A good way to consistently measure length

We’d all like our measurements to be as accurate as possible, so that we can tell more quickly how effective our current PE program is. However, accurately and consistently measuring BPEL and BPFSL has always been a problem.

The traditional method is to push the ruler into your pubic bone. This is strongly affected by how much pain you are willing to endure and what kind of ruler you use. And then there is the issue of exactly where on the pubic bone the ruler should sit.the arguments keep flying.

Here’s my solution: use a moderately thick paperback book to measure. Stand up, and hold it at a 90 degree angle to your body with the binding facing down, resting on your penis: assuming the book is right side up, the cover will face left. Then hold the binding down against your penis and push it back into your pubic bone. Look down, note where you end up, and measure that distance. Since the book is much larger than a ruler, it won’t hurt to push it right up against the bone, it will always sit in the same place, and you can get results consistent to the millimeter.

Now, some tricks and tips..

Regular pulp paperbacks are about 18cm (7 inches), so the large, ambitious, or optimistic should use a trade paperback.
Don’t use a really short book (ouch) or a really long book (you may not be able to see your penis).
You can skip the “measuring the book” step if you add some tick marks to the cover. Every 5mm or 1/4” is about right.
Make it a book you enjoy so it is plausible for it to be left laying around a lot.
Since you can push harder, you will probably get a larger measurement from this than from the ruler. Make sure to measure both ways for a few days. So you know how to convert one to the other and can accurately measure your progress from the previous system.

Let me know how this works for you, or if something I wrote isn’t clear.

Seems one of the old timers agrees with you Steady.

Honest measuring, or how I just lost 1/4”

Welcome to the forum.

Ive tried this before, but after inconsistencies, decided it was inferior to the good old ruler.

Thanks, ThunderSS. I’ve been lurking for quite a while, but not long enough to see that thread. It’s so simple that I’m not surprised others have had the same idea.

Being able to measure 1mm of progress has saved me a lot of time, since I don’t have to wait a month or two before I know whether a routine is effective. Interestingly, I’ve found that while small increases aren’t consistently correlated with particular PIs, they are definitely correlated with the absence of NIs. If I feel like I’ve really been working things too hard, or that an exercise has caused more pain than gain, usually I’m right.

Update:

I’ve found that it’s also easy to repeatably measure NBPEL with the book. Turn the book cover upwards and lay the edge with the binding on your penis. Position the bottom of the book so it’s just barely touching your lower stomach (or whatever the area just above your penis is called), and position the edge about halfway across so you can look down and see where the end is.

With a flexible tape measure, it’s easy to fudge by pushing the start of the tape either into your fat pad or starting it a little ways up your stomach. Same with a ruler - there’s always that little ramp of skin where the penis joins the body, and it’s never clear to me exactly where on that ramp to start. A book is heavy and thick enough to flatten it and to give you a fixed reference to your body.

It may be that this measurement is slightly optimistic: that’s OK, I’m not using it to impress anyone. I’m only concerned that it is accurate and repeatable, so I can tell whether my routine is working.