From texting to having sex: The ultimate full-body workout to flex your muscles WITHOUT hitting the gym

We engage muscles just craning the neck, making a sound, or clenching the eyes shut.

Does it count towards your 30 minutes of exercise a day?

That depends on your mood. 

Studies have shown most sex can be equated to something like a brisk walk in terms of exercise.

But no other activity engages muscles quite like sex.

Here is a breakdown: 

FACIAL MUSCLES – 35 muscles

The main muscle used to perform the kissing motion is the obicularis oris, the muscle that control the movement of the mouth and lips.

It is primarily used to pucker up the lips.  

The other muscles that play a noticeable part in the action of kissing are the platysma (which depresses the mouth), elevator labii superioris (which controls the top lip), depressor labii inferioris (which controls the bottom lip) and of course the tongue (made up of eight muscles).

TO MAKE SOUND – 50 muscles

It may feel like a spontaneous moan. 

But that sound is activating all the muscles you hear about in those dreaded ab workouts – including your rectus abdominus (one muscle) and your obliques (four muscles), 

A noise of ecstasy also uses the diaphragm (one muscle), a variety of chest muscles (44 muscles), neck muscles (eight muscles), and upper back muscles (two muscles). 

EYE MUSCLES – 16 muscles (if the lights are on and blindfold off)

The more you open, move or swivel your eyes, the more action your facial muscles are getting. 

Two muscles power horizontal movement.

Another two muscles (superior rectus and inferior rectus) work against each other to lift and lower the eyes.  

And two more power the eyelids.

That is, if the lights are on… and no blindfold is involved.  

NECK POSTURE – 22 muscles

Rotating the head, flexing the head, looking down, looking up, raising the shoulders… these are all a fact of sex. 

And to achieve this, your muscles need to be alert.   

LOWER LIMB MUSCULATURE – 52 muscles

This is the part of the body providing most musculature support for sex – in men and women. 

You can forget squats in the gym – try some interesting positions to really work your quads, biceps femoris (back of the thigh), and calves. 

PELVIS + CORE – 21 muscles

You may not be thinking about your gluteus maximus, medius, minimus, tensor fascia latea, or ilio psoas major and minor when you’re in the moment. 

But these pelvic muscles are the key to the thrust. With these in top condition, performance is a walk in the park. And sex may help you exercise these muscles. 

You also need a strong core, stimulating your obliques and abs once again. 

SHOULDER GIRDLE AND ARM MUSCLES – 26 muscles

These can really come into play depending on the position. 

Your shoulder muscles (including your major and minor rhomboids and your latissimus dorsi) will be exercised when you tense your shoulder blades together. 

You also use your serratus anterior (or ‘wings’ – the muscles that sit under your armpits) biceps, and triceps.

HAND MUSCLES – 34 muscles

The list of muscles used to grab something, or to move your hand, is extensive and wordy. 

But for those interested, an action-packed session will work out a whole of host of muscles including such things as your brachoradilais, pronator teres, palmaris longus, flexor carpi ulnaris, pronator quadratus, and flexor carpi radialis.

HEART – 1 muscle

The cardiac muscle (different to skeletal and smooth muscles) is used to pump blood around the body (and to all the right places).

HERO MUSCLE OF THE PERINEUM – 1 muscle

The bulbospongiosus plays the starring role between the sheets for both sexes. 

Found in the perineum (between the scrotum or vulva and the anus) it contributes to erection, contractions of orgasm and ejaculation in men and clitoral erection, contractions of orgasm and closing of the vagina in women.