Does Sex Count As Exercise?

Given the way you feel after an orgasm, you may begin to wonder if it could be a substitute for real exercise. You are tired and spent, but in a good way, your heart is beating fast, but there is a relaxing effect that comes with the experience. With sex, there is a lot of muscle movement, and depending on the sex style, you may even get to work with different muscle groups. So maybe there is a case to make for sex counting as exercise.

Now let us look at the facts. If you were to turn to the science of sex and exercise and the opinion of trainers, the answer you will get is an emphatic no. However, exercise has proven to improve libido and sexual performance in both men and women.

A study found that the average duration of a sex session between healthy adults is around 25 minutes, foreplay factored in. During each session, the average number of calories burned by men is 101 calories and 69.1 calories by women. However, when compared with moderate-intensity exercise lasting about 30 minutes which burned up to 279 calories in men and around 213 in women, sex hardly matches exercising in terms of calories burnt. The calories burnt during sex is almost negligible, especially when you exclude foreplay which requires even less energy than sex itself.

While 30 minutes sex sessions cant be compared to clocking miles on a treadmill or lifting those weights, you can choose to see it as exercise.

Sex gets your heart pumping and makes you sweat like you have completed a run of several kilometres. Your metabolic rate increases and you burn calories during sex, and you also get to stretch your muscles. And just like exercise, sex has been shown to boost the immune system. Factors like duration, position, bodyweight will determine how many calories you burn between the sheets.

Being physical activity sex compares to strength training because you tend to use different muscles. But, which muscle or muscle group and to what degree is determined by the sex position. If you choose to be on top, your arms and legs will get used more than being passive. The stomach muscles in men get a lot of action through thrusting motion.

As for women, sex allows them to put their abs and pelvic floor muscles to work – often called Kegels exercise. This exercise is crucial for making sex more pleasurable for both partners.

Although these arguments may sound like a nod to sex counting as a workout, sex cannot be a substitute for regular exercise. Strength training involves pushing your muscles against a resistance which will often lead to muscle tear or hypertrophy. While you may sometimes feel your muscles getting intense and worked during sex, it is not as thorough as strength training.

Rather than wanting sex to count as exercise, you should focus on the many benefits of sex and how regular exercise can make sex more pleasurable for you and your partner.