How Does Watching Porn Affect Your Bodybuilding Success?

by Mark McManus on July 20, 2011

In my last post I covered the effects of sleep on testosterone and muscle growth.

Obviously the next logical question is, “But what about porno?”. Sometimes I crack myself up!

Yes, it’s been studied!

The Department of Endocrinology and Physiology, Edinburgh, Scotland, had 8 male subjects watch pornographic material and then measured the concentration of hormones in their blood for 5 hours afterwards. [1]

The erotic stimulation caused a slight rise in testosterone, but it was not statistically significant.

They reported…

“There were no significant changes in hormone or catecholamine levels following either the erotic or the neutral stimuli, except for a rise in cortisol during the neutral but not the erotic film. These results indicate that in the laboratory, substantial sexual response can occur without accompanying endocrine or biochemical changes.”

So any real benefit to this seems to be in potentially lower cortisol levels (a catabolic hormone).

The biggest differences in testosterone and cortisol were recorded during the periods when the material was actually being viewed.

Anyone up for watching some erotic material on their phone between sets and reporting back to us?

You might get your gym membership revoked, but it’s all in the name of science at the end of the day!

Stay Motivated!

Mark

[1] The endocrine effects of visual erotic stimuli in normal men

image credit: wikimedia

{ 17 comments }

1 KMG July 20, 2011 at 4:47 pm: I wonder how many Musclehackers are going to be walking around their gyms with fully torqued bro-ners after this article. Hilarious!
2 John July 20, 2011 at 4:49 pm: Ahahahahahahahahaha!

Long time lurker…
3 Mark July 20, 2011 at 4:53 pm: Mark,

The effects of porn have devastating effects…on relationships, marriages, families and children. This is NOT something to giggle at. I facilitate a recovery group for men who are broken, families lost, marriages destroyed because of porn. Not ONE can say it had any good effects.

Just sayin’….
4 Turo July 20, 2011 at 5:11 pm: LOL. Watching porn never killed anyone. It’s a good thing they studied this, for now I can stop worrying about my watching porn being a possible cause of my plateauing
JK. Thanks for the post

Turo
5 Totalsmeghead July 20, 2011 at 5:51 pm: Why wasn’t I asked participate in this study?!

That’s watching porn, what about ‘watching’ porn? Or the stuff me and the missus get up 2? Is this affecting my gains? Coz the more gains I’m getting the more ‘cardio’ she insists on!
6 Roland July 20, 2011 at 7:19 pm: I actually masturbate between exercises in the gym. I go to the Men’s room to masturbate until I get an erection then go back to my routine. It does help me keep motivated.
7 Ben July 20, 2011 at 7:28 pm: @ #3 poster,

Porn is not inherently bad or good. Don’t assume because some people have problems with it that all people do. And FYI I think it is hilarious. I will definitely give looking at porn in between sets a try =)
8 Mike Huber July 20, 2011 at 10:41 pm: A little porn is fine. Spices up your sex life. Don’t think i could watch in between sets though. Would probably jump my wife and not finish lifting!!! it’s good to laugh, Thanks Mark!!
9 John A Davis July 20, 2011 at 11:06 pm: Porn looks better on the ECA stack. . . .
10 Win July 21, 2011 at 1:25 am: If I read your post correctly Mark, the study concluded that cortisol level rose up, not lowered. Doesn’t that mean porn is bad for body building?
11 Andrew July 21, 2011 at 6:30 am: Mark,
As a follow up from my last question, once you reach your genetic potential doing THT and working to failure every set, do you continue to train in the same way and continue working to failure, or would you change any parameters around, such as implement periodization. I’m saying once genetic potential is already reached.
12 James Schwarzin July 21, 2011 at 7:10 am: I would say yes watching porn while training improves ability. I’m glad Mark brought this topic up as I’ve wanted to tell someone for years lol When I was a teenager training at home in the garage, I found watching porn calmed my breathing between sets and abled me to lift more and with more reps. I think it clears your mind of everything else which then makes you more relaxed and focused when lifting, definitely I felt a testosterone boost too. Must try it again soon although my wife may wonder why theres women moaning along with my grunting in the garage LOL
13 Mark McManus July 21, 2011 at 9:12 am: Firstly, in case anyone without a sense of humour needs it pointed out to them, this isn’t a serious MuscleHack article. Lighten up.
@John. I trust you’ve compared non-ECA erotic stimulation to ECA’d stimulation? lol
@Win. No, there was a group that didn’t watch porn. Their cortisol levels were higher than the porn watchers. I would have thought the opposite but there you go.
@Andrew. I would imagine you could get away with a reduced frequency once genetic potential is reached. So possibly a 2-3 day per week full body routine. However, I would still train to my max. The body would be only too keen to get rid of some of that calorie-burning muscle and atrophy may set in. Dr. Doug McGuff in his book, Body By Science also recommends that people keep training to failure, even when their potential is reached.
@James. Don’t do it, man. She won’t let you back into the house.
14 John A Davis July 21, 2011 at 4:46 pm: @Mark
“this isn’t a serious MuscleHack article”
huh? I thought it was. Oh man. Now I gotta throw away all the magazines I bought. And all the bra ads I cut out of the daily newspaper.
15 Felipe Goulart July 21, 2011 at 11:43 pm: Another great article, Mark, a real must for our lady friends. Gonna show it to the gf for sure.
Now, this may be off-topic, but I wasn’t sure where else to post it. Is there such a thing as localized plateauing? Because I’m pretty sure that’s where my (non-existent) pecs are. I haven’t seen any strength gains there for ages, really haven’t been able to increase the weights past 15 kg on each side for the bench press (feel free to laugh ). And it’s kinda weird, because I feel that when it comes to the other muscles, I’m (albeit very slowly) evolving, as I can eventually increase them. I’ve recently started to manage to do some pull ups, which was a first for me. But chest and triceps? Zilch. Is this unheard of?
Thanks!
16 Andrew July 22, 2011 at 1:04 am: Mark, I really appreciate all the help buddy. You’re answering every question I ask… you’re great man! One more that I haven’t been able to understand scientifically which bothers my mind… From a purely physiological standpoint, (AND if you have to choose one technique or the other for the rest of your life), would you perform straight sets or supersets? Let me just give 2 quick scenarios to fully illustrate my point: Assuming the diet is exactly the same for both including all other parameters, which workout would provide a larger chest:
1. one set dumbbell flies superset with one set bench press
OR
2. one set dumbbell flies, rest 3 min, one set bench press

The way I see it, since I would be able to use a higher weight for bench press using a straight set, I would imagine that would provide more growth. But I hear other people say there is a higher time under load with supersets. I’ve been confused by this for a while. What does Mark McManus say, from a science background? Also, any comments on rest-pause as well?
17 calfred July 22, 2011 at 11:04 am: Heard about the link between watching porn and testosterone before.

For your sake Mark, I’ve tried this today.

Aha!