Excellent Advice From Bib
The following was edited from a series of exchanges between BIB and myself.
MX: I know you achieved nearly all your length gains before beginning Uli work. How much length, if any, did you gain from Uli’s? The reason I ask is that I have a specific goal in mind of 9.5 x 6.5 (maybe slightly more girth but not much). I’m trying to figure out at what point/length I should switch from hanging to Uli’s
BIB: None. I recommend reaching your length goals before starting any girth work.
I had really good luck in my PE. I would not have changed anything, except maybe to use an ADS some. But let me say this: As you become more accustomed to wrapping, you will probably find that you can get some good head and upper shaft expansion from the increased pressure developed when you tighten the wrap a little too much. I think this is a good thing, both from the standpoint of increasing head size, and also making it easier to get a good attachment because of the larger size.
You can also do this while wrapping to stay in the extended state. Just wrap the entire shaft, but leave a little room on the upper shaft unwrapped for expansion. Then, create some tension by tightening your last wrap or two at the base. You will soon learn the correct tension that causes the head and upper shaft to swell. This swelling will help with head size, and also help to keep the shaft in the extended state.
You will find that if you do any concentrated girth work, it will make hanging more difficult because of shaft soreness.
MX: When and how would you have used the ADS?
BIB: I would have used an ADS for several hours after stopping the hanging for the day. This gives no choice to the tissues except to remain in the extended state.
BIB: Yes, I recommend you start off with OTS using a padded rope extension. You can use duct tape to tape a three inch wide by say eight inch long strip of plastic to your rope. Make sure the plastic ‘hits’ in the area of your pecs to over your shoulder. The plastic distributes the pressure very well.
Along those lines, set up your work area, desk etc., so that it is conducive to hanging. Make sure everything you need is at hand, and make hanging simply an automatic process. If you wrap correctly, you can stay wrapped for many sets. Heated rice sock and attaching the hanger will take little time after a while. I think I told you about some guys using a timer for their sets. Soon, putting the hanger on and taking it off will be second nature. This is what you want.
Hit the OTS angle until you reach full fatigue during a session. Then, switch to the SO angles. The next day, try OTS again. You will probably reach total fatigue quicker. Then, switch to SO again. Continue this pattern until either gains stop, or you are not feeling a good stretch. Avoid trying to increase weight to quickly in order to reach fatigue. You have the time, so let the time work for you.
In that vein, realize that each angle will require different amounts of weight. Always use a weight that is comfortable. As fatigue sets in, do not be afraid to reduce the weight. Total fatigue means that you have reduced the weight to less than half of your starting weight, and you just cannot handle it.
When/if the OTS angle become unaffective, switch to the OTL angles. Ten minutes across each leg in a set. Use a towel to cushion the hanger on the leg. Also, after a while you might want to turn the hanger 90 degrees to let the skids ride on your cushioned leg. Same as above, when you reach total fatigue, switch to the SO angle. Next day, go back to OTL.
After a few months of this type of pattern, you might want to incorporate some twists into your routine. This involves putting on the hanger, pretty tight, and twisting the strap a bit while stretching. Then twist back the other direction. Do this for a couple minutes in each direction. The more you twist, the less you have to stretch. This is fairly intense, but I think it is good for breaking through tough limiting factors. As soon as you come out of the twist, apply the weight and hang your normal set. The hanging set will probably feel quite different.
MX: Are you pulling and applying tension while twisting or just twisting? Do you hold the twist at all (10-30 sec) or just twist and reverse in a sort of continuous movement?
BIB: I would twist, stretch, and hold for about a minute. I have not done many of these, but they are intense.
MX: When making a padded rope extension, what did you use for plastic? About the only thing I can think of would be to sacrifice the lid to one of those big Rubbermaid storage containers.
BIB: I found plastic gallon milk jug material to be fine. Really, any plastic container, preferably throw away stuff will work. It does not have to be too strong, as long as it is wide.
MX: I hung three sets last night and seven this afternoon using 2” wide strap from a lap top bag. To help reduce the friction, I folded a large Ziploc freezer bag around the strap a couple of times. Works pretty well. I think the key is to minimize friction so you get consistent loading from the same amount of weight. I used to have a golf bag that had an air-filled strap…very, very comfortable. Something like that might work well if wrapped with slick plastic or duct tape.
BIB: Yes, there are a lot of straps that would probably work good. If you have one from a non-used item. Sometimes the friction works to your advantage. You can move your abs and back muscles and get a little better stretch, and then relax to relieve the stress for short periods. Works pretty well. Also, I found breathing, the rise and fall to be rather nice.
MX: Target angles. Given the LOT theory, how do you decide, or what criteria do you use to determine:
1. Which angle to use at any given point in time when working the tunicae?…OTS, SO, OTL?
BIB: Damn good question. Essentially, this goes by feel. The quality of the stretch. I always liked to use the extreme angles first, BTC and OTS, depending on what I was trying to do. Then, I used SO as my fall back. Of course, I had very high ligs, so most of my time was spent BTC and SO.
Remember, the goal is divide and conquer. Given this, you want to concentrate on a single angle for as long as possible, riding the fatigue generated by the stress. Soreness etc, indicates a weakness in the tissues. You want to keep the stress up and exploit this weakness. Pain however, indicates an injury, or tearing. You do NOT want to go that far. After a period of rest of these tissues, they WILL become stronger and require more stress than before. The adaptation of collagenous tissues to stress is well documented.
MX: 2 When to switch from one angle to another?
BIB: Now, this is tough for some guys to understand. But concerning any specific angle, I wanted to reach total fatigue at that angle, hanging at that angle until I just could not anymore. But no pain. Time for this was usually measured in weeks. Maybe a week or two concentrating on one target angle. As described above, I would change angles when I HAD to during this period, but I would always return to the concentrated angle the next day. When I would immediately become fatigued at my target angle in the first set or two of the day, or if I adapted and felt no stress at an angle, THEN I would change target angles.
Then when, during the day, I would totally fatigue at the target angle, I would change to the fall back angle.
MX: 3. When doing OTL work, how would you recommend dividing your time? IOW, would you alternate after each set (left, right, left, right, etc., or do the first half of the day’s set on one side and then second half of the sets on the other side (right five sets, then left five sets), or spend entire days trying to reach total fatigue on one side and then target the other side the next day (Monday left, Tuesday right)?
BIB: I almost always did ten and ten. A few times, I did try the ‘one set over one leg, and the next set over the other leg’. However, I would get distracted with work, and forget which leg was next. I do not really think it matters too much, but I would try to at least alternate every set, not by the day.
MX: If someone still has lig gains to be had, it seems like BTC as the target angle and then OTS as the fallback would give the best both worlds.
BIB: I have no experience with this, you could be correct. It was simply easier for me to use SO as the fall back position. I would have my phone, keyboard, mouse and everything set up one way for BTC, and another way for OTS. With SO, anything was fine. It would be interesting to see how your thoughts might work in practice. Remember, I do not have the absolute best answers. Guys come up with new things almost every day.
MX: IOW, work BTC to total fatigue and work OTS the rest of the day. Are you recommending SO because they would still be getting some lig work there?
BIB: No, I got very little if any lig work from my SO angle. At least during the later part of my hanging career. I liked the fact that the inner tunica really got a good stretch from my SO angle after hanging BTC for most of the day. It was like there were absolutely no constraints on the shaft. I believe this helped with pulling out the internal shaft, which is the purpose of stretching the ligs. But OTS should do this as well.
MX: What weight increments did you use for your work?
BIB: It depends on the time frame you look at. In the beginning, with lighter max weights, it was 1.5 lb plates. Later, at higher weights, it was 2.5 lb plates. I used 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and even a 25 lb plate.
MX:I have some 1.25 lbs. so I’ve been using those. Particularly at lighter weights, 2.5 seems like too big of jump…both up and down. One trick that I’ve found is that once you start decreasing the weight due to fatigue, at the beginning of your next set, you can often slap on 1.25 for the first five minutes or so. IOW, if my max is 17.5 and I’ve worked down to 12.5, at the beginning on the next set, I can often comfortable handle 13.75 for five minutes before I have to go back to 12.5.
BIB: I did not do this. I found that over the 20 minute set, the lower weight might not get me the stretch right at first, but by the end of the set it was working. Try not to push it. Always be comfortable while hanging. If it becomes torture, you will shy away from doing it.
MX: Jelq/milking. From what I understand, aside from circulation jelq between sets, your only jelqing was 10-15 minutes sessions of BTB jelqing when you were done hanging for the day. Correct? Were these sessions wet or dry? At any point did you do longer sessions?
BIB: Sometimes it was more, as much as thirty minutes. The BTB jelqing was mainly between sets. At the end of the day, I would jelq the entire shaft. I always used Arnica gel and/or a Vit E lotion.
