What is a Coregasm?
Monday, November 3, 2025.
Most people go to the gym chasing endorphins and moral virtue.
A few leave questioning reality.
For some, abdominal workouts don’t just burn—they climax.
For decades, the “coregasm” sat somewhere between rumor and locker-room folklore until researchers at Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion decided to study it just like any other physiological event.
Led by Dr. Debby Herbenick, this team has spent more than ten years investigating exercise-induced orgasms (EIOs)—the phenomenon of reaching orgasm during physical activity without engaging in sexual fantasy or direct stimulation.
Their findings reveal a simple truth that still unsettles culture: the body does not always wait for consent.
The Paper Trail: From “Wait, What?” to “Yes, Here’s the Prevalence, do you need a Cigarette?
2011: Description, Not Myth-Making. In a study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, Herbenick and J. Dennis Fortenberry surveyed 530 women who reported orgasms or sexual pleasure during exercise—most often abdominal work, rope or pole climbing, and weight training. Few linked it to fantasy; many felt embarrassed when it happened in public. The researchers’ restraint was the breakthrough: they described, rather than dismissed.
2021: The Population-Level Check. Using the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, Herbenick’s team estimated that roughly about 9 percent of U.S. adults had experienced an orgasm during exercise. Women’s first experiences averaged age 23, men’s 17. EIO also correlated with sleep orgasms but not with the most recent partnered one—suggesting multiple, independent routes to climax.
2025: Listening Instead of Counting. In follow-up qualitative interviews, twenty-one women ages 19–68 described their experiences in vivid, embodied detail. Many recalled the first sensations in childhood—climbing ropes or doing sit-ups in gym class—long before they had a framework for arousal. The feeling was “deep,” “internal,” and “centered between the belly button and pelvis.” One participant realized, years later, “This is that feeling.”
The Physiology: Why Your Core Keeps Outsmarting Your Puritanism
EIO is best understood as a neuromuscular and autonomic duet.
Muscle Mechanics. Rhythmic contraction of the rectus abdominis, obliques, psoas, and pelvic floor raises intra-abdominal pressure and stimulates the pudendal and hypogastric nerves, which also carry genital sensation.
Autonomic Overlap. Strenuous exertion and sexual arousal share neural real estate. A review in Nature Reviews Urology shows overlapping brain activation patterns during high effort and orgasm.
Non-genital orgasms Do Exist. Whipple & Komisaruk (2011) cataloged orgasmic responses from imagery, breath, and childbirth. EIO joins this list as proof that the body’s pleasure architecture extends far beyond genital touch.
Clinical cousins. In rare cases, mechanical or neural stimulation can trigger unwanted arousal or orgasm, as seen in Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder. The mechanism—nerve excitation under tension—underscores how thin the line can be between stress and pleasure.
The Politics of Effort and Pleasure
The scandal of the coregasm isn’t that it happens—it’s where.
A public gym, a yoga mat, a CrossFit box: spaces coded for discipline, not delight. Women are socialized to apologize for visible pleasure, to treat exertion as virtue and desire as distraction.
EIO collapses that binary. It rewards effort with release, subverting centuries of cultural choreography that told women to pick one.
Even Alfred Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) only barely mentioned non-sexual orgasms in passing, and the subject vanished from mainstream sexology soon after.
Shame, historically, gets better funding than abiding curiosity.
Herbenick’s research reopens that conversation, grounding female pleasure in physiology rather than propriety.
Clinical Implications for Sex and Couples Therapy
For therapists, the science of coregasms is a quiet revolution. Clients who experience EIO often describe confusion or shame—emotions that mirror larger relational dynamics around control, vulnerability, and embodiment.
Normalize, Don’t Pathologize. Labeling it as an exercise-induced orgasm helps clients see the event as information, not deviance.
Bridge to Partnered Intimacy. Understanding how pelvic-floor tension and breath contribute to arousal can help couples coordinate physical rhythm and psychological safety.
Integrate Mindfulness and Movement. Therapists drawing from somatic and body-based modalities can use EIO research to explore how bodily autonomy intersects with emotional regulation.
As a teaching moment, the coregasm underscores that the human sexual response is not confined to the bedroom—or the imagination.
Why It Feels Different From “Regular” Orgasm
Neuroimaging research confirms that exercise and arousal share autonomic pathways. The same core contractions that stabilize the spine during a sit-up also simulate the rhythmic muscular pattern of orgasm. The brain, eager to interpret meaning, simply reports: pleasure achieved.
That misinterpretation is biology’s little joke—proof that we are not just minds driving meat vehicles, but integrated systems that sometimes confuse intensity for intimacy.
What We Still Don’t Know
Even as data accumulate, questions remain.
The precise sequence of muscle activation, blood flow, and autonomic response has not been mapped.
Most participants have been young, white, and American; cultural and gender diversity are overdue.
The impact of pelvic-floor training on EIO frequency is untested, though Cohen et al. (2016) found that targeted pelvic conditioning improves sexual function in general.
Future research should also consider the emotional variables—shame, control, and empowerment—that determine whether the coregasm experience is feared, avoided, or celebrated.
FAQ
What causes an exercise-induced orgasm (coregasm)?
An exercise-induced orgasm—sometimes called a coregasm—occurs when muscle contractions and breath patterns during strenuous exercise activate the same nerve pathways that produce sexual climax. Research from Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion shows that abdominal and pelvic-floor tension can stimulate the pudendal and hypogastric nerves, triggering an orgasmic response without sexual fantasy or touch.
How common are exercise-induced orgasms?
In a nationally representative U.S. survey published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, about nine percent of respondents reported experiencing an orgasm during exercise at least once. Both men and women reported EIO, with women’s first experiences typically occurring in their early twenties.
Which exercises are most likely to trigger a coregasm?
The activities most often associated with exercise-induced orgasm include abdominal workouts, rope or pole climbing, and heavy weightlifting. These exercises strongly engage the pelvic-floor and deep core muscles—precisely the regions involved in sexual arousal.
Is it normal to have an orgasm while working out?
Yes. Research led by Dr. Debby Herbenick and published in Archives of Sexual Behavior has shown that exercise-induced orgasms are a natural physiological event, not a psychological disorder. Shame or surprise is a cultural reaction, not a medical red flag.
Is an exercise-induced orgasm different from a sexual orgasm?
Physiologically, both involve the same neuromuscular and autonomic systems. The difference lies in the trigger. During exercise, orgasm occurs without fantasy or genital stimulation—an example of what Whipple and Komisaruk described as a non-genital orgasm. The sensation is often described as deeper, more internal, and less localized than a typical sexual climax.
Can I prevent a coregasm if it’s uncomfortable?
Yes. Researchers note that adjusting exercise type, pace, or breathing pattern can reduce the likelihood. Avoiding prolonged breath-holding, varying tempo, or switching to different movements can help. If unwanted arousal or orgasm persists beyond workouts, consult a clinician familiar with Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD).
Could learning about exercise-induced orgasms help in sex therapy?
Absolutely. Understanding how effort, muscle control, and breath link to pleasure can empower clients in couples or sex therapy. It normalizes non-genital routes to arousal, reduces shame, and helps individuals integrate physiological awareness into partnered intimacy.
Final Thoughts
Bodies are efficient, not polite. They reward rhythm, tension, and breath whether you intend to be virtuous or not.
The exercise-induced coreorgasm is less about scandal than evidence: effort and ecstasy share a nervous system.
Maybe the next time someone says they “hit their core,” they’re not exaggerating. The rest of us can take comfort in knowing that pleasure, like gravity, doesn’t need our approval—only the right angle of resistance.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Cohen, D., Gonzalez, J., & Goldstein, I. (2016). The role of pelvic floor muscles in male sexual dysfunction and pelvic floor rehabilitation: A literature review. Translational Andrology and Urology, 5(1), 76–83. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2050052115000025
Georgiadis, J. R., Kringelbach, M. L., & Pfaus, J. G. (2012). Sex for fun: A synthesis of human and animal neurobiology. Nature Reviews Urology, 9(9), 486–498. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrurol.2012.151
Guaderrama, N. M., Nager, C. W., Liu, J., & Pretorius, D. H. (2005). Evidence for the innervation of pelvic floor muscles by the pudendal nerve. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 193(6), 2159–2161. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16199635/
Herbenick, D., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2011). Exercise-induced orgasm and pleasure among women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(6), 987–999. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-011-9752-x
Herbenick, D., Fu, T., Patterson, C., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2021). Exercise-induced orgasm and its association with sleep orgasms and orgasms during partnered sex: Findings from a U.S. probability survey. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(5), 2287–2302. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34427847/
Herbenick, D., Patterson Perry, C., Fortenberry, J. D., Wasata, R., Wilson, J., Miller, O., Willens, K., Williams, A., & Frey, G. (2025). Women’s experiences with exercise-induced orgasm: Findings from qualitative interviews. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-025-03237-9
Komisaruk, B. R., & Whipple, B. (2011). Non-genital orgasms. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 26(4), 356–372. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2011.649252
Parus, A., Hellstrom, W. J. G., & Reisman, Y. (2020). Persistent genital arousal disorder after motor vehicle accident: A case report and review. Sexual Medicine, 8(1), 144–148. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7784812/