Great sex is more than just the physical aspect of the act; it’s about an emotional connection with your partner and how pleasing them makes you feel. But if it isn’t working physically, then you aren’t having any fun. So today, we’re going to start with basic exercises to improve performance and finish off with advanced level moves that will take a pickle and turn it back into a full-size cucumber.
The key to having and maintaining your general at full salute is blood flow. We want good flow from the arteries into the penis; then we need to restrict the flow from leaving through the veins. The better we do this, the longer and harder we’ll be able to last.
Good blood flow starts with the heart, which is why aerobic exercise is so effective for improving function. This could be any form you enjoy, from cycling, walking, running, skipping, or even boxing. If you haven’t been exercising for a while, then it’d be a good idea to start back slowly at first. Focus more on regularity than intensity. Once you’ve established a habit, you can increase the intensity.
A 2018 systematic review found that 160 minutes of weekly exercise for six months helped reduce erectile problems in men with ED caused by physical inactivity, obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases.
But good blood flow in is only half of the solution. Once we’ve got the flow in, we need to keep it there, and this is where strength training plays a role, and in particular, strengthening our pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are the ones that restrict the flow of blood out of our rooster so we can keep it crowing to the wee hours of the morning.
Kegels
Kegels are a simple exercise that involves contracting our pelvic floor muscles and can be done anywhere. The best way to know you’re flexing the right muscles is next time you go pee, stop the flow midstream. That’s how you do a Kegel. Once you have the feel for flexing those pelvic floor muscles, you can do it anywhere or anytime. The goal should be to hold the contraction for five seconds, then release it. Repeat this for ten to twenty repetitions, three to four times every day.
Body Saw Planks
Now that we have our main man working the way it should, we need to control our bodies in a way that makes us good lovers. First and foremost, we can’t be lying on our partner like a dead carcass; we need to support our body weight. A great exercise to help with this is body saw planks. It’s done in the more traditional plank position. Now, I want you to brace your core. What I mean by this is tighten up your abdominal muscles, low back, glutes, hips, and pelvic floor. That’s right, I want you to do a Kegel while performing this exercise. What makes this exercise different than a plank is movement. Use your arms to move forward and back. This can be done for time or repetitions. I’d recommend working your way up to three or four sets of 20 reps with 30 to 60 seconds of rest between each set.
Push Ups
The following exercise is the basic push-up. We need upper body strength to move from one position to the next comfortably. Again, when doing a push-up, brace your core, pull up your boys (which is just another way to say do a Kegel. Do as many as you can for three to four sets with the ultimate goal of doing more than 20 reps every set.
Kettlebell Swings
One of the things I like about this next exercise is it not only builds strength and power in all the right places but it gets your heart rate up, improving blood flow right where you need it, and that’s kettlebell swings. These can also be done with a dumbbell. It’s essential to maintain good posture on your upper body while doing this move. It’s a hip hinge exercise, so your hips go back as you lower down, swinging the weight. This is a great movement that strengthens the whole posterior chain, including spinal erectors, low back, glutes, and hamstrings.
Dumbell Press
Ever want to pick your lover up and make things happen in a standing position? To do this, you need coordinated full-body strength, and a great exercise to develop this is the dumbbell clean and press. How low you go will depend on your level of mobility. Don’t go so low that your back starts to round; you need to maintain core and back stability throughout the exercise. You can get more range of motion by moving the dumbbells to the inside of your legs; this allows you to take a wider stance, letting you drop lower without compromising your back’s alignment. You explode the weight up to your shoulders by driving your hips forward and then dip down at the hips slightly to aid in pressing the weight up overhead. Master this movement, and it’ll open up a wide variety of options in the bedroom.
Combining all four of these exercises into a circuit or a battle workout will give you double-duty results and improve both your heart and skeletal muscle strength.