Hey guys!
I thought I would give an update to my Begginer's routine post if anyone is interested.
This is going to be a wall of text, so bear with me, if you are interested.
Also, English is not my native language, so please, bear with potential errors.
TL;DR:
- Interval pumping, twice a day, every other day, 10 reps, 2-minute each @ 7hgin, then cockring for 20 minutes
- Vacuum cup Extending, twice a day, every day, 45 minutes per session
- One full rest day
- Gains: 2,5 cm in length, 0 in girth
Why the wall of text
Since I am a newbie in this, there are some insights that helped me, through a trial and error. Perhaps more advanced guys know this already, or don't do that, or do that differently. The point is, there are a lot of posts on this reddit, and successfully extracting information MIGHT be a pain in the ass. So I decided to write down my thoughts. Maybe someone will benefit from that. Use everything at your own risk, I just write about my experiences, those aren't guidelines or advice. I would love some feedback if anything could be done better or different.
So, as mentioned in my original post, I was doing pumping and extending. I took advice from earlier post and extended almost daily. I made some changes to the pumping routine as well.
Routine
My routine was:
Extending - almost every day, 2 times a day 30 - 45 minutes @ ~2 kg tension
Pumping - every other day, interval pumping. The values changed during that month. The final values that I am going to keep up with are: 2 minutes @ 7-7,5 (perhaps more later, when I feel comfortable) hgin, 10 seconds rest, repeat 10 times, two times a day. Then 20 minutes of wearing a cockring, to keep the hopefully-not-so-little-anymore guy engorged longer.
One day (for me, it's Saturday) is a total rest day - nothing happens then.
Some explanations to the routine
As for extending - it was 45 minutes UNLESS it was unbearable to wear it, which was a rare occasion, but happened anyway.
With pumping, it was absolute madness. I started with a 1,75" cylinder. Couldn't find the 1,65", as the cylinder guide recommends, so did that. I bought the 12" in length one. That was a miss, it was too long; I had trouble cleaning it. I thought it was an investment - I guess it was not. Bought the 9" one - perfect for me. I started around 5hgin of pressure. Then gradually, over a couple of days, went up to 7hgin. I changed pauses from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. When I was good in my pumping routine, I changed the cylinder to 2". I know it is not according to the table posted in pinned posts. I should have listened because that was a bad move. However, I was annoyed that I pack the bottom of the cylinder, almost pack around the glans, but nothing happens in the midshaft. So I checked if this does something. I am cautious with pressure - however, at the end of the month I went for 9hgin (in 2" cylinder), because on lower pressure I barely felt anything. I thought it might be the tight sleeve. Nope, with a bigger sleeve, I went for 9hgin, and still got bruising. Then I lowered the pressure back to 7hgin. Still got bruising. And then I switched back to 1.75" cylinder and went for 7hgin. No bruising, but also I can't really go higher than 7 - 7,5hgin. Maybe with some more practice. But the bruising went away. So going back on a smaller cylinder was a good choice. So, that table in pinned links? Yeah, that makes sense. 1,75" has one more advantage that 2" didn't have (yet) - it also kinda works for length. And I do not need as high pressure as in a 2" cylinder. I am going to stay on a 1,75" cylinder with 7 - 7,5 hgin pressure until I fully pack the cylinder. Then I will think about sizing up.
As with everything - THIS. NEEDS. TO. BE. LEARNED. If you are like me, with limited time-windows and want to do everything correctly on the first try, forget it; it is not going to work. You will get frustrated, sit for 40 minutes in the bathroom trying to put the friggin cup and then lose seal immediately, only to throw all this stuff again to the bag and be annoyed for the whole day. Trial and error. It takes time to learn how to cup, how to tape, how to lube - everything. Give it a time.
In the first week I was less consistent because it was still a trial-and-error stage, and also I had some issues from the previous trial-and-error, where I got an injury. I got a little blood blister, near the peehole, which stopped all PE for 1,5 weeks, at least. It disappeared after 3 days, but I was scared shitless, that was my first injury, so to speak. That happened when I used the automatic pump - it didn't care and went from 0 to 22 in a couple of seconds, and I think that was the problem. Now I pump manually with great care and consideration for Mr Willy.
This routine is tailor-made for me and my time management. I work from home, my family is there, I can't occupy the bathroom for hours without good explanation (and extending my dick is not going to be the one that anyone will understand). I can't extend/pump in the living room, so everything that can be cut short is cut short. I extend under the clothes, so the only time I spend hidden is when I put on the cup and pump. Roughly it is somewhere around 90 minutes throughout the whole day if it's an extending and pumping day. Reduces to 20 for extending-only days. If I was able to not use tape, it would be cut even more. Pumping takes the most time, as it requires constant workout 2 minutes times 10 and with 10-second pauses between sets, which gives us another ~1,5 minutes and some effort to get properly erect.
Some insights that I made during the month:
- Interval pumping is great. But I had to be careful with it. I noticed that when I pumped too fast between intervals, I couldn't reach target pressure; the pain was bigger. So the obvious solution was to pump slower! And use a manual pump. Or some more sophisticated automatic one. Maybe it's just my build. I chose interval pumping instead of just staying in cylinder for 20 minutes, because I noticed that when I did intervals, my length, at the beginning of my cycle went from 6" erect, to 6,5" erect at the end of the cycle and I packed cylinder a little more every single rep. So gradually tissue expanded even more over longer time, and I think this is exactly what BD was talking about in video about interval pumping.
- Save your money, don't do pride-buying, measure up, then buy. I bought 12" long cylinders first, thinking I was going to grow. And that was a miss, maybe I am going to grow, but not this long and not this fast.
- Lube - when entering the cylinder, lube up. Not just the tip. Not just the glans - shaft too, but not too low, because it will suck in the skin. However, if I didn't use lube, it hurt and I couldn't reach even 5inHg.
- Cupping - I tried toeshields, Penimaster protectors on cups. Nothing worked and glans was always red on top. I didn't like it, finally caved in to taping. And that was a gamechanger. Yes, it takes a couple of minutes more, but it did the job. I started with a method that Perve McSwerve did (which is tape on top of the glans, from coronal ridge, over the peehole, to the front of the glans). It was better, but not entirely helpful. Then I did a method I saw here on this reddit (3 straps of tape, forming a cross on top of the glans). Worked better but still a lot of red on top of glans. Then I tried the method shown by MrEcz. It was almost perfect. Then I tried the doubletaping method. First, it didn't work at all - I am (was) exactly 33 mm wide on glans and I really can't use a 38 mm cup. (that changed later!) I had to squeeze in a smaller one, because on the bigger one I had no seal at all. On smaller cups - it was kinda lottery at first. But finally, I succeeded with double taping, and even when I have a red spot, it goes away almost immediately. The only problem I have (I am uncircumcised) is that the skin under the sleeve is prone to irritation, and I hate it. Tried parts of old sleeves, lube, tape - it kinda helped, but I need to use some cream (I use handcream, lol) to make it less irritated. Then I read that post and I did some variation of the technique, and that changed a lot. Anyway, for me taping was the way, even though I was really reluctant to do that.
- I tape flaccid. I enter the cup flaccid. Can't do the erect entry, because I won't fit the cup, and then I will lose seal in the bigger one immediately. Just my build. I tried doing this erect, and it's time-consuming and frustrating that it sometimes doesn't work immediately.
- Important thing here: I do not have the apex, totalman, epic stuff. I bought cheap stuff from China. Cylinders and pumps are of exceptional quality. No problems here. Extender is kinda good, I measured its real strength with a small hook scale, and it was rather good in terms of consistency. It was sketchy in its looks, but I finally managed to make it work as it should. Cups are good. Sleeves... well, those are lottery. I got one that is really thick and seems really good, but clamps Private Willy so much that it is very uncomfortable to wear. So I prefer the "usual" sleeves, but, generally, keeping proper seal is still a lottery for me. Sometimes I will go in and keep a perfect seal for 45 minutes, sometimes I will put on the tape and lose the seal immediately. And I did things in the exact same way. Well, that's life. I try the triple sleeving as Perv McSwerve shown in one of the videos about how to put on a cup (with the old sleeve being a band), and that, most of the time, works really well. I do not cut my sleeves. I did this in the beginning (hence parts of sleeves I use for maintaining a seal), but ended with too short of a sleeve.
- I am planning to 3d print old hog extender files and build it myself, but it's not going to happen yet
- If something happens and I get an unusual influx of money, I will buy Epic extender, as, from the ones I have seen, it convinces me the most (out of Apex, TotalMan, Hog and Epic).
- I have modified the Chinese extender somewhere around half of the month, so it's not a full month under such tension. The original came with 25mm springs, with 6,75 diameters, with 0,65mm rod diameter. I changed them to ones with the same length, but 0,8mm rod diameter and 6,7mm diameter in total. I also had one with 1mm rod diameter (6 mm diameter), but I couldn't actually even use it. But the middle one worked wonders, giving me more stable and higher tension without pushing the screws the whole way down. Since I was compressing it between 10mm - 15mm, the amount of force generated, according to calculations, should be between 2000g and 3000g. On better days I was able to use more, on worse less. But on average it was probably around 2000g, 2200g.
- Extending for more than 45 minutes was impossible. The extender started to get uncomfortable around the 30-minute mark, usually.
- I used a standard disposable tissue as a some sort of "foam" that was making wearing extender more bearable, since the plastic really pushes into the flesh, and it's painful later. It helped, also positioning the base of the extender differently actually made a difference.
Consistency and workout data
I have spent ~2200 minutes under tension and ~350 minutes under pressure during that month. I keep a spreadsheet with all my workout data, measurements and results.
Gains:
What I noticed almost immediately was an amazing improvement to EQ. I am a fit guy, approaching my 40s, and I have never had such an EQ as now. My morning glories are really glory moments. During sex, I have never hit my wife so deep, she loves it more, and she never had any complaints anyway (it's the wizard, not the wand!). So this is already a huge plus.
Below are my values from the last month.
I started from 15,1cm (5,945") bpel and 12,8cm (5,01") girth. Those measurements differ from the one in the original post - I didn't do it really well in the time or previous post; around 1,5 weeks later I did it properly, with pictures (which I am not posting, for privacy reasons)
I measured first at the two-week mark (Saturday, 18th April), out of curiosity. I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was 16,5 cm (6,5") bpel and 12,8 cm (5,01") girth.
I decided that Saturday evening will be a measure day (24 hrs after last extending and 48 hrs after pumping).
So I measured again 25th April
It was 17,2 cm (6,77") bpel. Girth still unchanged.
And then again, 2nd of May.
It was 17,6 cm (6,94") bpel. Girth still unchanged.
2,5 cm in length gain is insane for me. Unbelievable. I would never think it is possible. And I am also very, very happy, because it was only a month (however, a month of consistency, sometimes anger and frustration).
Even if this is just a change in EQ, it's still massive for me, and I am happy. Maybe those are just newbie gains - I am not sure. But it looks like I just stretched it well. I think it will slow down a lot now (hence the difference between first and last measurement), and I will experience maybe 1 or 2 mm a month from now on. Whatever, really - consistency works. I am cautious with saying that I grew my dick 1" in a month. I do not think I did. But I improved my EQ, probably stretched it slightly. My routine seem to work and I will keep doing that for some time.
With girth, however - my glans is bigger. I kinda outgrew a small cup (started from exactly 33mm diameter, right now it's 36mm flaccid). My lower shaft is bigger. But midshaft, where I measure girth - it stayed unchanged. But I think I will keep to my routine, after I reach perhaps somewhere around 18cm in length, I will stop doing the length work and focus solely on girth. Or I will go to my dream 20cms. Gotta consult this one with my wife thought, she is afraid I will grow too big :D
The end
So yeah, there we go; whoever was interested in how it went, I tried to measure the most of it.
I just wish it was less time-consuming and, maybe, easier to do. And less uncomfortable. Pumping is good, extending is less good in terms of comfort. But both give a certain level of discomfort, which is a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. And it was never "muscle training" uncomfortable - it was "I am trying to rip my dick off or make my dick explode" uncomfortable.
Any input and feedback is welcome - I would love to hear it. Maybe I will improve my routine and make it more consistent with some advanced advice.