Sex Before Competition

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19 years ago 02/08/2006 7:22am EST

As the mainstream media is gearing up to cover the Olympics, today's Wall Street Journal offers a front page article on the question of whether sex before competition improves or detracts from athletic performance.

The article quotes Casey Stengel -- "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's satying up all night looking for a women that does him in."

It quotes Marty Liquori -- "You have to be angry and aggressive to run a 3:47 mile. If you've had sex the night before,= you'll be in a satisfied state and feel like smoking a cigarette."

In the Jay Wind thread on this board, the erstwhile marathoner claimed to have sex immediately prior to running a full marathon. Other than discussion, there has not been much data posed here on this issue. So what is the verdict: abstain or partake?

19 years ago 02/08/2006 8:12am EST

re: Wall Street Journal

When I was in HS I read stories about an ultramarathoner (can't for the life of me remember what his name was) who said that it's better to be between the sheets with a woman than to be laying awake filled with anxiety and tension--not resting.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 8:12am EST

re: Wall Street Journal

19 years ago 02/08/2006 8:50am EST

re: Wall Street Journal

Abstain. It keeps the aggression in and ready to fight. That makes the night following the race that much better.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:00am EST

re: hold it

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:16am EST

re: Wall Street Journal

I think Carlos Lopes said that he rogered his wife in the morning before winning the '84 Olympic marathon, just like he did every morning...so maybe the important thing is to keep your normal rhythm going.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 10:49am EST

re: e-

Bingo.If you're used to a romp in the sheets with your honey (or someone else's honey) before a meet, go for it. If you're not, don't go out and get a hooker before your race.

e- wrote:
I think Carlos Lopes said that he rogered his wife in the morning before winning the '84 Olympic marathon, just like he did every morning...so maybe the important thing is to keep your normal rhythm going.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 11:04am EST

re: frequent flyer

Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 11:57am EST

re: Casey Stengel

I run better relaxed. If I run aggressively, I get too tight and anal retentive.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 11:59am EST

re: Fashion Police

Fashion Police wrote:
I run better relaxed. If I run aggressively, I get too tight and anal retentive.

You do not need to share your sexual preferences here.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 12:18pm EST

re: e-

I'd be interested to know if Carlos actually used the word "rogered" when he described intercourse with his wife. If he, in fact, used that term(which I highly doubt),that's pretty funny.

e- wrote:
I think Carlos Lopes said that he rogered his wife in the morning before winning the '84 Olympic marathon, just like he did every morning...so maybe the important thing is to keep your normal rhythm going.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 12:53pm EST

re: Curious

I heard he trying "Gallowalking" with his wife after his marathon career was over and found that he prefered taking the one minute breaks every five minutes. He is rumored to have said that he might not have been faster, but he felt stronger at the finish.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 1:08pm EST

re: Wall Street Journal

If you really want to know....

J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2000 Sep;40(3):233-9. Related Articles, Links
Effect of sexual activity on cycle ergometer stress test parameters, on plasmatic testosterone levels and on concentration capacity. A study in high-level male athletes performed in the laboratory.
Sztajzel J, Periat M, Marti V, Krall P, Rutishauser W.
Cardiology Center and Medical Policlinics, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sexual activity on cycle ergometer stress test parameters, on plasmatic testosterone levels and on concentration capacity in high-level male athletes. METHODS: Experimental design. Analysis of two days of testing accomplished in a laboratory setting, comparing a day with to a day without sexual activity (control day). Participants. Fifteen high-level male athletes, consisting of 8 team players, 5 endurance athletes and 2 weight-lifters, participated in the study. Measures. Each subject completed the following on each test day: two maximal graded stress tests on a cycle ergometer and a one-hour exercise stress test coupled to an arithmetic mental concentration test. Blood samples of testosterone were obtained and cardiac activity of each athlete was monitored with a 24-hour ECG tape recording over the two test days. RESULTS: Significantly higher differences were achieved for post-effort heart rate (HR) values at 5 minutes (p<0.01) and at 10 minutes (p<0.01) during the recovery phase of the morning stress test 2 hours after sexual activity. These differences disappeared during the recovery phase of the afternoon stress test performed approximately 10 hours after sexual intercourse took place. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that sexual activity had no detrimental influence on the maximal workload achieved and on the athletes' mental concentration. However, the higher posteffort HR values after the maximal stress test on the morning of sexual intercourse suggest that the recovery capacity of an athlete could be affected if he had sexual intercourse approximately 2 hours before a competition event.

So only sprinters, who don't need to care about HR, are allowed to have sex AT a track meet.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 3:24pm EST

re: Speed Kills

I know a guy who was intervied for that article in the WSJ, and his response seemed reasonable. Treat it like you treat your training. If this is partof your routine, stick with your routine, but don't start something new just before a major competition -- always try things (warmup, training intensities and amount, eating, drinking sex, etc) during meets of lesser importance before using a particular procedure when the chips are down.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:14pm EST

re: Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel wrote:
Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in.

Glad you took all these hours to read this thread from beginning to end.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:20pm EST

re: Wall Street Journal

Anybody try sex after a marathon? The testosterone is often on low.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:26pm EST

re: identify withheld

I prefer to have sex while I race.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 9:54pm EST

re: e-

e- wrote:
I think Carlos Lopes said that he rogered his wife

There's a term I haven't heard for a while. I always wondered who Roger was. Some lucky guy.

19 years ago 02/08/2006 10:36pm EST

re: Wall Street Journal

19 years ago 02/08/2006 10:51pm EST

re: little boy blue

little boy blue wrote:
What's s-e-x?

And this was met by silence

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