Emily Beers examines the physiology of exercise-induced orgasms, and female CrossFit athletes open up and talk about them.

It was 1995, a time when crunches were the in-vogue ab exercise.

Wendy, desperate for a flat stomach to flaunt during the upcoming summer, started an abdominal routine in her living room. She told herself the monotony of the crunches would be well worth it.

“From pain will come pleasure,” Wendy remembers thinking.

Twenty, 25, 30 crunches into her routine, and suddenly her body started to feel hot in an interesting new way. The friction from the constant crunching started to stimulate her pelvic region. Thirty-five, 40, 45 crunches into the workout, Wendy kept getting closer to climax with each crunch.

At 52 crunches, her abdominal session ended abruptly—and involuntarily. She was flat on her back, breathing hard, her body half numb.

Wendy had just experienced her first crunch-induced orgasm.

In fact, it was her first orgasm ever.