PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sinan Levent Kirecci
AU  - Ahmet Tevfik Albayrak
AU  - Abdullah Hizir Yavuzsan
AU  - Cumhur Yesildal
AU  - Musab Ilgi
AU  - Cemil Kutsal
TI  - Sexual intercourse before exercise has a detrimental effect on lower extremity muscle strength in men
AID  - 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139033
DP  - 2022 Jul 01
TA  - Postgraduate Medical Journal
PG  - e11--e11
VI  - 98
IP  - 1161
4099  - http://pmj.bmj.com/content/98/1161/e11.short
4100  - http://pmj.bmj.com/content/98/1161/e11.full
SO  - Postgrad Med J2022 Jul 01; 98
AB  - Introduction The question of whether sexual intercourse can harm athletic performance is a long-debated topic since first sport competitions were invented. Therefore, due to the lack of solid evidence, we aimed to evaluate the effects of sexual intercourse on muscle training performance.Materials and methods Physically and sexually active, 50 men (age=29.3±1.14 years) were enrolled in the study. Participants completed three weight training sessions and all sessions were at the same time of the day. The maximum weight was adjusted in the first session. In the second and third sessions, they performed five repetitions of the squat with their maximum weight for each set with a total of five sets after participating in and abstaining from sexual intercourse the night before, respectively. The duration of sexual intercourse was measured with a stopwatch.Results The mean duration of sex was measured to be 13.8±3.61 min. Furthermore, the mean lifted weight before sex was calculated to be 109.4±11.41 kg and the mean lifted weight after sex was calculated to be 107±11.05 kg. According to obtained data, sexual intercourse has a significant detrimental effect on maximum weight in squat training (p=0001).Conclusion Results demonstrate that sexual intercourse within 24 hours before exercise have detrimental effect on lower extremity muscle force, which suggests that restricting sexual activity before a short-term activity may be necessary.Data are available on reasonable request. No grants were accepted. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.