What is a coregasm and how can I get one?

The best gym move you’ve never heard of is just a plank away. Okay, we’re exaggerating, but planking is actually a good way to try and experience a coregasm. For the uninitiated, a coregasm is an orgasm that happens spontaneously, while you’re doing a basic exercise or workout. Yes, really.

Believed to affect around 10 percent of women during exercise, coregasms have been the subject of study since the 1950s, when Alfred Kinsey first reported on them in his work on human sexual behavior.

You really can’t plan for a coregasm or exercise related climax and they are in no way related to your libido or sex drive, they just happen. Or at least that’s what they’ve been led to understand, and what the women who experience them will tell you. So why do they happen and why are they related to exercise?

What is a coregasm?

When you activate your core AKA your abdominal muscles, your back muscles, and the muscles around your hips and pelvis, you also contract your pelvic floor muscles. This hammock of muscles wraps around your bladder, your uterus — pretty much everything below your belt — and is responsible for the contractions that make you feel great when you orgasm.

When you do kegel exercises, tuck your tailbone in a yoga class, or rotate your hips while dancing, you may experience a vaguely pleasant sensation. This is because the pelvic muscles are engaged. Squeezing your buttock muscles may also have this effect, and doing so can make your orgasms during sex or masturbation much more intense.

But unlike a vaginal orgasm or a clitoral orgasm achieved through solo sex or pleasure, a coregasm is something of an asexual response. It doesn’t happen because you’re turned on. It is usually a spontaneous event that occurs as the muscles are activated and fatigued. However, it is possible to check, as Lorena Savvidou, Personal Trainer at the private wellness studio CHALK, tells us.

It can also happen spontaneously, as it basically involves contraction of the pelvic floor muscles, which mimics the involuntary action of the muscles during an orgasm, says Savvidou. But women who have a deep understanding of their body, movement and breathing, who are able to engage the pelvic floor, are more likely to be able to experience a coregasm, but also to control or intentionally achieve it.

Your pelvic floor muscles involuntarily contract and relax during an orgasm, so the stronger your pelvic floor is, the stronger your orgasms will be. It should be noted that the pelvic floor is not only the key to better and bigger orgasms, but it is also responsible for supporting and stabilizing the spine and supporting the bladder, bowels and uterus, and maintaining bladder and bowel control. So, coregasms equals a strong pelvic floor which equals a healthy pelvic floor!

How to have a coregasm

Obviously everyone’s body is different and responds differently to stimulation, but the rules for exercising your core are fairly limited and straightforward. When it comes to coregasms, keeping your belly button to your spine to engage your core muscles is key. Most yoga, pilates and strength training moves require tightness in the abs and flexibility in the hips.

The trick is also in the repetition, you want to work your abs and pelvic muscles over and over until they start to feel tired. Then, when you feel a coregasm coming, continue with your reps and let the sensation flow through you.

Of course, you don’t have to lift heavy weights to hit a coregasm. A gym-goer—who will remain anonymous for her request for privacy at the gym—explains how she had her first experience of an exercise-induced orgasm while running on a treadmill. I was just doing my warm up. I run for about 15 to 20 minutes to get my heart rate up before doing anything else at the gym.”

“That was about ten years ago and I had no idea what was happening to me. I usually run at a manageable pace and then ramp up the speed for a sprint in the last few minutes. I was running and felt this weird, pleasant sensation in my lower belly and it hit my whole body. I went through it and it felt great.

What are the best exercises for a coregasm?

If you’re not sure where to start with all of this, Lorena Savvidou suggests finding your pelvic floor muscles first. Try squeezing straight up, as if you were sucking liquid through a straw into your vagina. Don’t actually put a straw in your vagina, imagine it. You can also mimic stopping the flow of pee and letting it go again. That lifting sensation you feel? That’s your pelvic floor. The trick is to engage this along with the rest of your core as you train.

Start by squeezing your pelvic floor 10 times, holding for two seconds at a time. advises Savvidou. Don’t hold your breath, tuck in your stomach, or squeeze your buttocks as you do this. This is a set. Try doing three sets a day and every few days or every week and try holding for a few more seconds at a time, until you can hold at least 10 seconds at a time.

Once you get used to working these muscles, you can turn your attention to a full workout and see if a coregasm occurs. Unless, of course, a little pelvic floor movement is all you’re looking for. If so, stick with those kegels and keep your muscles healthy.

Some of the most popular exercises for achieving coregasm include exercises that require stability and challenge your balance. Savvidou says. Then try the likes of Bird-Dog, Bridge, Plank, Side Plank, Pelvic Tilts. If you have a strong pelvic floor, you can try pelvic tilt training. Pilates breathing patterns can also help: Make sure you keep your mind focused on your breathing and do the incline rhythmically.

And don’t beat yourself up if you can’t hit a coregasm—we put enough pressure in the gym as it is! Your muscle strength, how tired you feel, how distracted you are, and how well your breath circulates through your body can affect how your muscles feel and how effective your workout is.

It’s also important to mention that yes, exercise is supposed to make us feel good and raise our endorphins, however, having orgasms all over the gym is something your gym buddies haven’t asked for. Always be respectful of others and their space when you are at the gym or gym.