Manual Stretching - General Advice on Safety

Hey fellows, I’ve been a long time lurker and spent a lot of time thinking about PE without actually doing it so bear with me, this is pretty much years worth of buildup.

A little background about me. I have tried Jelqing before, got very terrified when I awoke to a numb penis a couple times and stopped entirely.
That was many years ago and, well, I’m back.

One thing I’ve discovered about myself I tend to overdo things and hurt myself.
I started running over the summer and thought I could immediately start sprinting and because of that I’ve got some kind of sprains in the tops of both of my feet that have hurt really bad for months on end. Weightlifting, same story, I went really hard for maybe 3 - 4 years but I would never warm up, go ham, end up hurting myself, end up having to stop for long stretches at a time to recover. I hate following anyone else’s routines. I can vaguely stick to them for a couple sessions but before long I end up doing things my way, cuttings things out I felt were unnecessary. I can’t even follow cooking recipes. There’s just some psychological block where I can follow up to about step 5 out of 10 and I start going “eh, I think I can wing the rest of this from here.”
Wow, just typing this out has been really therapeutic like I’m finally admitting to what’s been sabotaging my efforts all these years.

Anyway, I’ve been warming up better this time. I get in the shower and wrap my penis up in a wash cloth, soak it in some hot water for a bit before I start going at it.
Recently got a space heater so I’ll do my PE work practically on top of the heater.

I’ve taken a liking to stretching because to me, it’s the technique with the most evidence/research backing it’s efficacy.
My logic is if traction devices have been medically approved with studies backing their results, I should be able to achieve roughly the same results with just my hands, right? And if traction devices are recommended to be worn for up to 6 hours a day for best results, in theory it should be pretty much physically impossible for me to overdo it in terms of time, right? How much is too much stretching? I never stretch to the point it’s physically uncomfortable, but my fear with this is, whenever I’ve injured myself in the past, nothing I do, be it running or weightlifting or jelqing has ever been uncomfortable at the time. It isn’t until afterwards that I realize I messed something up.

It seems like the more I stretch it out the better flaccid hang I get, and I can see those results practically immediately which is, well, pretty damn exciting!
But again I’ve had some experience with this before and knowing the way I am, I tend to overdo it and hurt myself without even realizing I’m doing it, and as much as I’d love to gain that extra half-an-inch to an inch, the most important thing to me is maintaining a healthy EQ.

I’ve been doing a little bit of light jelqing between stretching and my EQ has actually been looking good, especially morning wood.
But I’m not sure if I can completely attribute this to my recent PE efforts.

I need someone to help keep me and my expectations grounded. I want to stay in this for the long haul, I want to maintain healthy functioning EQ but I don’t want to go at such a glacial pace that it takes a decade to see results.

Anyway thanks for reading. Wish everyone here the best.

I actually get more penis fatigue from stretching than jelqing. I also noticed when I focused more on stretching over jelqing I saw length gains but a loss of girth (everyone is different) but it makes sense.

6 months into PE I started adding in more advanced forms of stretching and the benefits are a lot better - V and A stretches, bundles, and more which I just don’t know the correct names for. Funny enough advanced forms of stretching don’t seem to hinder my girth gains at all.

Your hands apply way more force than the extender. Too much force when stretching means that you try during the stretch to hold it by applying more strength.

You dont want also to stretch way more than your Bpfsl. Its very easy with hands to go past your Bpfsl in terms of force. I stretch exactly at my Bpfsl or a little more.

As a rule remember to start a stretch with very low force and progressively increase the force. This way you can hold it more time. If you try to stretch immediately with your “max” force you will not manage to hold it long enough.

Very good advice!

You know you don’t stretch enough when you’re not at the point of resistance that says “stop it’s your max FSL”. Before that point stretching isn’t effective.

At that FSL point you should feel a good sensation of stretching without overdoing it. If you don’t, it’s not the good stretch for you right now. Maybe because you need to warm up, or you don’t do it right, or you overworked yourself that way over the last weeks.

So you know you stretch too much when at that point you want to push yourself harder because you don’t feel anything good. Instead, you need to change the way you stretch. Simple.