise Can Lead to Female Orgasm, Sexual Pleasure - ScienceDaily.com” Science Daily. Web. 27 March 2012.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120319095006.htm
“Pilates' Dirty Little Secret – HuffingtonPost.com” Huffpost Healthy Living. Web. 27 March 2012.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/corrie-mccrae/pilates-dirty-little-secr_b_425969.html
“Corrie McCrae – HuffingtonPost.com” The Huffington Post. Web. 27 March 2012.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/corrie-mccrae
Joanne Sgro-Killworth is a Television Fitness Expert, Certified Personal Trainer and Sport Nutritionist. She is Certified in Pilates, Pre-natal/Post-Partum, Yoga and Senior Fitness. She specializes in Weight Loss, Post-Rehab and Post Cancer Training. Joanne's fitness plans and recipes are available globally on her website www.fitnessanswer.com. She resides in the Phoenix, AZ area with her husband, where she runs her personal training business, Fitness Answer, LLC.
Reviewed March 27, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith