According to a new survey from Harris Interactive for Evenbrite, one-third of Americans believe that training to run a marathon would make them better in bed (Go from walking to running in just 30 days!). It’s no secret that training for the long-distance race could help you shed a few pounds—after all, massive amounts of exercise burns massive amounts of calories—and increase muscle tone, but will it actually help your libido? It might, says Ian Kerner, sex therapist and author of The Big, Fun, Sexy Sex Book. “The oxygenation of blood plays a huge roll in arousal—people who work out, especially with cardiovascular exercise, are going to have much better vascular health and better flow to the genitals,” Kerner says. Add in the feel-good endorphin release you get from exercising, and you have a potential sweat-induced love potion, he says. So what can you do if you’d rather get a daily bikini wax than—ugh—run? “Yoga and weight lifting emphasize the pelvic area and help build pelvic floor strength,” says Kerner. “Female arousal, just like male arousal, is dependent on blood flow to the pelvic area,” he says. As to whether running really leads to achieving new highs between the sheets, we decided to give our friend Mark Remy, Runner’s World editor at large, the final (hilarious!) words on why runners and sexual prowess go hand-in-hand:
- They’re trained to go for hours; 30 or 40 minutes is nothing.
- They always have plenty of Bodyglide.
- Even if you look like crap, they’ll shout, “Looking good! You’re almost there!”
- When you’re done getting busy, they can work those knots out of your quads.
- Even when they hit the wall, they’ll keep pushing till they finish.
