Gym Sutra
Your regular gym sessions are far more important than you think. They can even rescue your sex life. Captain Vinod Nair tells you how
By Vikas Hotwani
If you are among the ones who pay an annual membership fee at the local gym, but visit it only a handful of times, this should motivate you. Being fit and healthy benefits all areas of your life — including sex. Those cardio and weight-training sessions can add that much-needed (or aspired) zing between the sheets.
Improves testosterone levels
Research has shown that regular exercise, especially squats and lunges, boosts the testosterone level in the body. Since the hormone plays a key role in one’s libido and performance, a boost there equals great sex.
Turns your partner on
A toned physique is undoubtedly the most potent turn-on for your partner. Even before the love-making session begins, the sight of toned abs, strong thighs and muscular arms makes you sexually desirable to your partner and starts the fire burning.
Moreover, it’s been observed that those who maintain a toned physique have a better perception of themselves which leads to higher confidence levels.
The different aspects of life aren’t compartmentalized and an overall sense of well-being is sure to catapult your sex life and even lead to higher satisfaction levels, for you and your partner alike. In fact, obesity is one of the key physical reasons for erectile dysfunction.
Not to forget, it can be quite something to be able to playfully throw your partner around in bed, right?
Improves stamina
A man who indulges in enough cardio-vascular exercises stands better chances of satisfying his partner. Regular cardio builds the body’s overall stamina, which means you last longer in bed. Cardio requires withstanding the pressure for a longer duration with a sustained and justified distribution over the workout’s time span.
For example, if you want your cardio session to last 30 minutes, you cannot sprint aggressively in the first five minutes and exhaust your energy. The endurance level will be distributed with the last five minutes being the most strenuous.
This attitude and conditioning of the body helps men last longer and preferably let the women achieve orgasm before them. This helps because men can orgasm only once while women can have many towards the later stages of the intercourse.
On the other hand, those who indulge in weight training achieve an orgasm much faster, as the aggression it induces makes patience take the back seat — which is why it is advisable for women. However, in the larger picture, it must be kept in mind that the two cannot replace each other’s benefits and a justified mix of weight-lifting and cardio is a must, for both men and women.
Beats libido killers
Stress is one of the biggest reasons for a dissatisfactory bedroom experience as it leads to many problems, right from reduced stamina to simply not being in mood. However, all that iron pumping and heavy cardio brings down the cortisol (stress hormone) level and induces a feel-good attitude.
Regular exercise is one of the biggest stress-busters for most people and lower stress levels means a healthier and a far more exciting sex life.
Aphrodisiacs, by chance
A healthy and well-balanced diet is one of the most important aspects of achieving fitness. After you work out, your body craves nutrition. For building muscle and repairing the damage, you need a diet high on zinc and proteins. Zinc is known for its aphrodisiac properties. Eat your way to a sizzling sex life with a diet rich in asparagus, onions, garlic and bananas.
Matter of position
Merely buying a copy of Kamasutra will not improve your sex life. Your body needs to have the flexibility and the endurance level to hold the positions that the ancient scriptures speak of.
You may ignore the extra layers of flab, but the fact remains that the added inches may restrict your urge to experiment in bed. When you hit the gym regularly, you build the strength needed to hold the positions for a longer time. Women who train their pelvic muscle groups have a better ability of achieving orgasm.
To enjoy overall well-being, a combination of four things is important — exercise, diet, sleep and the right attitude. While regular exercising and hitting the gym will give you fitness and have positive repercussions on your sex life, it’s not a guarantee if the right attitude is missing. It is even more important to be considerate and loving towards your partner, without which having a satisfactory lovemaking session would be virtually impossible.
Improves testosterone levels
Research has shown that regular exercise, especially squats and lunges, boosts the testosterone level in the body. Since the hormone plays a key role in one’s libido and performance, a boost there equals great sex.
Turns your partner on
A toned physique is undoubtedly the most potent turn-on for your partner. Even before the love-making session begins, the sight of toned abs, strong thighs and muscular arms makes you sexually desirable to your partner and starts the fire burning.
Moreover, it’s been observed that those who maintain a toned physique have a better perception of themselves which leads to higher confidence levels.
The different aspects of life aren’t compartmentalized and an overall sense of well-being is sure to catapult your sex life and even lead to higher satisfaction levels, for you and your partner alike. In fact, obesity is one of the key physical reasons for erectile dysfunction.
Not to forget, it can be quite something to be able to playfully throw your partner around in bed, right?
Improves stamina
A man who indulges in enough cardio-vascular exercises stands better chances of satisfying his partner. Regular cardio builds the body’s overall stamina, which means you last longer in bed. Cardio requires withstanding the pressure for a longer duration with a sustained and justified distribution over the workout’s time span.
For example, if you want your cardio session to last 30 minutes, you cannot sprint aggressively in the first five minutes and exhaust your energy. The endurance level will be distributed with the last five minutes being the most strenuous.
This attitude and conditioning of the body helps men last longer and preferably let the women achieve orgasm before them. This helps because men can orgasm only once while women can have many towards the later stages of the intercourse.
On the other hand, those who indulge in weight training achieve an orgasm much faster, as the aggression it induces makes patience take the back seat — which is why it is advisable for women. However, in the larger picture, it must be kept in mind that the two cannot replace each other’s benefits and a justified mix of weight-lifting and cardio is a must, for both men and women.
Beats libido killers
Stress is one of the biggest reasons for a dissatisfactory bedroom experience as it leads to many problems, right from reduced stamina to simply not being in mood. However, all that iron pumping and heavy cardio brings down the cortisol (stress hormone) level and induces a feel-good attitude.
Regular exercise is one of the biggest stress-busters for most people and lower stress levels means a healthier and a far more exciting sex life.
Aphrodisiacs, by chance
A healthy and well-balanced diet is one of the most important aspects of achieving fitness. After you work out, your body craves nutrition. For building muscle and repairing the damage, you need a diet high on zinc and proteins. Zinc is known for its aphrodisiac properties. Eat your way to a sizzling sex life with a diet rich in asparagus, onions, garlic and bananas.
Matter of position
Merely buying a copy of Kamasutra will not improve your sex life. Your body needs to have the flexibility and the endurance level to hold the positions that the ancient scriptures speak of.
You may ignore the extra layers of flab, but the fact remains that the added inches may restrict your urge to experiment in bed. When you hit the gym regularly, you build the strength needed to hold the positions for a longer time. Women who train their pelvic muscle groups have a better ability of achieving orgasm.
To enjoy overall well-being, a combination of four things is important — exercise, diet, sleep and the right attitude. While regular exercising and hitting the gym will give you fitness and have positive repercussions on your sex life, it’s not a guarantee if the right attitude is missing. It is even more important to be considerate and loving towards your partner, without which having a satisfactory lovemaking session would be virtually impossible.
TIP
Next time you hit the gym, make sure you don’t leave out good old push-ups and pull-ups. While push-ups are quite similar to the missionary position and exercise all the right muscles required for better performance, pull-ups help train your arms to support your body weight during intercourse.
(Captain Vinod Nair is a life coach and excellence guru)
Next time you hit the gym, make sure you don’t leave out good old push-ups and pull-ups. While push-ups are quite similar to the missionary position and exercise all the right muscles required for better performance, pull-ups help train your arms to support your body weight during intercourse.
(Captain Vinod Nair is a life coach and excellence guru)
Published in Mumbai Mirror 28 Feb 09 (page 22)
