It’s no secret that you don’t need to hit the gym to get hot and sweaty. Sex as a workout has long been the butt of jokes or possibly wondered about idly while engaged in the act (if it’s not all that exciting). Of course, doing it right can genuinely feel like you’d be justified in skipping the gym that day and it even comes with its own gross nickname; ‘sexercise’.
However, new research has confirmed exactly which positions are the most effective at burning calories if you’re really thinking of taking that joke seriously.
Well, we say research, but it comes with a huge grain of salt.
Last year, online golfing supply store (the sexiest sport), Golf Support, decided to find out which sex positions burn the most calories. To do so, they gave 112 Fitbits to heterosexual couples and asked them to wear them while, uh, exercising. It’s safe to assume though that adaptations can easily be made, with a little imagination, for same-sex couples and that these would have similar fitness results.
They then broke down the results of the data into the different positions each couple engaged in to figure out which position burned the most calories.
The results found that ‘The Squat’, with the receiver squatting over the giver, burns 118 calories every 30 minutes which is somewhat unsurprising given its gym equivalent is one of the most intense full-body exercises you can do. Women who were really working in this position managed to burn up to 224 calories per half an hour however men burned only 50.
Next, you have ‘The Butter Churner,’ with the receiver essentially resting on their head and shoulders with legs up and the giver crouching over them. It’s a pretty involved position and we doubt anyone is really churning butter like this for half an hour but if you can do so, men stand to use 211 calories in half an hour while women can burn around 179.
If you don’t have a Fitbit but are interested in working out just how many calories you’re burning while getting busy, UK men’s healthcare company From Mars have put together a handy calculator that you can use to work out your approximate workout results.
Simply put in the length of time you’ve spent in any of the 16 positions on the site and it will give you your estimated calorie burn. The site doesn’t include missionary, likely because it’s one of the least active positions, but does include all of the big burners like The Butter Churner and The Squat.
So, next time you and your partner are skipping the gym for an at-home workout, you can figure out exactly how effective your time was spent.
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