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Do I Need to Take My Penis to the Gym?

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If you’re too soft for sex, your penis may be trying to tell you something. In this blog post, we’ll dive into one of the most important ways to improve sexual health.

Last Updated: 09/30/2025

Written by

Kimberly Wilkes

Attention, couch potatoes! If you’re too soft in bed with your partner, your penis has an important message: “take me to the gym—or on a walk or bicycle ride.”

Of course, your penis isn’t really talking to you. But it’s giving you non-verbal signals that you need to get moving. These signals include:

Not being able to get an erection
Not being able to maintain an erection
An erection that’s too soft for satisfying sexual intercourse

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the importance of exercise for erectile health and what you can do to enhance the effect of exercise to make it more effective.

Physical Activity and the Penis

Research shows that getting enough exercise can reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction. Researchers from Harvard studied 22,086 men between the ages of 40 and 75 who filled out periodic questionnaires about their health over 14 years.(1)

The scientists found that men who ran for 1 ½ hours or did three hours of strenuous outdoor work per week had a 20% reduced risk of ED compared to sedentary men who did not exercise at all.

Men who exercised even more—2 ½ hours per week—were 30% less likely to develop ED compared to men who didn’t exercise.

Even something as simple as an outdoor walking program improved erectile function in men recovering from a heart attack.(2)

In another study, men with heart disease participating in interval endurance training on a cycle ergometer (three times a week) and general fitness exercises and resistance training (twice a week) experienced improved erection quality, especially the men who had mild ED.(3)

More Time Exercising = Better Erectile Health

The amount of time you spend exercising could also make a difference. A study investigated the effect of exercise on erectile function in 75 abdominally obese men.(4) The men were put on a low-calorie diet and a moderate-intensity exercise routine that included either less than 150 minutes per week or 200 - 300 minutes per week for 24 weeks.

The group exercising more than 200 minutes per week had significantly greater increases in erectile function scores and testosterone, as well as reductions in weight.

How Exercise Boosts Sexual Function

How does exercise contribute to stronger erections? One important way is that exercise increases blood flow. During exercise, your heart beats faster in order to pump more blood throughout the body. This increased blood flow delivers oxygen and nutrients to muscles.

Blood flow is critical to healthy erections. To have an erection, blood must flow into the spongy tissue of the penis, which causes the tissue to expand and harden, leading to an erection.

Exercise can also encourage the body to produce nitric oxide, a molecule involved in erections. Plus, lack of physical activity can lead to weight gain, which is linked to ED.

Enhancing Exercise’s Effect on Blood Flow

The Smart Ring combined with at-home acoustic soundwave therapy can work together with an exercise program to support healthy blood flow to the penis.

The Smart Ring improves blood retention by applying pressure at the base of the penis. It helps trap blood during acoustic soundwave therapy treatment or intimacy for firmer, stronger erections. It can also track your progress with acoustic soundwave therapy and measure markers of sexual health, such as whether you’re having nocturnal erections.

At-home acoustic soundwave therapy can be used with The Smart Ring to support healthy blood flow in the penis. The at-home device breaks up penile microplaque to stimulate blood flow. It also encourages the development of new blood vessels.

Your Penis Needs a Workout

It’s clear from the research that to have a good workout under the sheets, your penis could benefit from trips to the gym or any other form of exercise. Men who exercise at moderate intensity for more than 200 minutes per week have better erectile function than men who don’t exercise.

Your best bet in boosting blood flow is to exercise in combination with using the Smart Ring and at-home acoustic soundwave therapy.