Women report orgasms during routine exercise, study finds

There might be more going on at your local gym than meets the eye.

Many women report experiencing an orgasm while exercising, according to new preliminary research conducted by Debby Herbenick, IU research scientist and co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. 

“It has a lot of relevance for some students who have this experience already,” Herbenick said. “It might give them some context, so they think ‘It’s not just me.’ It reminds people how interesting orgasm is and that there is no one way that women’s bodies work and reach orgasm. None of them is better than the other, neither is right or wrong.”

Herbenick said the sexual pleasure comes from two main areas: exercises that work core muscles and masturbation-esque exercises such as biking and spinning.

“These women are moving their genitals on the bike seat, but it’s still interesting that people are doing this at the gym,” Herbenick said.

Of the 370 surveyed women who reported some type of sexual experience, 124 reported having a full orgasm, while 246 experienced sexual pleasure from exercising. These women reported not thinking about a romantic interest or fantasizing sexually while working out.

About 40 percent of these women experienced some type of exercise-induced sexual feeling more than 10 times. This enjoyment goes beyond a simple runners’ high, Herbenick said.

The study did not explain how common this experience is for women or if these trends apply to men.

However, since the study was released earlier this week, Herbenick has received a great deal of feedback on the topic from both women and men who say they experience the same thing during exercise.

“A lot of them expressed that they were really happy that we were doing this because they hadn’t seen anything on this before, and they weren’t sure if they were weird,” she said.

Herbenick will soon begin a similar study focusing on men’s sexual experiences while exercising,

For now, Herbenick said the current findings could be used as an educational tool.

“One day we might be able to use these exercises to teach women about orgasms,” she said.

— Matthew Glowicki