Originally Posted by waterman888
So I am now using my new K-type dual thermocouple thermometer - very useful to start gauging temperatures. I like now how I can now be more precise about everything. I’m following what others found to be good protocol (e.g. started today using PMP head but a bit more force in stress-relax phase - starting 2kg going up to around 2.5kg for 30 mins using my own contraption rather than the PMP extender apparatus itself, followed by US 1 MHz 1.6+ W/cm2 for between 12-14 mins with force 3kg to maybe 3.3kg, then 10 mins hard manual pull in all directions and over fulcrum in different directions). I think I might be on the right track now, as my dick feels really long and elastic when coming out of the US phase and I’m measuring some mm increments. But I’m learning as I go, still trying to tweak my set-up to be as effective as possible - strain is currently 2.2%. A few things that came to mind today that I thought I’d ask to optimise what I’m doing:1. Previous days I used a rice sock under the shaft, measured temperature between dorsal side and rice sock - temperature was getting up to 44 deg C initially, settling down around 40-42 by the end of 12 mins. Today the rice sock felt too hot on my thigh, maybe I need to just microwave it a bit less next time, but as a result I left it off and just measured at the same points but this time between thigh and shaft… by around 10 mins it was starting to edge over 40 deg C, and at 12 mins it was 40-41 deg C. At this point, I wasn’t sure if the glans was feeling a bit odd, didn’t want a blister, so I came out - glans was all fine, but it got me thinking about the question of what is more important here - the amount of time when using US when it’s over 40 deg C with that 3kg+ stretch, or the post-US stretch after reaching 40 deg C regardless of how long you were stretched at that temperature for? As in, if you finally manage to get to 40-41 deg C, even if only for a couple of mins, and then you go into the hard manual stretches, is that what we’re aiming for? Or rather the more critical part of this process is having that US stretch at 40-41 deg C maintained for longer? Like I say today I pulled out because of concern of the glans, but if I could have kept going with US, perhaps I should continue longer until the point that Kyrpa found the internal temp regulation kicks in (around 15 mins). Next time I think I’m going to keep it there longer at that temperature, but wanted to know thoughts of guys on here… I know people tend to do US for 15-20 mins so I suspect now that it’s time at 40+ deg that is the key…. I had just thought before that it was only important to get it up to that temperature, and when you’ve got there that you get into that heavier stretch….Hope people can see what I mean. Anyway certainly the rice sock makes a big difference in getting to that temperature quicker.
2. Second thing that occurred to me, is how rapidly do we need to get into the 10 min post-US stretch. I’m using the PMP head with lube, and I’m starting to get quicker about the change from US stretch, getting out of that thing, wiping off everything, adding liquid chalk and starting the manual pull. Other days it was maybe 2 mins, today I sped it up and maybe 1 min interchange. What is the experience of others?
Thanks
From my data…
Even the best vacuum head setup risks blisters above 3kg once heat is applied. Heat makes the glans MUCH more prone to blisters at higher loads. I could handle 5kg+ cold without injury, but not with heat.
There isn’t an optimal time at target temps directly. I suspect that the 8-10 minute observations reflect the amount of time necessary to ensure that a maximum volume of connective tissue has maintained target temps long enough for the majority of maximal plastic deformation.
Indirectly… time under heat requirement has a causal relationship with the act of straining. That is, they must be simultaneous. So if you have a very slow strain rate like me, the strain takes longer and the heat must be maintained longer. Alternatively, most here have a very fast strain rate the reaches max load in less than 60 seconds. In that case you must maintain the target temp for the majority of the relaxation because as soon as you remove the heat, the tissues begin to contract.
For perspective, I’m now using a strain rate of 0.5% per minute which is in the realm of 1mm per minute. I start at a load around 0.5kg which coincides with a BPFSL well below the starting point that Kyrpa refers to as the baseline after the conditioning stretch. It takes me about 30 minutes to reach max load. I start heating about 10 minutes in and maintain the heat until I hit max load, so about 20 min. The data suggests that there isn’t a measurable benefit to heating at very low loads and I really don’t want to maintain high temps for too long.
I cool down at fixed max strain which causes the load to increase/decrease cyclically. I’ve seen no benefit to a slow release of tension, so I just completely deload at room temp for 5 minute then repeat the process one more time. Total time under heat is about 40 min. Whole process takes about 70 min.
I would love to be able to do 5 cycles but my data says that the benefits of cyclic straining are not as great as the benefit of slow strain rate. I could go for 2.5 hours and get both, but the literature suggests an increase in cell apoptosis which is not what I’m after.
