Weight versus Stress

When we discuss the intensity of hanging, we usually talk about the weight involved. Weight, after all, is directly related to discomfort and risk.

However, as far as the target tissues are concerned, the real issue is not weight, but rather stress. Stress is defined as force (such as weight) per square inch (Thanks, Mbuc!). A simple example of how this idea can be put to use is where the target tissue has a small cross-sectional area. This might be the case for a particular ligament bundle. To stretch this tissue, less weight will be required than it would take to stretch a thicker tissue. The point is, tissues deform as a function of the stress they experience, not the weight, per se.

This leads to a question: How can one increase the stress on a tissue while keeping the weight reasonably low?

Another principle of stress on materials is that stress increases dramatically around corners. This is why molded corners in most manufactured products are “radiused.” Indeed, for a material having a bend radius of zero, stress becomes infinite.

Can we use this principle in PE?

Well, fulcrum stretching may be based on this exact principle. Bend the shaft around a corner to increase the stress. If this is true, it’s reasonable to think that the smaller the radius of the fulcrum, the greater the stress concentration and the more effective the exercise. Very small radii will multiply stress many times over.

I have to run, so I’ll cut to the chase. I’m thinking that an upward stretch against a moveable rod, oriented perpendicularly to the shaft, will apply a greatly magnified force to the tunica, specifically in the area where it is the most thick—on the dorsal side.

I think it’s important to pull up against the fulcrum, rather than down, as it is usually done, because pulling down will reduce the effective radius of the rod due to the thickness of the shaft. I also think it’s important that one be able to move (preferably roll) the rod up and down the length of the shaft with the force applied, so as to cyclically provide increased stress all along the length of the shaft.

The promise of this idea is that great stress can be achieved with relatively little weight (force). Ample stress may be attainable manually, or with a simple hanger, formerly thought useful only as an ADS.

I have two concerns about this approach. First is safety. I haven’t tried the exercise yet, so I can’t vouch for its safety. One must be careful not to apply too much force, especially to the sensitive dorsal surface. Perhaps safety can be enhanced with a rod that has some relieved central portion though which the dorsal vein and nerve can pass. It’s really too early to think about this.

Another concern is that the structure of the tunica may resist the stress concentration. The tunica’s outer layer consists of longitudinally oriented collagen fibers. I don’t know whether the rules of stress concentration for solids apply to fibers. Do cables experience higher stress around pulleys? Maybe not. Even if the individual fibers resist the stress concentration, however, the tissue as a whole probably won’t. What I mean is that stress will still be concentrated between fibers in the area of the fulcrum. This will tend to break cross-linkages, which will effectively weaken the tissue.

Gotta run, but feel free to comment if you’d like and I’ll catch up later.

Modesto-

As always, very interesting reading - thanks. The principle appears sound to me, but my experience with stress concentration on the tunica is equivocal. I was cognicent of the increasing stress concentration effect on surfaces of decreasing radii when I initiated V-stretching while hanging SO. I got pretty aggressive and creative with my effort to strain my tunica’s septum by deflecting the mid portion of the shaft down while hanging SO. Trust me, I did things that due to the high potential for injury factor, no one here (including myself) wants me to talk about.

I did not gain in 6 weeks of doing this (~12 hrs/week hang time), even though my septum was a source of much discomfort during this experiment (and, I thought, a sign of having achieved strain, alas, no). It is certainly possible that I didn’t give it enough time, but by comparison, I can report good gains from “regular” fulcrum hanging (i.e. A-stretching while hanging SO), albeit over a longer (2.5 months, also ~12 hrs/week) period of time. My best hanging gains, other than from SD/BTC came from a SO hanging technique that I call “deep sea fishing”. In this technique, the penis shaft is the “handle” of the fishing pole that you want to pull up to a vertical position (to raise the fish, get it). Because the distal portion of the shaft is held at 9:00, attempting to pull the proximal to mid section of the shaft to 12:00 puts a reel (yuk, yuk) stress on the septum of the tunica by means of the same stress concentration on radii effect that you described. I’m pretty sure that tunica septum strain was achieved in these stretches, as I did gain (also with much septum discomfort). I won’t go into the technique that I call “leviathon”.

Based on my SO hanging experience, the tunica, and in particular, the septum of the tunica, appears to be more resistant to strain by V-stretch stress application than to A-stretch stress application.

Now the good part: I think I recall a post from Hobby that described a fulcrum hanging modification that I think worked well for him…I think it involved rotating the shaft some degrees left or right so as to avoid placing the radius of curvature (and associated stress) on the CS (and enclosed urethra) but rather on the sides of the CC. Were I to do upper angle hanging again, I would definitely experiment with this approach.

For what its worth.

> How can one increase the stress on a tissue while keeping the weight reasonably low?

Apply the given load to less tissue. Hanging sideways will do this. Hanging over a rod can also be used to target smaller areas. Or combine the two and hang turned sideways over a rod.

I haven’t tried hanging with a rod on top mostly because of the potential safety issue you mentioned.

We had a thread a while back about fulcrum stretching and forces along the vectors. Link

Thanks for the link, Hobby. That was a great discussion. Sorry that it was before my time.

I think Tantrex and I are talking about the same thing. It’s not important to me whether the fulcrum increases force; that’s beside the point. I’m thinking only about the effect it has on concentrating stress. The fulcrum comprises a radiused corner. If the penis were a solid, the stress at the corner would be multiplied by the inverse proportion to the radius. Since it consists of fibers, however, the calculation gets more complicated. But I think the fulcrum still increases stress markedly, essentially because the fibers have finite thickness. The fulcrum, if small enough, will apply shear stress between the fibers. That’s exactly what we want, I think.

Greater localized stress probably occurs around the radius of a rod or hand doing a “fulcrum” stretch. I once got some good results while hanging over a rod, though other factors were at play and I can’t say for sure the rod is what did the trick. I suspect it helped.

Xeno,

Now I really want to hear about the “Leviathon.” Thanks for sharing your experience.

It sounds like maybe you overdid it. Maybe I’m just trying too hard to make this idea work, but I think there’s an optimal level of stress. Going beyond this level is just as bad as falling short. I question whether that was the problem, and the reason “deep sea fishing” worked best. It may have been closer to optimal.

Here’s what I’m envisioning. Take a 1/4-20 bolt. Loop a wire from each side and down to a weight. 2.5 pounds may be plenty for starters. Place the bolt over the top of your penis, so that the wires and weight hang straight down. Now, pull up on your glans. Move your glans up and down so that the bolt rolls up and down over the dorsal side of your penis. If it’s too easy, use a smaller diameter bolt.

Use something with ball bearings to get real fancy. Drawing to follow.

>Move your glans up and down so that the bolt rolls up and down over the dorsal side of your penis.

Wouldn’t this be a form of massage, possibly more akin to what happens with jelqing? I’m not saying it can’t have any merit, only that such techniques aren’t quite the same as static hanging.

Could be. I’m thinking maybe you can leave it in one spot for a while until it starts to feel productive, then roll it up or down a bit to the next spot. Or maybe you could just slowly roll it back and forth. I’m not sure.

BTW, here’s a simple drawing of what I’m thinking about.

One of the advantages of SD hanging is that fulcrums are easy to do on the spot. Then with a twist of the hips you can get side fulcrums 90 degrees. I have always felt that fulcrums are an essential aspect of my routine and responsible for much of my gains. I just wish that my Bib’s cross section could be smaller so I could extend the fulcrum closer to the glan. As it is only the body half of the shaft can be effected.

I might be overly ambitious to think this could work well with as little as 2.5#. Still, if the weight is reasonably low, one could get away with a very minimal hanger, even (dare I say) a noose-style hanger.

The basic idea is that the hanger would hold up the glans, maybe via a cord looped behind the head. The hanger wouldn’t directly bear any weight; it would just resist the force of the weight pulling down.

Did I say SD? I meant SO.

A noose-style hanger? I thought that was a four letter word on this forum. Better look out they may be surrounding your house at this very moment.

I don’t know about the light weight for fulcrums. I usually reduce my weight by probably 40% before doing my fulcrums, just because they are more difficult to do and the stress is already high. The way I do it though is really quick because I just step forward to release pressure and then push on the top of my shaft or twist side to side with my thumb holding the shaft at a 90 degree angle.

I’m going to try this later this weekend (without the noose). The fantasy I have is that one can achieve the stresses of heavy hanging with very light weight. Maybe I’m just in dream world. I’ll let you know.

This is an interesting thread.

Has anyone tried using a tension-rod type ADS with something inserted between the penis and rods so that a mild upward or downward stress is created?

This is really interesting, although I confess it has nothing to do with stress concentration around corners. With this technique, it seems that the rod relieves stress from one part of the shaft and transfers it to another.

For instance, a rod placed under the CS when hanging SO will tend to shift stress away from the ventral surface and toward the dorsal surface of the shaft. It does this essentially by curving the shaft so that the ventral surface is relatively lax and the dorsal surface takes all the heat. Because the force is applied over a smaller area (the dorsal side of the shaft instead of the entire shaft), stress on the dorsal side increases.

I just tried the roller (pictured above) with 2.5#. I must say, it did not feel very substantial. It was not exactly the intense workout I was hoping for. It’s possible that the concept is flawed, owing to the fact that the penis is not really a “solid” as required for the normal rules of stress concentration.

I will try some variations, and report back if there’s anything more to say.