PE "Science" From A Newbie

Hello,

I have read many good threads on PE anatomy, general connective tissue stretching, deformation, heat, and duration. I am about to misquote and remember incorrectly a whole lot in the next part.

Deformation over 5.14% is permanent.

Heat in a range (102-112°) warmup + during the workout + cooldown can cause a 1% permanent change in plastic deformation.

Yoga poses held for 1 minute each were shown to be very beneficial opposed to holding for less than a minute, and holding for longer has diminishing returns.

Foam rolling has shown to release adhesions, and have a window of cellular restructuring of about 1% for a short amount of time, around 5 minutes. (Fire goat rolls?)

PE seems like a puzzle to me, and if you put all pieces together right you get to see a pretty picture, like your dick growing.

Is anyone doing all of these things at the same time on purpose?

Just thinking out loud, but it seems like for optimal results, and this will be an extremely simple example for conversations sake,

Warm up to temperature and maintain with an infrared heat source. Measure with a laser thermometer?
Fire goat roll for 30 seconds, or heck just buy a little foam roller, or a big one if you are packing serious woodage.
Determine what 5.14% past your bpnel is, then stretch and hold that for 1 minute.

Does this make sense to anyone, or am I way off base?

I researched yoga quite a bit and saw the same thing you did regarding ligament stretches. The yogists claim you need at least 30 seconds to first relax the surrounding tissue before you hit the ligament with full tension. Then you need at least another 30 seconds of ligament stretching to induce permanent stretch. Anything over one minute per stretch is overkill with little return. EXACTLY what you found, maybe even from the same online resources, I forget the sites.

They also claimed that more than five minutes workouts seemed to have little additional impact. I’ve been using 60s stretches with a 6 minute routine (two or three of these per working day) with good results. So the 60s stretch, no more than maybe 6 minutes total workout time (this is 3 stretches, times 2 hands = 6 minutes), in my mind is a solid observation wrt stretching. I do this a couple of times per day on workout days. So far very solid and seemingly effortless length gains, though the newb appears to be wearing off, now (after about 6 months).

I also use a heating pad when possible. I warm up with the pad and use it in a prone position to remain hot the entire time. Not sure if temp reaches what you say.

I think the foam rolling is very similar not just to goats but to jelqs. I’ve tried a lot of routines, and I’m settling on squeeze-roll types that first loosen the CC, then squeeze-hold for ten seconds, then release and repeat. This is still under investigation, but lines up with your observation about rolling releasing tension for a short period of time, maybe 5 minutes, in which you can use other exercises such as squeeze or clamp to generate some permanent deformation.

In any case, it’s all bro-science. Mostly be careful and listen to your PI. There’s no one-way-right-way to this, anymore than there is a one-way-right-way in the gym for obtaining your workout goals. We all have different goals and different bodies, so just slap away at it, change it as needed, research and test, and above all things avoid injury (if you get injured, you’re out of the game!).

- Saul

When I do Lightweight Routine #1-Stretching I find that 3 minutes and 7 are vastly different in how it hangs after. But 7 and 12 or more just has no proportional increase in effect. So light force stretching may have a 6 minute sweet spot or so.

Additionally, I find warming up for around 60 seconds let’s me get a better stretch and holding for more than 45 seconds after the warmup at full force seems to be counterproductive. So a 30 to 45 second stretch per rep may be optimal. I saw small gains with that routine to reach my most recent gains. So I suppose moderation is still key with stretching manually.

Another reason I find the Length Master less than useful.