In E4 of the Alchemy Podcast, host Luca Malaguti had an exciting discussion with Gus Kreivenas about sex before freediving competitions. Does it boost one's performance or not? Here's how it went down.
Luca: I started doing some research and looked into Rhonda Rousey, one of the best MMA female fighters of all time, a stunning, beautiful woman with strong leadership and a message of empowerment to other women. And she publicly said, "yes, I've done my research. I know what I'm doing. And I really enjoy having sex before performances, because it boosts my testosterone. It boosts my aggression. It makes me a better fighter". I found it very, very interesting. And then I looked into other studies about how athletes used to abstain from having sex in order to have better performances and counter research saying that's actually all BS, you know because it's not been proven.
Gus: It really depends. The way I see it, people come to me and ask "what should I do to increase my performance"? And like, "is that right? Is that, is that what I should do"? And I'm like, well it depends. And how can you find out? Experience, by trying, you know, and when students come to me, I go like, "guys, my job is to bring clarity and it's gonna come through discussion and it will come through trial and error and it's gonna come through applying things and checking how it goes, how it works out in the long term with you". I know that some stuff is essential to understand as a foundation, but it's not for everybody. But the point is like, "should I have sex before or not"? Whatever rocks your boat man! If you feel like you had sex and you come in the morning and you feel uplifted, why not? I can tell you, for instance, I've had conversations with high-level athletes, and some of the women, they get better performances (when they've had sex) and some of them, they get worse performances. It really depends on what you do. Does it charge you or drain you?
