ROD

Sunday, 04Sept11

 

Rest Day...or is it? 

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The Coregasm, Explained

The fairer sex has an unusual ability in the weight room.

Some women can actually achieve an orgasm during their workouts. These “coregasms,” as we dubbed them in a previous Men’s Health article, occur primarily during lower-body and abdominal exercises. But how do they happen?

One hypothesis is that her pelvic floor muscles are being stimulated, says Talli Rosenbaum, P.T., a urogynecological physiotherapist and certified sexual counselor.

Pelvic floor muscles, best known as the region strengthened by “Kegel” exercises, are located beneath the pelvis. They’ve also been linked to orgasm and sexual functioning.

“There are a number of studies that show that pelvic floor muscle training exercises help improve sexual response in both men and women,” Rosenbaum says. Another way that pelvic muscles impact orgasm: When a woman is aroused, she experiences increased blood flow to the genitals. The pelvic floor muscles contract, in part to prevent the blood from flowing away. These contractions facilitate orgasm. The kicker is that a woman can prime her pelvic muscles to contract through indirect stimulation—say, during lower abdominal workouts at the gym.

Here’s why: Just like sexual arousal, lower body exercises also increase blood flow to the genitals. If your girlfriend’s workouts create the same sensation as that of arousal, the same sort of reaction might inadvertently occur—effectively setting the stage for a coregasm.

Rosebaum also provides a reminder that Men’s Health has been offering for years: When it comes to a woman’s pleasure, her mind is just as important as her body. A coregasm is most likely to occur “when a woman is feeling calm and relaxed and—most importantly—open to it,” Rosenbaum says. “Orgasm is what is known as a neuro-vascular event. Genital blood flow can feel pleasant and reminiscent of sexual pleasure; when a woman perceives this during exercise, she may worry that it’s inappropriate and inhibit those thoughts, or she may go with it all the way, allowing an orgasm to happen.”