When a highly respected sex researcher writes a fitness book, you can expect something a little different. Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., an associate professor at Indiana University's School of Public Health, and a research fellow and sexual health educator for the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, spent five years researching sexual behavior related to exercise. What she found: At least 10 percent of all people — no matter the age, gender, or fitness level, experience orgasms while exercising.
While getting off during a good workout is a great end goal for anyone, it's not as simple as a few extra sit-ups. Herbenick's new book, The Coregasm Workout, explains the phenomenon and presents workouts that may help you increase your chances of arousal or orgasm during exercise.
Cosmopolitan.com talked to Herbenick about coregasms, the ways in which they affect women's sexual health, and how they're different from orgasms you experience during sex.
Why did you want to study coregasms?
Over the years as a sex columnist [for Men's Health and Kinsey Confidential, among others], I had gotten questions from women who had orgasms at the gym and wanted to know what happened to them, and whether or not it was normal. Each time I would check the scientific literature, and there had never been a study on it.
Over the years as a sex columnist [for Men's Health and Kinsey Confidential, among others], I had gotten questions from women who had orgasms at the gym and wanted to know what happened to them, and whether or not it was normal. Each time I would check the scientific literature, and there had never been a study on it.
We don't really have many good ways of enhancing women's arousal in the first place. There have been different drug companies that have tried to create medications, and so far none have been approved by the FDA. To the extent that exercise, which is safe and healthy and freely available to people, could enhance arousal, that became interesting to me. I wanted to push the research even further.
What is a coregasm?
We know that they are orgasms. We know that for women, they generally feel most similar to orgasms from vaginal intercourse, but they tend to feel more dull, less intense, and more tingly. They seem to last about the same length of time [as an orgasm during sex]. They do seem to be orgasms that occur from exercises that are demanding of the core abdominal muscles.
We know that they are orgasms. We know that for women, they generally feel most similar to orgasms from vaginal intercourse, but they tend to feel more dull, less intense, and more tingly. They seem to last about the same length of time [as an orgasm during sex]. They do seem to be orgasms that occur from exercises that are demanding of the core abdominal muscles.
How can a core workout create an orgasm?
We don't know the specific muscles that are causing this to happen. One day, we'll hopefully learn more about how the muscles work together with the nerves. But until then, what we know is that there are very clear patterns of exercise. This almost never happens on the third or fourth crunch. It happens when you fatigue your muscles doing core exercises. The other thing that makes it more likely to experience arousal and orgasm in some people is to start with at least 20 minutes of cardio and then immediately going into a core workout. Rather than getting off the elliptical and taking five minutes to cool down, getting a drink of water, and doing some stretches, in our studies when people have gone right from the cardio into a challenging core workout, that's when they are more likely to experience arousal and sustain the arousal.
We don't know the specific muscles that are causing this to happen. One day, we'll hopefully learn more about how the muscles work together with the nerves. But until then, what we know is that there are very clear patterns of exercise. This almost never happens on the third or fourth crunch. It happens when you fatigue your muscles doing core exercises. The other thing that makes it more likely to experience arousal and orgasm in some people is to start with at least 20 minutes of cardio and then immediately going into a core workout. Rather than getting off the elliptical and taking five minutes to cool down, getting a drink of water, and doing some stretches, in our studies when people have gone right from the cardio into a challenging core workout, that's when they are more likely to experience arousal and sustain the arousal.
Is it easier to have a coregasm if you are young and physically fit?
We've done two nationally representative studies now of Americans, and we found women who report this from happening as young as childhood and our oldest woman [who] experienced it for the first time when she was 70. Women in every decade of life have had this happen. And the women who participated in our face-to-face interviews were every level of fitness. We had college athletes who experienced coregasms and also women who had been sedentary their whole lives and only for medical reasons started doing very basic exercise programs and were surprised when this was suddenly happening to them. For them, since they weren't used to doing a lot of exercise, even small amounts were physically demanding for them. So it didn't take as much to experience the arousal or orgasm. Whereas some elite athletes were doing three sets of 75 hanging knee raises after an intense 45- to 60-minute workout. Because they had years of being highly engaged in exercise, it took more for them to reach that level [of arousal]. There's not a magic number of reps. There's not a magic exercise. The key is about pushing yourself based on your fitness level.
We've done two nationally representative studies now of Americans, and we found women who report this from happening as young as childhood and our oldest woman [who] experienced it for the first time when she was 70. Women in every decade of life have had this happen. And the women who participated in our face-to-face interviews were every level of fitness. We had college athletes who experienced coregasms and also women who had been sedentary their whole lives and only for medical reasons started doing very basic exercise programs and were surprised when this was suddenly happening to them. For them, since they weren't used to doing a lot of exercise, even small amounts were physically demanding for them. So it didn't take as much to experience the arousal or orgasm. Whereas some elite athletes were doing three sets of 75 hanging knee raises after an intense 45- to 60-minute workout. Because they had years of being highly engaged in exercise, it took more for them to reach that level [of arousal]. There's not a magic number of reps. There's not a magic exercise. The key is about pushing yourself based on your fitness level.
This is not a workout where we're guaranteeing exercise orgasms for everybody. What we are saying is that we believe, and our research supports, that there are ways you can exercise that enhance your arousal. The overall lesson you learn for yourself about how your body works can translate into better sex.
Does sexual fantasy play a role in coregasms in women?
Most of them aren't thinking any sexual thoughts when this happens. It's just this bodily thing that's happening to them. What we did find is that when women are more focused on the exercises that they're doing and are really in the zone, that's when they are more likely to experience enhanced arousal rather than if they're very distracted. Some of the women in our studies who are highly coregasmic said they are too distracted during group exercises to make it happen because they're looking at the instructor.
Most of them aren't thinking any sexual thoughts when this happens. It's just this bodily thing that's happening to them. What we did find is that when women are more focused on the exercises that they're doing and are really in the zone, that's when they are more likely to experience enhanced arousal rather than if they're very distracted. Some of the women in our studies who are highly coregasmic said they are too distracted during group exercises to make it happen because they're looking at the instructor.
What's different between an orgasm that happens during exercise and one that happens during sex?
The exercise ones are very bodily. With sex, in the best situation you also have an emotional connection — there's warmth, intimacy, and meaning. And certainly sexual feelings as well. The exercise ones don't feel very sexual to people. They feel sensual and tingly, but they're not bonding you to a partner.
The exercise ones are very bodily. With sex, in the best situation you also have an emotional connection — there's warmth, intimacy, and meaning. And certainly sexual feelings as well. The exercise ones don't feel very sexual to people. They feel sensual and tingly, but they're not bonding you to a partner.
Many women don't achieve orgasms at all during sex. Can these women experience a coregasm?Women who experience coregasms are very similar to women who don't in the sense that [none of them experience orgasms exactly the same way]. Some of them also have orgasms during sex, some of them also have orgasms during masturbation, and some only have orgasms during exercise. Some of them who only have them during exercise started having them when they were kids and didn't really know what it was. Once they started having sex and they weren't having orgasms during sex, they took what they learned about their body through having orgasms during exercise and applied it to sex. And some started having orgasms during sex. For people who do have orgasms during exercises, it doesn't mean they are magically different than other women. It's just about learning how your body works and what feels good in particular times in your life.
Why do you think this topic hasn't been studied at length in the past?
There are many, many mysteries just about orgasms during sex and masturbation. And it's only in recent years that we're seeing researchers look at orgasms through breast stimulation, orgasms through fantasy, orgasms through foot stimulation, or even in rare circumstances, people who have orgasms from reading very beautiful prose. There's a range of ways our bodies work. People see these types of things as novelties, but I find them to be a fascinating look at how the body works. It challenges our idea of what an orgasm is. When we start learning about sex, we hear about orgasms and how they're supposed to go together. And they don't always go together. And maybe that means that orgasms aren't about sex. They're about tension release and stress relief and pleasure. They're not always the byproduct of genital stimulation.
There are many, many mysteries just about orgasms during sex and masturbation. And it's only in recent years that we're seeing researchers look at orgasms through breast stimulation, orgasms through fantasy, orgasms through foot stimulation, or even in rare circumstances, people who have orgasms from reading very beautiful prose. There's a range of ways our bodies work. People see these types of things as novelties, but I find them to be a fascinating look at how the body works. It challenges our idea of what an orgasm is. When we start learning about sex, we hear about orgasms and how they're supposed to go together. And they don't always go together. And maybe that means that orgasms aren't about sex. They're about tension release and stress relief and pleasure. They're not always the byproduct of genital stimulation.
What do you think is most misunderstood about coregasms?
The thing I see that's recorded incorrectly most of the time about coregasms is that we know how they happen in the body. This is a line of research that I'm pursuing with the help of colleagues who study muscle movement and other aspects of exercise. But I read things all the time where people say that coregasms happen because the G-sport is being stimulated or because [a specific] muscle is working. But in fact there has never been a study showing any of those things to be true. We have no reason to believe that it's just one muscle moving. Because when you work the core, you're working a full range of muscles. And since we know that they happen in men too, it has nothing to do with the G-spot.
The thing I see that's recorded incorrectly most of the time about coregasms is that we know how they happen in the body. This is a line of research that I'm pursuing with the help of colleagues who study muscle movement and other aspects of exercise. But I read things all the time where people say that coregasms happen because the G-sport is being stimulated or because [a specific] muscle is working. But in fact there has never been a study showing any of those things to be true. We have no reason to believe that it's just one muscle moving. Because when you work the core, you're working a full range of muscles. And since we know that they happen in men too, it has nothing to do with the G-spot.
Men have coregasms too?
They happen to about the same percentage of women and men.
They happen to about the same percentage of women and men.
What's different about the male coregasm?
Not all men want to experience coregasm because for them it can lead to ejaculation. That's a really different experience than for women. What's fascinating about the men is that most of them don't have erections before they ejaculate. And for the most part, the men tend to start early in childhood or adolescence, between ages 7 and 12, and they don't know what it is. And theirs tend to be more from climbing exercises. The best sense we can make of that is that males tend to have stronger cores than females do and as a result there are fewer things that are really difficult for their core. Crunches are unlikely to be that demanding for them, but climbing is.
Not all men want to experience coregasm because for them it can lead to ejaculation. That's a really different experience than for women. What's fascinating about the men is that most of them don't have erections before they ejaculate. And for the most part, the men tend to start early in childhood or adolescence, between ages 7 and 12, and they don't know what it is. And theirs tend to be more from climbing exercises. The best sense we can make of that is that males tend to have stronger cores than females do and as a result there are fewer things that are really difficult for their core. Crunches are unlikely to be that demanding for them, but climbing is.
Are women embarrassed when they have coregasms in public?
I don't think anyone should be embarrassed, and most people won't draw attention to themselves. The magic of being at a gym is that people are making lots of noises and funny faces anyway. And you're sweaty anyway. I'm not saying go to the gym and get off, but if you do, you'll be joining about 10 percent of women who have.
I don't think anyone should be embarrassed, and most people won't draw attention to themselves. The magic of being at a gym is that people are making lots of noises and funny faces anyway. And you're sweaty anyway. I'm not saying go to the gym and get off, but if you do, you'll be joining about 10 percent of women who have.
How long do women have to do these exercises before they can experience arousal or orgasm?
We found that two-thirds of women did experience arousal within just 10 exercise sessions. If we can do that, I think there's a lot of potential for women to try these newer ways of working out and see if they provoke anything; see if they inspire their body in some way that says, "This feels good to me, and I want to know more."
We found that two-thirds of women did experience arousal within just 10 exercise sessions. If we can do that, I think there's a lot of potential for women to try these newer ways of working out and see if they provoke anything; see if they inspire their body in some way that says, "This feels good to me, and I want to know more."
I don't want this to be another bar for women to achieve. You see that with so many areas of women's sexuality, whether it's G-spot orgasms, or clitoral orgasms. With coregasms, it's just you. It's exciting to hear that so many of these women feel so enlivened and in control of their own bodies.
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