The intriguing reason why doing daily planks could improve your sex life, according to experts

Getting physical in the gym could help you get more physical in the bedroom. 

Specifically, doing exercises that strengthen your core muscles and stimulate your heart health are the most beneficial to sexual function. 

Doing daily planks can help you strengthen your core muscles, which helps you move more easily during sex and improves your stability in various positions, Dr Rachel Zar, a Chicago-based sex therapist said. 

Stronger abs will help you perform your other movements - be it thrusts, squats or grinding- more easily. 

Also, many of the super-sensitive nerves in your genitals extend into your abdomen, making the whole circuit connected. 

Core strength is crucial to feeling stable and engaged during sex, experts said.

'Strengthening the core can really help with endurance during sex, helping you feel strong and solid in your body,' Ms Zar, a Chicago-based sex therapist told The New York Times.

Some women even get aroused when doing ab exercises, a 2011 study of 530 women from Indiana University found. 

This might sound like fodder from exercise fiends, but it's actually been described in scientific literature as far back at 1953 - for some unknown reason, tensing and releasing your core can lead to orgasm. 

In order to reap the sexual benefits of a stronger core, Janelle Howell, a pelvic floor specialist from Chicago, told The NYT that doing a plank a day should drastically improve your core strength- even if you can only hold it for ten seconds.  

Celebrities often promote these kinds of exercises.  

Hilaria Baldwin, a yoga instructor and wife of actor Alec Baldwin, shared an Instagram Reel in 2023 doing core exercises that helped her with her pelvic health after giving birth. 

Mrs Baldwin shared in the caption that doing these exercises eased the lower back pain she'd dealt with since the birth of her child. 

She stated that while performing these poses, she's attempting to move from within, stimulating her pelvic floor muscles, which feels like 'trying not to pee'. 

Like Mrs Baldwin highlights here, many experts also recommend doing pelvic floor exercises to get your sexual health on track. 

Your pelvic floor is a dense system of muscles that sits around and between your genitals and anus. It's important for peeing, pooing and arousal for both men and women.  

 It can get dysfunctional either by being too weak or too tight- so physical therapists recommend different exercises based on your unique symptoms. 

Around one in three women develop some sort of pelvic floor dysfunction over the course of their life, according to University of Chicago gynecologists. 

For men, pelvic floor disorder can manifest in problems getting and staying erect as well as difficulties ejaculating. For women, this can manifest in incontinence and painful sex. 

But doing sets of pelvic floor exercises, popularly known as Kegels, can help strengthen or relax these muscles and get you back to working shape, Dr Kate Lough, a pelvic health physiotherapist who practices in Glasgow, previously told the Daily Mail. 

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'If you go to the gym for six months you'll see a difference, your shoulders and hamstrings might get more muscular – it's the same with your pelvic floor,' Dr Lough said. 

A stereotypical Kegel exercise involves a person clenching their pelvic floor muscles - the same ones you feel when you're holding a bit of gas or pee - for a few seconds and then releasing the muscles completely.  

A study of 64 Iranian women found that doing these sorts of pelvic floor exercises for  three months decreased most symptoms of painful penetration. 

Finally, experts like physical therapist Darlene Marshall told The NYT that getting your cardio in is crucial. The better your blood flows, the easier it is for you to get aroused and stay aroused. 

In men, blood flow is crucial for developing an erection. In women, blood flow stimulates lubrication.

Cardio is the easiest way to keep your heart healthy, and in turn, keep your pipes pumping blood efficiently, according to Johns Hopkins. 

To get in shape for sex, you don't have to be a marathon runner, but you should make sure you can tolerate low intensity aerobic exercise, like walking for at least 20 minutes, Ms Marshall said. 

Mixing that in with quick bursts of intense cardio, like sprinting, should make sure you can handle whatever pace you and your partner prefer to strike in bed. 

'The goal is to help your body avoid becoming overwhelmed, cardiovascularly, during sex,' Ms. Marshall said.