Sexuality and bodybuilding

Posted on: 10/21/2015

Playing a sport, whether at amateur or elite level, requires a certain personal investment. It requires time, concentration and energy.

This time spent practising has an impact on the time spent with family and friends. Indeed, practising a sport like bodybuilding demands a constant commitment, as it interferes with daily organization. Life is organized around the rhythm of meals, training and recovery phases.

The energy required to sustain intense muscular training is important, and the recovery phase is just as important to be ready for the next session.

The concentration required to create the brain-muscle connection and mobilize muscle fibers to the maximum is also a source of considerable energy consumption.

But there's more to life than bodybuilding.

Family and bodybuilding

Family life is a source of balance and well-being, as are friendships. But there are other needs too, such as sexual needs.

Sexe et bodybuilding

What role do they play in a bodybuilder's life? Are they linked to the production of testosterone stimulated by training?

sex and bodybuilding

Sexual needs vary from one individual to another. It has been proven that sexual appetite is linked to the natural level of testosterone in the body. However, it's not enough to have a high level of this hormone in the body to have strong needs in terms of sexual relations.

In fact, sexuality is closely linked to a person's emotional and psychological state. A depressed person, despite high testosterone levels, will put their sexual needs on hold because their mind will be monopolized by their worries.

The same applies when a bodybuilder is in the preparation phase. A diet restricted to carbohydrates and devoid, or at least restricted, to the strict minimum of fats will have an impact on sexuality and desire. This is because hormones, and testosterone in particular, are synthesized from, and in part thanks to, fats.

Sport of any kind, when practised in moderation, will tend to be a good stimulant for sexuality, as it maintains the heart, develops the irrigation capacity of the vessels and therefore improves the quality of the erection.

What's more, practising a sporting activity, with all its benefits for self-image and the secretion of endorphins (the "feel-good" hormone), will make it easier for the practitioner to achieve the release necessary for sexual fulfillment.

fatigue and libido

For the bodybuilder who takes his discipline very seriously, i.e. trains between 4 and 6 times a week with intense sessions, who pays great attention to his diet, will not be available for a very active sexuality. His libido may even be at half-mast. In fact, the energy expended to support the sessions will be a source of stress and therefore trigger a release of cortisol. Cortisol will inhibit libido. What's more, the body will be exhausted by the intensive work involved, and will need to conserve its remaining energy in order to recover. As sexual relations consume a lot of energy, there will be none available for them.

Finally, bodybuilding is a discipline where control is omnipresent. We control our training, our diet, our recovery times and, above all, we seek to control our physical appearance. Sexuality, on the other hand, is a matter of "letting go", so there's a certain opposition in the way we live these two aspects of the bodybuilder's life, as well as that of the assiduous athlete in general.

To sum up, natural testosterone levels aren't everything, as other physiological and psychological factors come into play when it comes to an athlete's sexual needs. An athlete with high testosterone levels will probably have greater sexual needs than someone with lower levels. But the frequency and intensity of training sessions, as well as the athlete's involvement in his or her sport, will have a major impact on desire.

It's very common for an athlete to put his or her sex life on hold during the preparation phase, because the concentration and energy required to achieve the goal set are such that there's not enough left for the "hanky-panky".

don't give up on high-frequency, high-intensity sport, but be aware that this may well have repercussions on your intimate life and your desire. This applies not only to bodybuilding, but to sport in general. Moderation is stimulating for sex, while excess tends to inhibit your libido.

As a former top-level bodybuilder, I've been through phases where my investment in my discipline was such that my sexuality was inhibited. When this period came to an end, my libido returned to normal, so NO STRESS-)