Spice Up Your Sex Life With These 10 Exciting Positions

3. Reverse Cowgirl or Reverse Rider on Top

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Buttocks play, visual stimulations, opportunities for variations; may cause pain.

Details The penetrating partner lies on their back while the receiving partner sits astride them, facing their partner’s feet, and slips the penis or sex toy into their vagina or anus. The receiving partner can control the rhythm and pace of the thrusts. This position can be especially exciting for the penetrating partner, who gets to observe the back and buttocks of their lover. Squeezing or grabbing the buttocks can enhance the experience for both. This position can be tricky to master since it requires the receiving partner to lean back or sit up very straight to accommodate the angle of the penis. “If you’re leaning forward, it can be painful and uncomfortable for the man because it could almost feel like his penis is breaking,” says Harris-Jackson, who recommends having the penetrating partner bend their knees while the receiving partner holds their hands against their lover’s thighs or waist.

Switch It Up “This may be one of those positions that is better in theory than in practice,” says Lorrae Jo Bradbury, a sex and love coach and the founder of SluttyGirlProblems.com and LorraeJo.com. “You might want to use it as a foreplay position, grinding on his penis before you begin intercourse.”

4. Doggy Style or Rear Entry

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Deep penetration and G-spot stimulation but the position can feel impersonal.

Details In this position, the receiving partner kneels on all fours, supporting themself with their hands and knees. The penetrating partner crouches and enters from behind. This is the best sex position for deep penetration of the vagina. It gives the penetrating partner freedom to thrust hard and fast, and allows easy access to caress much of the receiving partner’s body. The position also allows for good G-spot stimulation.

Switch It Up Some people complain that this sex position is too impersonal because there’s no face-to-face contact. “If you want closer eye contact with this position,” says Bradbury, move your knees closer to your chest and arch your back so your partner can lean into you near your face and you can make eye contact. Bradbury says you can also try this position in front of a mirror so you can see one another’s faces.

Note: The research published in the August 2020 issue of Sexual Medicine looked at 13 sex positions and found that doggy style is not usually associated with female orgasms. If it doesn’t work for you or your partner, keep experimenting.

5. The Corkscrew

Potential Sensual Benefits or Caveats Intense, deep penetration.

Details Leaning forward, the receiving partner lies on the edge of the bed, resting on their hip and forearm while their partner enters them from behind. The receiving partner can keep their thighs together for a tighter hold on the penis or penetrating toy. But if the receiving partner has a clitoris and opens their legs, it is exposed for stroking while the penetrating partner thrusts from behind. “You’re getting that deeper penetration like doggy style, but this may be an easier and more comfortable position,” says Bradbury.

Switch It Up Your partner can easily lean down to make out with you, and the clitoris is within easy reach, according to Bradbury.

6. Side by Side or Sideways

Potential Sensual Benefits or Caveats Deep eye contact and intimacy.

Details Both partners lie on their sides, facing each other. The receiving partner lifts their top leg so the penetrating partner can enter them. This position is great for morning sex when you might be a little sleepy, says Bradbury.

It offers intimacy because you are close to your partner’s face. The partners can kiss and caress each other during lovemaking. The sex position is relaxing, doesn’t require a lot of stamina from either person, and offers an opportunity for good clitoral stimulation.

Switch It Up Penetration can be improved if the receiving partner drapes both legs over their partner’s waist, Bradbury says. This allows great access to the clitoris, which can be stimulated with a finger or with a toy. “I think this is a great position for everyone,” she says. “It offers the comfort of cuddling, too.”

7. Flat Iron or Lazy Dog

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Tightness on penetration, intense stimulation.

Details The receiving partner lies on their stomach with their legs straight and hips slightly raised. (You can place a pillow under your hips.) The penetrating partner enters from behind. When lying face down, the receiving partner’s legs will be closer together, which creates a snugger fit for their partner’s penis or sex toy. This can lead to a new, more intense sensation. “This is a really good way to increase the experience of tightness for the penetrating partner,” Harris-Jackson says. “It’s also good for clitoral stimulation because the partner can reach around with their hand or a sex toy to provide dual stimulation. And it’s a good position for G-spot stimulation because you’re angling the body so that the penis is in perfect alignment to stroke against the G-spot.”

8. Face-Off

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats With intense eye contact and clitoral stimulation, this can be an enhanced missionary position.

Details In this position, the penetrating partner sits on the edge of a bed or in a comfortable seated position while the receiving partner climbs on their lap face-to-face. The receiving partner wraps their legs around their partner’s waist and can control the pace of thrusting. This position also allows for direct clitoral stimulation and eye contact, which can increase intimacy.

Bonus Your hands are free so you can touch and caress your partner’s body nearly anywhere you would like. “This is a really impactful position for people who are aroused with eye contact,” says Harris-Jackson. “It’s like missionary, but you are really face-to-face. It also takes some of the work off the person with the vagina because the partner can move her up and down by placing their hands on her hips.”

Switch It Up The lotus position is very similar to face-off, only the partner with the penis or sex toy sits crossed-legged on the bed or chair.

9. Pretzel Dip

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Deep penetration with potential for G-spot stimulation.

Details The receiving partner lies on their right side as the penetrating partner straddles their lover’s right leg. The penetrating partner then pulls their partner’s left leg up and around their left side and enters the vagina or anus. This position allows deep penetration while also allowing the intimacy of maintaining eye contact.

Switch it Up “You can also take your left leg and pull it toward your chest to get a deeper angle,” says Bradbury. “And you have amazing access to the clitoris for both partners.” Your hands will be free, which can allow you to run them all over each other’s body. Adds Harris-Jackson: “This position — depending on your angle — can also offer G-spot stimulation, as well.”

10. Coital Alignment Technique (CAT)

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Clitoral stimulation.

Details If you want to rock rather than thrust, roll with CAT. This position is similar to missionary; the main difference is that the penetrating partner pushes the base of their penis or sex toy so that it lines up with the clitoris and the two make contact. Once they do, the couple rock back and forth and maintain constant contact. “It’s a little bit of a different way of having sex,” says Lehmiller. “You rock back and forth rather than thrusting. Doing so prolongs the length of intercourse for the man and increases the odds of a woman having an orgasm because she’s having that constant stimulation.”

11. Sixty-Nine (or 69)

Potential Sensual Benefits and Caveats Mutual oral stimulation.

Details This position involves both partners performing and receiving oral sex at the same time. Typically, one partner lies on their back while the other climbs on top of them and turns around, straddling them with their genitals above their partner’s face. The person on top then leans forward and begins performing oral sex on their partner while simultaneously receiving. This position can require some coordination and balance, particularly for the partner on top. One way to make 69 a bit more comfortable for both parties is to lie on their sides during the act.

Keep Switching It Up: Sexual Variety Is Exciting

In our day-to-day lives, we tend to be very goal-oriented, says Harris-Jackson. “We wake up in the morning and it’s go, go, go to get out the door. We go, go, go to eat our food, to go to work. It creates a lot of stress and tension in our bodies and in our minds. Many patients that I see feel that sex becomes one more thing that they have to go, go, go and do. But sexual partners should be really with one another and feel pleasure together. Switching up positions can be very helpful to rekindle that connection. So it can be helpful and fun to try something new.”

Additional reporting by Andrea Atkins.