We all know that regular exercise has myriad health benefits, including losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight or combating health issues like high blood pressure, reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. But if none of those things is enough to move you off the couch, consider this: Regular exercise can also improve your sex life.
Obviously, being fitter and healthier overall will go a long way, but specific types of exercises can also improve your strength, flexibility and stamina in bed. What more motivation do you need? So if you’d like to impress your partner the next time you’re intimate, pick up these exercise tips for better sex.
Although missionary is an easy position, you still need to move in a way to allow your clitoris to have better contact. Vanessa Marin, a sex and relationship therapist at the United States-based Vanessa Marin Sex Therapy says that strong core, butt (gluteal) and thigh muscles can help you create a good rhythm. You also need to be quite flexible, if you like to lift your legs over his shoulders.
Try: Your core is made up of the abdominal and lower back muscles. Planking helps but to work your gluteal and thigh muscles, try doing squats, lunges and leg lifts.
To maintain a steady rhythm, you need balance. You also need toned thighs and hips to kneel or squat. However, if you prefer leaning back on your hands while straddling him, a strong core and arm muscles are needed to support your body.
Try: Planking, squats and lunges are great. To get toned and stronger arms, try swimming, boxing or push-ups. It takes considerable energy to enjoy this position, so you need to be generally fit – do some power-walking, running, dancing or cycling.
Very similar to the cowgirl position, except that you have your back to your husband. You need to keep your balance while straddling your husband. For a more pleasurable experience, you need to control how you move, as well as the speed of your movements.
Try: Certain yoga poses, like the pelvic tilt, pigeon pose, standing forward bend, downward-facing dog and sun salutations are great ways to loosen tight muscles. Also try lunges, crunches, planking and push-ups to strengthen your legs, core and arms respectively.
Your arms, in particular your biceps, triceps and forearms, need to be in excellent shape as you are placing your body weight on them, says Vanessa. It is also important to have strong knees for this position.
Try: Swimming, push-ups and weight training can strengthen and firm your arms. To improve knee strength, do double calf stretches, lunges and squats, or get on the step mill at the gym.
This side position looks uncomplicated, but it takes some effort to pull your man in deeper and push back against him, Vanessa points out. If you like to prop yourself up on your elbow, then you need strong arms too.
Try: Side planks are effective at working your core and oblique muscles. To toughen up your arms, try bicep curls, push-ups, chin-ups and boxing.
This advanced sex position, which involves bending over backwards so that the front of your body faces the ceiling, really works your thighs and calves, says Vanessa. You need flexible hips in order to maintain the wide-legged stance, as well as strong arms to hold yourself up, and plenty of stamina to keep going.
Try: You can do push-ups, bicep curls and chin-ups. Boxing and swimming are also great arm-strengthening workouts. Lunges and squats are good for working your thighs, while you can work your calf muscles with single-leg calf raises while standing or sitting. You can also do calf-building sports like running, walking and hiking, and step and dance classes.
The pubococcygeus (PC) muscle supports the pelvic organs including the bladder, reproductive organs and rectum. Since the PC is also the muscle that contracts during orgasm, Kegels can improve sexual function. Women who strengthen the PC muscle with Kegels report more consistent and better orgasms.
One of the best things about Kegels is that they’re simple and you can do them anywhere. Women can insert a finger into the vagina and try to contract and release the muscles around it; you should be able to feel your pelvic floor lift and lower. You can also try stopping and starting your urine flow. Start with tightening, holding for five seconds and then releasing. Work up to holding the contraction for longer and doing three sets of at least 10 repetitions a day.
Yoga can increase your flexibility – just imagine how that can improve your sex life – as well as give you more strength, energy and a better sense of balance. Take at least a few introductory classes to be sure that you have good form before practising on your own.
Text: Sasha Gonzales/ Simply Her, Additional Reporting: Shenielle Aloysis