Sex and physical exercise: Understand this relationship

This text was written by a TecMundo columnist; finally learn more.

Have you heard about the relationship between sex and exercise? They usually come from reports based on individual experiences. With so many common sense beliefs and opinions, what has science already tested and been able to come to a conclusion on this controversial topic? Can having sex before training affect training performance? And vice versa: Can education give you more vitality for relationships?

Boxer Muhammad Ali deprived himself of sex for up to 6 weeks, aiming to manipulate his behavior with increased anger and aggression that could be in favor of the fight moment.

While some believe that having sex wastes energy and less sexually active individuals have higher testosterone levels, others suggest that pre-match sex like former football player Romário can have an anti-anxiety and relaxing effect. They believe that sexual activity can promote relaxation and positively affect performance..

To estimate the energy consumption during intercourse, the researchers placed sensors on the arms of 21 young heterosexual couples in Canada who had sex once a week for a month. Compared to sexual activity, the same people jogged on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

The results showed that Canadian couples’ sexual intercourse lasted an average of 24 minutes, with a variation between 10 and 57 minutes between couples. The average energy spent during sexual activity was 101 kCal or 4.2 kCal/min in men and 69.1 kCal or 3.1 kCal/min in women. Both energy expenditure and intensity were higher in treadmill exercise compared to gender..

Only 5% of survey respondents think sex is more tiring than running. Generally, physiologically, sex is considered a moderate-intensity activity.

The reviews on pre-workout sex confirm that we’ve done very little work so far, but If this activity is done 30 minutes to 24 hours before exercise, it will not affect exercise performance. No deterioration was observed in aerobic capacity, endurance, strength and muscle strength. You don’t have to worry too much about poor performance in training.

The most recent review on the subject brought together only 9 studies involving 133 people. Detail: 99% were male. This is a reflection of the research scenario in sport and exercise sciences: research subjects are almost always mostly men. So much so that the authors emphasize at the end of the article: In addition to the elderly, women also need to be investigated. We also know almost nothing about the effects of masturbation on exercise performance.

A study that tested men who had sex (and got a stopwatch to mark the time of intercourse, and even guidance on the position they should take) within a week: father and mother, do you understand why research on the topic is difficult?) and squats 24 hours later (5 set of 5 reps); and they did the same last week without pre-workout sex, which showed that the week they had pre-workout sex, their strength was lower (lifting 107 kg a week without sex and 109 kg in the squat). However, this 2 kg difference may not be a truly viable difference.

The inverse relationship concerns us. Because exercise is beneficial for our sexual health for both men and women. Sex and movement (like physical activity or exercise) are human physiological needs, and one behavior probably won’t affect the other. So enjoy!

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Fabio Dominski He holds a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and a Physical Education degree from Santa Catarina State University (UDESC). He is a university professor and researcher at the Sport and Exercise Psychology Laboratory (LAPE/CEFID/UDESC). He is the author of Physical Exercise and Science – Facts and Myths and presents the Physical Exercise and Science program on UDESC joinville radio (91.9 FM); The program is also available at: podcast on Spotify.