The steel cord issue

I was one of the original members to mention the hard cord feeling structure at the top of the shaft back in 2005, in a post called “The most weight anyone has hung before.”   My name then was T-rex with one hyphen.   

This structure was always my limiting factor, this thing wouldn’t budge no matter what.  For years I couldn’t gain an 8th of an inch.   I want to send a special thanks out to some of you guys including tweaking for putting such an emphasis on proper heating of this cord.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when the ruler said 6 inches NBPEL. Doesn’t sound like much I know, but to someone like me who has battled that damn thing for years it is.  I always felt like once I got it to budge at all, it would get a little easier after that and I would know without a doubt that it’s possible to beat the “cord”.

     It’s crazy because now it’s like I can feel other fibers coming in to play now when I do a flaccid stretch pull.   I have a whole new respect for Heating. 

Congrats. What happened to your previous account?

Hey T—rex what exactly is your heating process for battling this cord? And congratulations for hanging in there (all pun intended) and pulling through (pun intended too :)

Thanks. Well I laid off from PE for a while because I wasn’t gaining anything. I changed my email account and I don’t know the password to my account here at Thunder’s or of the old email address. So, I’m a newbie again lol. But all that matters to me now is that I gained and hopefully will continue to.

Thanks Epic! First let me say that it’s crazy sometimes how things or people happen for a reason. I’m probably way out in left field with this one. But, a nice Lil co-worker gave me one of those rice or sand cloth baggy type things that you put in the microwave to heat up. It’s intended for your neck, but I was hanging one day and noticed it sitting there and I gave it a try.

I heat up with a hot cloth right before hanging, not so much around the shaft but the left side of my shaft where the infamous cord is strongest on me and then during the first ten minutes of hanging OTS I keep that sand bag up against the left side and down in the perennial area.

Thanks for the thread T-rex I hang RSDT fulcrum and I have a strong Cord too but I don’t use heat since 5-6 months. I will definitely add it to my hanging routine now after I red your post.It seems like I underestimated it.

My ex sis-in-law gave me a flax pad, similar item but uses flax seed instead of rice. It is soft, and stays hot a long time. Downside, it smells like a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven, something I’m not allowed to have on my low-carb diet. What a Tease!

To re-iterate your point, HEAT IS IMPORTANT. When I first started my PE routine, the gains were very small. When I started heating, then I noticed results.

Congrats, and keep going!
Bang-a-gong ! (an old T-Rex song)

Is there any links or pictures for this small heating thing used for hanging? I totally have no idea since I never saw one.

Ooooh, maybe mine is flax seed too! That’s exactly what it smells like when I take it out of the microwave. And you’re right, it does stay hot for a long time.

Gained another 8th of an inch!! At this rate, I’ll be losing my mind soon! :P

Congrats on the gains T-Rex!!! I hope to be seeing some of the benefits of heating soon as well. I’m just getting back into hanging and I’m definitely using heat on my steal cord.

What is your PE routine man?

It’s funny to me the minor things that we allow to stop or hinder us in this life. Just gaining a little over a half an inch, finally above that 6 inch mark. I’m starting to think about the girls that I am willing to sleep with that wanted me before, but I avoided them. Unbelievable, Smh.

T—rex,

Are you using a Bib? Can you talk about your routine a bit to target the septum? I definitely think the upper angles hit the septum area more, fulcrum probably even more I would imagine. Thanks.

8works and Rushmore: thanks.

I warm up with a wet hot face towel prior to sets, and heat with the rice sock for the first half of the sets. I hang 20 minutes sets x 3. OTS on the right side of my head because my steel cord was/is tighter on the left side. The rope does not rest on my shoulder, I have it going over the bottom portion of the rail for my stairs. If that makes sense, and I sit on the couch not a chair. The rear of the couch is in front of the stairs. 2 or 3 sessions a day, so an actual total hang time of about 2 hours. I do 100 jelqs after each session.

Oh yeah, and I use a bib starter.