Is there any guidance on how Olympians should abstain or not abstain from sex to help their conditioning?

I know someone who was training to be in the upcoming winter Olympics (she was, unfortunately, unsuccessful) but I don’t know anything how sex (or lack thereof) contributed to her training. I have heard though that some Olympians do not have sex while training to boost their.. I don’t know, testosterone/estrogen when the big game comes around. I’m not sure how true that is.

(Did you know they ship out dozens of pounds of condoms every year to Antarctica? Now that’s wild.)

I was in the 1988 Olympics and I assure you there was not a ton of abstaining going on. Maybe things have changed in 20 years but back then it was a free for all

Yah I’ve heard the Olympic Village is typically a few video cameras short of a porno shoot (ok maybe not that bad, but when else will I get to use that joke?).

As far as it actually effecting you… I have heard of athletes actually purposely having sex right before competing in whatever they play in order to get the boost of endorphins or to calm nerves or something. I don’t know that any official scientific studies have ever been done.

@softtop67 so where you in Calgary or Seoul?

I would think that having sex would give you a boost. But I suppose that is what matters: what the athlete thinks is best for them.

I can’t give you a reference, maybe it was a corny romantic figureskating movie or something, but I recall hearing that some abstinence helps…

Maybe it is the opposite, I just want to hear about the physiology, or is it strictly psychology?

Could it be a concentration thing? For instance, if you are paying attention to your love interest and having a passionate relationship, you will in essence be cheating on your Olympic goals.

I was in Seoul

@softtop67 must have been warmer lol.

I had a coach who told us it was actually good for the girls to have sex the night before a competition because it relaxes them. It was bad for guys because it made them too tired. We weren’t training for the Olympics or anything and this is more of a night-before-the-race than an overall training guideline.

What a great pickup line “I will have sex with you for your own good as it will relax you even though I will suffer some mild exhaustion”

@Ltryptophan I’ve heard that for years. Here’s an article.

“The idea that sex can impair physical performance has gripped the popular imagination for centuries. The 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian text, The Epic of Gilgamesh, tells of how the eponymous hero dispatched a temple harlot to sap the strength of his rival. More recently, Muhammad Ali told Playboy magazine of how he ‘listened with rapt attention to the old pros who testified on the evils of sex’.”

http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2583