Myth or fact # 1: Sexual activity can decrease energy for strength training.
Myth or fact # 2: Timing sexual activity before strength training is important.
These are two of the dilemmas that some, if not most of you could be figuring out.
Many people who have been engaging in strength training may have these dilemmas in their minds.
Are there truths behind these statements?
Or is this loss of energy due to sexual activity, plain old myths?
Do you really need to schedule sex in order not to interfere with your strength training?
Do these questions raise your interest?
Controversial it may sound, but sexual activity and strength training in fact can affect each other in a two-way manner. And you may be thinking right now: are these effects beneficial or otherwise?
Let us answer these questions with facts.
The Effects of Sex:
To pinpoint the answers to our queries, let us discuss how sexual activity affects our health in a beneficial way. From there, we can see how sex act can affect our exercise activity such as strength training.
From articles and literatures that you can find in the internet, a lot has been discussed about the calorie-burning effect of sex.
According to Dr. Patti Britton (Los Angeles sexologist and president of the American Association of Sexuality Educators), “sex is a great mode of exercise” and that it takes both physical and psychological aspect to do it well.
About 85 calories can be burned by a 30-minute sex, you can just imagine how much pounds you can lose by engaging on such act in longer and repeated sessions!
Well, this may sound juicy and tempting for those of you who want to burn calories and eventually trim down fats. But the benefits of sex do not end there.
Here’s more:
According to a Scotland research published in a scientific journal, sex can reduce overall stress and lower blood pressure.
These effects are important in connection with physical activity; and you should determine at this point that these are
beneficial in strength training.
The hormone oxytocin (also known as the “love hormone”) is also released during orgasm; and this hormone is known to promote sleep, reduce pain by increasing endorphins, and promote bond and build trust.
Other important benefits of sex in connection with physical activity and overall health include: improving cardiovascular health, reducing prostate cancer risk, boosting immunity, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, and improving self-esteem.
The bad effect of sexual activity lies on the fact that it can be a vector of diseases (sexually transmitted diseases).
Beyond that, getting a heart attack or cardiac arrest by getting too excited during the sexual act can pose a little risk for those people with heart conditions or those with sedentary lives (no physical activity).
The advantages of sex far outnumber the risks if we talk about the physiological effects it can give our body. The deep-seated reward centers in our body provide the beneficial effects of sex by rewarding us with better recovery, feeling of well-being, and better endocrine function. This includes good neurochemistry, better testosterone levels and yes, hormonal regulation.
Sex and Strength Training: Cause and Effect:
Basically, strength training can improve your sexual life. Testosterone levels increase during strength training and testosterone can affect libido and sexual performance in a positive way.
It has also been concluded in a study that “libido and testosterone concentrations are strongly related at the population level.”
How about the other way around: does sex affect strength training?
The effects of sexual activity that we have discussed earlier are proven to be beneficial physiologically. The most possible way that sex can affect your strength training could be the “recharging” and “rewarding” effect.
Do you lose energy when you engage in sex? Yes, you burn calories. But the reward centers in our physiology send these positive effects of the act to somehow recharge the body’s overall well-being; thus, stress-releasing.
So would that decrease your performance in strength training? Relative to sexual activity: no, it would not decrea
se your performance. The energy that is consumed can be recovered the next day, because for sure… you need to rest or sleep after sex.
The timing of sexual activity in relation to strength training is important. This is more of prioritizing and time management. You would not do sex a few minutes before your gym time, wouldn’t you?
The gap should be there in such a way that you need to replenish after sex and “recharge” by s
leeping or giving it perhaps a day before engaging to strength training.
Remember that sex is just another form of “calorie-burning exercise,” so if you do strength training a few minutes or hours right after sex, you may certainly get exhausted.
And just like other exercises, you might be “overdoing” or “over-training” and get your stamina used up to the full extent, which may be bad for you.
Sex is a basic human need and it is a known fact that it sends us beneficial results. It should not interfere with your strength training as long as you do it in a manner that your reward system responds to you positively.
Just avoid tiring yourself in any way around to prevent hormonal issues that can meddle up with your healthy lifestyle. Finally, sex would not be a bad idea as long as you practice it safely, without the bad feelings and guilt!
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