“No sex tonight, honey. I've got the big game tomorrow!”

Ever since the first croquet matches in the Garden of Eden, men dedicated to their athletic achievements have been swearing off nookie the night before their Big Game. What is it about sex that makes men less likely to make that crucial 3-pointer in the final seconds, or sink that 30-foot putt on the 18th green?

As it turns out, nothing. A new study published in Frontiers of Physiology challenges all of our “No Sex Before Glory” preconceptions.

"Abstaining from sexual activity before athletic competition is a controversial topic in the world of sport," said Laura Stefani, an Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this review. "We show no robust scientific evidence to indicate that sexual activity has a negative effect upon athletic results."

When Dr. Stefani and her investigators first set out to get to the bottom of getting down before Game Day, they were surprised to discover the almost complete lack of evidence or even documentation on the matter.

The scientists waded through hundred of studies that might have provided evidence, however big or small, on the impact of sexual activity upon sport performance. But after establishing the proper criteria to filter out the most reliable of these studies, only nine were included in the review

"We clearly show that this topic has not been well investigated and only anecdotal stories have been reported," explained Dr. Stefani. "In fact, unless it takes place less than two hours before, the evidence actually suggests sexual activity may have a beneficial effect on sports performance."

Nice.

Some of the data sets indicated that there was no change in female athletes' strength if they had Gotten Some the night before, and some other evidence indicated that marathon runners' performance improves post-hook-up.

The researchers were disappointed that men were more frequently tracked than women, with no comparison of effects across the sexes. They also felt that insufficient attention was paid to differentiating among the types of sports played, or to the psychological versus physical aspects of athletic performance. 

Still, the researchers felt there was enough evidence available from their review of studies to conclude that athletes should not feel guilty when engaging in their usual sexual activity up to the day before competition.