Today, we’re going to talk about a topic that is as forbidden as it is enticing. It is a subject that is as fascinating as it is mindboggling. It is an idea that is both exciting and nerve-wracking.

Today, we’re going to talk about sex.

Particularly, we’re going to talk about sex being the best form of exercise.

Allegedly, that is.

You’ve read or heard about it so many times. Many people – some of them even experts – claim that sex is the best type of fitness routine. Well, a passionate round of lovemaking does provide an excellent exercise, yes. But the best? Alas, this is the question we will be answering in this entry.

Let’s measure things on three fronts: time, intensity, and motivation.

These three factors contribute to creating the perfect fitness routine, after all.

So let’s compare an hour of sex with an hour of brisk walking and an hour of Pilates. Let’s assume, further, that the subject is at the peak of his life, around 25 years old, and is well within his ideal body mass index (BMI).

An hour of brisk walking would allow him to cover around 4 to 5 miles. This will make him burn close to 1,000 calories.

Not bad, right?

An hour of Pilates would be equivalent to around a dozen or so positions. Amount of calories burned? Around 300.

Not as good of brisk walking, but Pilates is relaxing, so the lesser amount of calories dropped can be a fair tradeoff for the less extraneous nature of the meditative exercise, right?

And how about sex? How about that glorious, glorious act many people go gaga about?

An hour of wild, passionate lovemaking – complete with a tour of around two dozen positions in the Kama Sutra – will help the subject burn around… well… are you ready for this?

Less than 130 calories.

Granted that such is not a negligible amount, and that 130 calories is still 130 calories which you won’t be able to burn otherwise, the fact remains that sex – as a fitness routine – is quite overrated.

Many people who have an active sex life think that they can do away with the requirement of daily exercise because, as society has led them to believe, sex is the best form of workout a person can get.

Such, of course, isn’t true.

And now, they’ll have one less excuse not to do some “real” fitness routines.