Does intimacy affect sports performance?
Singer Big Zulu believes abstaining from sex before a boxing match can boost your performance...
Over the years, there has been debates about whether sex can affect a person's performance in sport.
Award-winning South African singer, Big Zulu, says he has been abstaining from sexual intimacy as he gears up for his upcoming boxing match with Brian Dings.
He revealed this in an interview with TshisaLive recently.
READ: Is celibacy the right choice for you?
The 37-year-old says he was advised that abstaining from sex would help boost his performance.
“I didn't choose my opponent, the people training me suggested him to me because he is big, but I have never been beaten, so I won’t start now," he told the publication.
“I will be fighting for the first time in boxing. I've been preparing by going to the gym.
“I respect the advice they have been giving me. They advised me not to sleep with women while training."
The 'Dear My Love' hitmaker says one of the boxers he met at the gym has been abstaining for seven months.
"You can see by the way he moves and the way he is aggressive when he fights that it has been long since he slept with a woman," he told the publication.
He says he has seen how abstaining has made him feel different.
“With me I can tell the difference when I do sleep with a woman, I tend to be weak, my knees are weak, so I'm trying. Even when it comes to drinking, I try to stay away from that, perhaps I have just one drink.”
He says boxing has also helped him lose weight.
“I've lost weight and it turns out the more I lose weight, the faster and stronger I become. My wish is to continue doing it because it has made me more disciplined," he said.
READ: Is it possible to love someone romantically but not be sexually attracted?
In an interview published by CNN, Emmanuele Jannini, professor of endocrinology and medical sexology at the University of Rome-Tor Vergata in Italy, said sex doesn't directly affect performance in sport.
“If sex is going to affect performance, it will be via a lack of sleep… Wait until after your final event,” he said.
"But I can’t see any problems with having sex and then getting a good night’s sleep."
Another study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine concluded that “sex had no statistically significant effect on athletic performance." This is according to Training Peaks.