Yes, Men Can Have Multiple Orgasms: A Step-By-Step Guide

Yes, men can have multiple orgasms. Both people with penises and people with vulvas can have multiple orgasms without a refractory period, confirms AASECT-certified sex therapist Susan W. Wenzel, M.A.

While they're definitely possible for men though, they're not that common: A 2016 published review1 found less than 10% of men in their 20s and fewer than 7% of men over 30 reported having experienced multiple orgasms, neuroscientist and certified sex therapist Nan Wise, Ph.D., MSW, tells mbg.

"And apparently, male multiple orgasms come in two flavors: 'sporadic' multiple orgasms with a few or more minutes in between, and 'condensed' multiple orgasms, in which there are bursts of two to four orgasms within a few seconds to a few minutes," she adds.

The secret to multiple orgasms for men is orgasms without ejaculation, also sometimes referred to as semen retention.

Although orgasm and ejaculation often tend to "come" together (pun intended), they're actually independent physiological events, Wise notes.

"Orgasm is the intense experience of transient pleasure often felt as an altered state of consciousness and accompanied by physiological changes, such as elevated heart rate, pupillary dilation, and contractions of muscles," she says. They can occur with or without ejaculation. "On the other hand, ejaculation is a more straightforward physiological process controlled by the autonomic nervous system with tons of activity of both sensory and motor components," including the release of semen from the penis.

That means you can essentially train yourself to have orgasms without ejaculating and thus have as many non-ejaculatory orgasms as you want in a given sex session. 

The most reliable way to learn how to have multiple orgasms as a man is to learn how to separate your orgasms from your ejaculation. To do this, you'll first have to practice stopping yourself right before you ejaculate, known as edging.

"Practice masturbation, and don't fall off the cliff (ejaculate)," says Wenzel. She suggests bringing yourself to almost the point of climaxing then stopping, then repeat about five to six times. Solo sex also teaches you your point of no return. "Recognize ejaculatory inevitability before and not after. If on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being climaxing, stop at 9.5," she adds.

(Here's our full guide to edging.) 

To connect your intention—multiple orgasms—with your physical experience, Wise says you'll need to learn how to better sync your body and mind. To achieve this, try alternating touching any part of your genitals with thinking about touching your genitals as a practice of getting attuned to sensations from the body and linking them to your mind.

To be able to experience multiple orgasms during sex, many of them non-ejaculatory, you need to actually be tuned into these sensations during sex. Stop focusing on intercourse and start viewing the bedroom as a playground, Wise says. By getting rid of the goal of orgasm (thrust and thrust to get to that one explosive release, then you're done), you start to tune into all the different types of pleasure that are available to you.

Orgasming six times in one session may not happen overnight. In fact, Wenzel says it might take weeks to months before achieving these skills. However, it is possible with time, practice, and patience. 

So whether you're the partner of a person with a penis or a man who wants to expand your own capacity for sexual pleasure, remember that practice makes perfect. Eventually, you can master the art of multiple orgasms for men.