I Went to Pilates for Abs But Left With an Orgasm.

While we’re busy trying to explain our bodies to men, showing them where and how to touch us, our bodies have apparently already invented their own way of experiencing pleasure without any sexual contact. And I’m not talking about tantric sex or deep hypnosis. Today’s conversation is about the infamous and universally loved Reformer Pilates for IT girls.

After once again deciding to start a new life on Monday, I signed up for Reformer Pilates for the first time in my life. Beautiful studio in Paris. 8:30 in the morning.

I got into it quickly. The surprise happened during leg work. We had to freeze in a certain position for a minute, then do tiny pulsing movements to finish off the inner thighs.

I’m suffering, shaking, while the coach counts down the last ten seconds. Trois, deux, un. I straighten my legs, lift my head, and suddenly, completely unexpectedly, feel a strangely familiar sensation in my lower stomach.

Confused.

I had just experienced an orgasm.

After Pilates, exactly like after intense sex: shower, coconut milk latte, and completely irrational overthinking.

"What the fuck just happened, and how did I, like some horny idiot, come during a Pilates class?"

Turns out this phenomenon actually has a name: coregasm.

Basically, a coregasm is an orgasm caused not by a man, not by fantasy, but literally by exercise. Scientists explain it pretty simply: during certain workouts, the core, pelvic floor, inner thighs, and lower abdominal muscles stay under constant tension. Because of increased blood circulation, nerve stimulation, and the fact that, during exercise, women basically switch their brains off and focus entirely on their bodies, the body accidentally presses the wrong button at some point.

After digging deeper, I found out that morning workouts are statistically more likely to trigger pleasure than evening ones, leggings stimulate the body more than shorts do, and the longer you’ve gone without sexual contact, the higher the chances of experiencing a coregasm.

The difference between an orgasm and a coregasm is that, in the latter case, it can happen without any sexual arousal at all. A woman can literally be thinking about yesterday’s laundry or unpaid bills and still orgasm because the trigger is physical, not erotic.

After a little research, I found out that hundreds of women have experienced this. Most commonly, it happens during ab workouts, Pilates, yoga, climbing, and intense lower-body workouts.

The scientific world calls it an exercise-induced orgasm, while TikTok has already turned Reformer Pilates into a sexual urban legend.

And maybe that’s exactly why Reformer Pilates has become so insanely popular lately. For the first time in history, a woman can dress well, lose weight, spiritually evolve, and orgasm—all before 9 a.m.

Photo © Isabella Elei @isabellaelei