Can masturbation & cunnilingus improve athletic performance? Sexologist discusses Tyson Fury’s ‘training regime'

Tyson Fury claims to masturbate 7 times a day to raise testosterone and practice cunnilingus to strengthen his jaw in training. But can either give you an edge in a fight? RT Sport spoke to a sexologist to find out the truth.

Former IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Fury has a reputation for his tongue-in-cheek style, but recent revelations about his unorthodox training regime gave fresh details about the 31-year-old Brit's other talents with his tongue.

To prevent against a licking in his rematch against Wilder for the WBC title at MGM Grand this weekend, Fury claims he has been doing some licking of his own to increase his punch resistance, more accurately by “doing a lot of p***y licking to strengthen my jaw up”.

American Wilder is widely regarded as the heaviest hitter in boxing with a chilling 41 knockout wins from his 43 fights, even flooring Fury twice in their first meeting in December 2018.

And in order to give him an edge over ‘The Bronze Bomber’, Fury has also revealed he is adhering to a regime of masturbating seven times a day in an effort to raise his testosterone levels.

But are there really any benefits to Fury’s tantric training methods? RT Sport spoke to top Russian sexologist and psychotherapist Amina Nazaralieva to find out if The Gypsy King kinks would benefit him this weekend, and it turns out it's a little hit and miss.

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“On the subject of cunnilingus, generally speaking the muscles in the jaw are the strongest in the human body, and I don’t know exactly how much you would have to do to give them extra strength,” says Nazaralieva, a doctor of Moscow’s Mental Health Center.

“However, I can only express my admiration for Fury because he so actively practices cunnilingus and without a doubt his partner is extremely pleased with such a sporting approach in their lives.

“I doubt the chin would become significantly stronger through cunnilingus. But your emotional connection and your love will definitely become stronger especially if your partner likes your technique and the fact that specifically it is being done by you.”

Fury has frequently made grandiose gestures declaring his undying love for his wife Paris, including crooning ballads to the mother of his five children after fights. 

One imagines it would be difficult for Fury to observe an old unwritten law among pugilists that dictates boxers must abstain from sex - either with their partners or with oneself - in the weeks before a fight to retain testosterone for the night of combat.

This widely practiced ritual makes it all the more strange that Fury would be so prolific in breaking a time-honored rule in preparation for the biggest fight on earth. According to the Manchester fighter: “I'm masturbating seven times a day, keep my testosterone pumping.”

But according to our expert it may be that Fury's system of self-love and submitting to those carnal urges, even those centered on self satisfaction, will cause him no worries at all. That is, if he isn’t superstitious. 

“There is very little research on the topic but the research that we have says that roughly speaking, having sex is allowed. It doesn’t in any way affect negatively on the way a person will perform sports-wise,” Nazaralieva explains.

“The advantages of abstaining are if the athlete feels superstitious. If they believe in this very strongly like an old ancient myth then they can believe they will break some kind of taboo [by masturbating] and become weaker and lose because of that.

“I think that it’s widely acknowledged as true because myths are very long-standing and people have retold this story to one another.

“There is some research that suggests that testosterone increases upon masturbation, but it’s not a fact that it has an effect on how an athlete performs. You need to be very careful with this information, because it is quite old. And it's unsure the amount of masturbation that can have an effect on an athlete’s performance. 

“I doubt it makes any difference apart from this self-fulfilling prophecy. When a person instills this belief in themselves - it does work. That does not suggest whether it is good or bad. It works exactly like a superstition, approximately the exact same mechanism."

Reuters / STEVE MARCUS

UFC phenom Conor McGregor is one high-profile fighter to publicly state his disregard for sex bans while in training, viewing it precisely as superstition and therefore nothing more than a 'form of fear'.

But Fury’s alleged plan to raise his virility through a heavy dose of solo stimulation could have significant downsides outside of the ring, alongside some advantages that would align with Fury's character.

“The downsides are that so much masturbation can have its own side-effects. You need to think about how much desire athletes feel or whether they are turned on when they masturbate,” says Nazaralieva. 

“Masturbation without any kind of sexual arousal and rather just because it is necessary, can adversely affect the qaulity of your sex life in the future. Therefore I would recommend masturbating only when you feel a desire too and not just because you ‘need’ to.

“I see two key advantages of masturbation. Firstly, pleasure. And secondly it helps him inspire confidence in himself because some superstitions and self-realizing prophecies can also work in your favor.”

Whether Fury’s training regimen will jerk the self-proclaimed lineal champion into action this weekend and dispell any lingering doubt as to who is the world’s best heavyweight remains to be seen.

And while the scientific debate continues over the advantages of such new-age appraoches to combat training, one thing can be certain: even if Fury fires a blank with the desired results, he will have most certainly enjoyed the desirable research.