Not only on fertile days. The book recommends regular sex 1 to 2 times a week outside the fertile window: it keeps sperm quality optimal, preserves intimacy and takes pressure off the fertile days. More is not better: sex every day brings no gain in conception for healthy couples, and the toll on desire is high.
It's easy to concentrate everything on the fertile window. But frequency outside it matters too. Regular sex, 1 to 2 times a week, outside the fertile window helps as well:
Don't confuse this with the 3 to 5 days of abstinence you may have read about: in the book, that rule belongs to collecting a semen analysis, not to trying to conceive.
"You have to have sex every day" opens the book's list of the 7 myths holding you back. False. Sperm survive up to 5 days in the female reproductive tract when cervical mucus is fertile. You don't need to "fill the uterus" every day; you need to make sure there's sperm available at the moment of ovulation.
| Situation | What daily sex does |
|---|---|
| Healthy couples | No difference in conception |
| Borderline male fertility | Can reduce sperm concentration |
| Every couple | A high toll on emotions and desire |
If his semen analysis came back with borderline values, that is one more reason not to aim for every day.
There is also no benefit to having sex several times on the same day. Inside the fertile window, the book's strategy is every other day, and the exact days have their own page.
If you only have sex during the fertile window, sex becomes synonymous with "now we have to produce". Regular sex across the cycle dilutes that. It is one of the five strategies the book gives to keep sex alive while you try, alongside not announcing "the day" to your partner. And if one planned night doesn't happen, that's fine: the next one comes, and forcing sex without desire creates negative associations that stick around.
It isn't only about having sex in the fertile window. It's how, how often, under what conditions, and how to keep it up for months without wrecking the relationship.
Frequency is part of Chapter 26 of Map to the Positive, "Sex at the right time", in Station III (Optimization). The chapter gives the day-by-day intercourse strategy for a 28-day cycle, what to use (and never use) as lubricant, whether positions matter and how to handle sexual pressure. It's the chapter where couples who do everything else right stop going wrong.
Take 30 days. If it does not give you more clarity than everything you have read for free so far, ask for a refund and you get every cent back. We cannot promise you a pregnancy. We can promise you will not be guessing.
References: Stanford JB et al. Timing intercourse to achieve pregnancy. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2002.