Can exercise provide sexual pleasure?

New research shows core workouts can lead to female orgasm

A trip to the gym targets more than just fitness, according to an Indiana University study.

The research shows four in 10 women had either an exercise-induced orgasm (EIO) or experienced exercise-induced sexual pleasure (EISP).

The medical study refers to the phenomenon as ‘coregasm’ because abdominal workouts, such as climbing poles or ropes, biking, spinning or weight lifting, are most associated with EIO and EISP.

‘These data are interesting because they suggest that orgasm is not necessarily a sexual event, and they may also teach us more about the bodily processes underlying women’s experiences of orgasm,’ says Debby Herbenick, lead researcher and co-director of the university’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

The study surveyed 370 women, 18 to 63-years-old, about their experiences, and most of the subjects were in a relationship or married.

Reports of feeling self-conscious when exercising in public places were common among women in the EIO group, 20 per cent of whom said they couldn’t control their experience nor were they even thinking sexually.

Herbenick says this is an area of women’s sexual health research that has been largely ignored over the past six decades, and while the new findings are strong, the mechanisms behind EIO and EISP require further research.

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