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Can you stretch your way to better sex?
It’s well established that orgasms are critical to our overall physiological and physical well-being. Research shows that a good O has the power to rewire the brain, releasing feel-good chemicals including dopamine and oxytocin to enhance bonding between partners while also boosting mental health.
How can we ensure that the revelrous release is above board? By strengthening the muscles below deck.
“Since an orgasm is a large involuntary pelvic floor contraction, the stronger the pelvic floor, the better the orgasm,” Amanda Neri, pelvic floor therapist and the Founder of The Pelvic Institute told The Post.
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that provide crucial support to your bladder, bowel, and pelvic organs.
Neri suggests focusing on movements that activate the deep core and/or encourages hip opening.
To prime people for pleasure, she recommends two Pilates exercises in particular: the supine frog and a single or double leg stretch.
“The frog exercise mimics yoga’s happy baby but is an active version. This position emphasizes hip opening and mobility while the leg stretches work with breathing and trunk stabilization, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles.”
Neri notes that while strength is needed, ease is the key to climaxing.
“During sex, we want to be open and relaxed — tension can make it more difficult to achieve orgasm and can reduce the intensity of the orgasm,” she said.
To de-stress pre-sex and relieve tension, Neri recommends quiet breathing and a few rounds of butterfly stretch.
Previous research found that four-six count breathwork — inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for six seconds — is ideal for easing social or sexual performance anxiety, while orgasm breathing, more akin to dramatic sighing, can intensify erotic energy or restore intimacy.
Meanwhile, fitness influencers have been making headlines for their exercise-induced orgasms, a rare phenomenon known as coregasms.
Whether crunching or grinding, a 2024 study found women climax more frequently and experience more sexual satisfaction when they report high levels of interoceptive awareness or a deep sense of the internal condition of their bodies.
Interoceptive awareness is similar to sensations that arise from the body, including hunger, nausea, heat, cold, and the sense of one’s heartbeat and breathing.
In terms of sexual positions, a private gynecology clinic in New York found that missionary is the easiest position for women to achieve climax.
And if you need yet another reason to praise or punish your parents, a 2022 British study revealed that the quality of the female orgasm hinges on your DNA — meaning the capacity to climax comes down to your parents.
Researchers at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London and Keele University found that genetic factors played an important role, accounting for up to 60% of a woman’s ability to reach the big O.
