larry,
>My question is should I just slowly keep moving up in weight and at some point my ligs will start to lengthen?<
First, I assume you are hanging at the lower angles, preferably BTC? I just got to the end and noticed you are hanging at the lower angles. Try to get as many set in BTC as possible.
The best example for this type of thing is SS4. He had tried various types of PE, but gained nothing till he worked up to a high hanging weight.
>I have only a slight soreness at the base of my cock where the suspensory ligs attach. Should it be sorer?<
Once again, everyone is different. Granted, most guys with an 8:30-9 LOT and hanging 17+ lbs would be very sore. But surely not everyone. You might require 20, 25, or even higher.
>I don’t want to bump the weight up too fast. I don’t think the various blood vessels can keep up with the toughness of the ligs, so slow and steady increase has been my view.<
You are exactly correct. Whatever weight it takes for your ligs to eventually fail, you must work up to that weight slowly. The soft tissues must be given time to adapt. So far, you have been hanging for seven months and are now at 17.5 lbs. That is 30.1 weeks, and works out to increasing weight by 0.58 lbs per week, which is fairly conservative. Hanging for that many hours, you should be able to increase by one lb per week. So within a month, you should be over 20 lbs.
A couple other things you could try: Give it a shock for your first or second set. Move up to 20-25 lbs for part of a set, however long you can do it, then reduce back to 17.5. After seven months, you should know what you body is feeling, and know if/when it is too much. You obviously have some tough limiting factors, and this might break through those. Even if it is only for five minutes, it can help.
Also, be sure to carefully re-check your LOT to see if you are actually hanging at the correct angles. Palpate while you are hanging BTC to see if you can feel the path of your shaft, from your prostate, past your pubic bone. Is it straight? Or are the ligs holding up the shaft causing a bend?
Next, at some point as you continue to increase the weight, you might want to take a short break if gains are still not coming. Possibly 1-2 weeks. This is not in order to completely weaken the tissues, but to let them relax away from the stresses. Then, when you restart, you can resume close to your previous max weight with weakened tissues. But you are not at the point of trying this yet.
Finally, realize that once you break through those tough limiting factors, gains may come rather quickly.
>Should I attack from some other angle? Currently I hang BTC or straight down sitting in a chair or straight down as I’m standing.<
It depends on the re-test of your LOT and palpating the inner shaft. If the ligs actually have the potential for gains from lig stretch, you need to stick to what you are doing. If not, then you will need to change.
You seem to have plenty of time to hang. If you stick with it, things will happen and you will see your gains. No material can resist increasing stresses over time.
Bigger