World champion boxer Tyson Fury recently announced that “most of [his] success comes down to masturbating seven times a day”. Yep, that’s seven (7) times per day. If that sounds like a lot to you, don’t sweat it. According to male sex toy brand Arcwave, the average man masturbates 4.5 times per week, which is a far cry from Fury’s average.
But the two-time world heavyweight champion claims that masturbating helped his hands become stronger, and made him better able to manage his testosterone levels, which prompts a few questions, like:
Can masturbation really help with body strength and athletic performance?
Should I be masturbating more than I am now?
What are the best ways to masturbate?
So let’s break it down.
First thing’s first: there is little to no evidence that masturbation has any effect on athletic ability. While there is a link between masturbation frequency and testosterone, it’s still unclear in which direction this correlation occurs. It may not necessarily be that frequent masturbation increases testosterone, but that someone with already high levels of testosterone has a higher libido and therefore masturbates more frequently. Explore testosterone support supplements to maintain healthy testosterone levels and support overall well-being.
Some athletes report that they don’t masturbate or have sex before a match because they believe that it makes them tired or sluggish. Other athletes report that they do have sex or masturbate before a match because it makes them feel relaxed and refreshed. It is personal for each athlete and I encourage people to experiment with how masturbation makes them feel personally.
Something that I invite men to try is masturbating before they do some physical exercise with the caveat that they don’t ejaculate. So, they can try building up their pleasure and arousal, then substitute their ejaculation for a physical work out. I get them to notice how it changes their workout, and whether or not they feel more energised because they haven’t ejaculated.
It’s important to remember that masturbation doesn’t always have to be about ejaculation. Instead, I encourage people to prioritize self-pleasure, and making yourself feel good. So next time you do it, keep this in mind, and the endorphins it gives you might just help you through your next workout – or give you a more positive mindset towards working out.
There are plenty of ways to engage in self-pleasure without ejaculation, so I encourage you to try shaking things up next time you do it, too.
You can try with some simple experimentation, like adding one of Tyson Fury’s other favourite things, lube, when you’re stroking yourself.
If you’d like to invest in your self-pleasure a little more, you could add some sex toys into the mix, like the Arcwave Ion or We-Vibe Ditto, to add different feelings and sensations to your self-pleasure that you can’t necessarily create with your hand.
If your self-pleasure routine often includes porn, why not try masturbating without it? You can use your mind to imagine different erotic situations, or perhaps try things like audio porn and erotic literature to help you stimulate yourself in a new way.
Remember that your self-pleasure routine is for you, and nobody else, so see what works!
The only ‘right’ number of times to masturbate in a day is however many times your body would like to. If you’re able to fulfill all of the commitments in your life and still find the time to masturbate as much as feels good for your body, go nuts! And maybe, just maybe, you can tie it in just before a workout, and see if you feel better for it afterwards. After all, you have nothing to lose, and only pleasure to gain!
This article was produced in collaboration with Cam Fraser, sexologist and sex expert for Lovehoney Group.