Guest post series by Mollie L.
First and foremost, it is insanely good for you. If practiced safely, the benefits of a healthy sex life extend far beyond the bedroom (or wherever you like to get frisky!). On the physical front alone, sex burns calories, lowers blood pressure, increases heart health, strengthens muscles and helps produce an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) that wards off colds and the flu. Sex is such an important part of our emotional, mental and physical lives that making time for it (and making it GOOD) should be a priority.
CrossFit can help you enjoy your best sex life. Skeptical? Hear me out.
Body Awareness
Some of the movements we perform at the gym are highly technical and take months, even years, to perfect. Sex is just as nuanced and requires each partner to be incredibly dialed in to their bodies. An awareness of how you can move, how your partner can move and what feels fluid can go a long way during intimacy. The gym is a wonderful place to lay the groundwork for this type of awareness and it translates really well in the bedroom.
Body Positivity
We’ve all had awkward sexual encounters. Most of those can likely be traced to a time when one (or both) partners didn’t have complete confidence in themselves. I’ve written exhaustively about how CrossFit breeds confidence, and I can’t think of a better time to let hard-won body positivity shine through than during sex. Confidence is exciting. It’s sexy. And it’s a total turn on. #facts
Mollie Lipka mid sandbag clean at Rhapsody Crossfit.
Body Mechanics
Sometimes sex is a marathon, sometimes it is a sprint. In CrossFit, we train for both. Every day at Rhapsody, we work to improve our endurance, flexibility, speed and strength – all of which are wonderful to call upon during sex. CrossFit can help us go longer, get in to creative positions, go fast and go hard (or any combination of the above!).
Healthy Relationships
Healthy relationships produce healthy individuals. We want to feel trusted and be wholly loved and sex can facilitate those feelings. Perceiving, identifying and expressing a wide range of emotion is so important to our well-being. Both emotional and sexual satisfaction are closely correlated with overall quality of life. I don’t know about you, but I am aiming for the highest quality of life possible!
Good Sleep
Rest should be restorative, especially if you regularly train at a CrossFit gym. Many adults, however, have poor sleep habits that leave them feeling drained. Want to have a great night of sleep? Get busy before bed! During orgasm, oxytocin (the hormone of love) is released, helping promote a deeper, more restful sleep.
Pain Relief
“I have a headache.” Nope. Not allowed! Sex is a natural pain reliever, so saying you have a headache to get out of it is actually a great reason to get it on. And, if you got through this whole post and said to yourself toward the end “I have no sex drive!” listen up – having sex (along with getting regular exercise) actually increases your libido! So, get to the gym and then have some fun with your partner – for your health! (And because both are amazing, amiright?)
At Rhapsody, we have a community of athletes who strive for health in all aspects of their lives. We’d love to learn about your goals and how we can help you reach them – while you enjoy some sexy fringe benefits!
