Retaining Gains

PE was still fairly new on the Interwebs back when I got into it. Having read through most of the posts at the few forums previous to Thunder’s, nobody then knew about long term retention of gains made. Having read all of the first several years of posts here, nothing substantial had been determined. There was a lot of speculation, but very few actual reports from those who had made good PE gains, then stopped for years.

I speculated/hoped that maybe a really long break might set one up for newbie-like gains, but that was only a wish.

After not PEing much at all, and by that I mean only a few stretches done once in a blue moon for maybe a few days at a time, for many years, I lost a good 1/2” BPEL, perhaps a little more, over my best. I measured a few times over recent years. 6.75” or so BPEL was typical, maybe pushing closer to 6 7/8” at the best, and, as usual before, that’s jamming the ruler in hard.

I’ve been PEing again lately with a mild amount of determination. I didn’t take careful before measurements. After 2-3 weeks of stretching, yesterday I measured right after a PE session. Got 7 1/8”. So, the indication so far is the lost length is returning quicker than I had to fight for it initially. No promises, but I’ll try to keep this up for another few weeks and see what happens. I’ll be extremely pleased if in such a short amount of time I get back to 7.25” or so BPEL measured properly after a few days of rest — which I think is about where I left off back 2006ish(?).

My sessions these days are all stretching. Long holds, mild to moderate tension, alternating hands as they tire. I’m basically trying to simulate hanging. I get in 30-40 minutes per session.

How have others done who have taken long breaks from PE? Did you keep all your previous gains? If you started again, did previous size return quickly? Did you progress beyond your old sticking point?

I was hoping for the same good fortune when I took off three months due to injury. I chose not to measure when starting back simply for the demoralization factor but I measured after a month in and I was right back where I left off. No big deal at all. Here it is three months since starting back and two months since i “truly” started a normal routine again and I am still where I was previously. I do believe that if one month from today I am still at this plateau, I will start hanging.

To answer your questions though: I probably lost some gains after I took an injury break, but I didn’t want to face the ruler. I did notice significant visual size increases quickly when i started again so yes, I did lose and yes, they do come back quickly when I started again. I am, however, at my previous plateau.

Thanks for the feedback. I know from past experience that 3 months, or even 6, aren’t enough to take you back to sort of a “PE virginity” state. A year? I doubt it. Or does such a condition ever arrive at all? If it does, I suspect multiple years of laying off.

I’m wondering about the really long term breaks, as in a year or many. For those who have done that, how have PE gains held up over time, and after restarting PE how easily did you regain or perhaps gain even more than before you stopped?

As long as I make it that long, I’m planning on doing a couple of minutes of stretching every day until I’m 60, so thats 34 more years. It’s too easy and convenient to reach down and stretch it for 2-3 minutes once a day in the shower for me to make excuses not to. I hope I’m not setting myself up for long term, irreversible damage by planning on making this a constant routine.

Jeeze! Really man? That’s the kind of crazy thought that gets you out of your box, as the mind is the true key to achievment.

- hidden oyster in it’s own self created box

Long breaks seems to not work for me, unit will shrink over time. Even after a year of PE staying the same size it just doesn’t cement, any size gained don’t stay. It took several months to get back to little over 7” BPEL, and 5.25 girth. I just don’t have the time now. My current maintenance routine is stretching while warm water running in shower for about 4-5 minutes and about 40 jelq and 30 second hold at the end (X2). On weekend I try to get at 1 30 minute manual stretching session. Boomerang kids sucks.

A long rest period for me resulted in a loss of all of my gains and an apathy towards my overall health. It’s this combination that is detrimental to our overall (and penis) health and size.

The good thing is once you start back with intent you return to your peak size far quicker than the first time. Breaking your personal bests might be a different issue though. I’ll check back in with you in 6 months time to let you know how I get on ;)

I am surprised that you guys haven’t heard about why your loosing what you gained after stopping your routines.
What is going on here is the healing cycles of the body.

There are 4 phases to a healing cycle. The 1st three phases of the healing cycle is to clean out damaged tissues and bring to the site proteins and enzymes to repair and strengthen the damaged points. The last phase is what your seeing happen to your loss of any gains you accomplished. The last phase is the process to return the damaged area to its original size and shape. This is genetically determined and the only way to retain any gains is to cement your gains via utilization of a ADS daily for an extended length of time after heavy stretching routines have stopped or to lighten up the heavy stretching to something very conservative and then start to take rest periods of a short duration and keep this process up until several healing cycles have completed. Then the gains will become permanent. Oh you might loose a small amount over a year or two but shouldn’t amount to anything more then say 1/4”. If you see more then that all that is needed is to apply a reduced weight or ADS for a short period to regain and then go through the cementing process again.

Well this confirms with existing studies referenced in GQ magazine and urology journals, also Fitness Rx mag. Manual exercises, extenders and pumps have all been proven at some point in a clinical study. Dedication and time always indicated gains in a direct relationship. A day off can get you out of the refractory period if you shot your load. Other than that, a day off is a day further from your goal.

It is about hard work.

Thanks for the knowledge Monty

I haven’t PE’d for nearly 6 months now but kept all my length gains, girth flactuates between 5.75-5.9”. I want to get back to a routine but I’m lazy and not motivated

Hobby

I’ve noticed if I lose any size when I’m not Pe’ing it comes right back when I start again, almost like when I layoff the gym and go back to lifting.

Muscle memory Dino?

I gained roughly 3/4” in BPEL (from 6” to 6.75”) about 6 years ago and haven’t done any consistent PE since then. When I started PEing again about a month ago I was only 6.25 or 6 3/8” max…I wasn’t sure if I had lost length or if I had just mis-remembered my previous maximum. Anyway, I’ve PEing on a very regular basis for the last month and sure enough, last night I was back to 6.75”, which felt great. I think you do lose gains if you don’t maintain, but the good news is they come back fairly easily with a few weeks of exercise.