New pumper: light soreness, less wood. Normal?

I’ve pumped three times now (2x5min, 4-5”Hg) with 36 hours between. I feel a light (not severe) soreness, and I have less enthusiastic morning wood, which is when I try to measure.

Is this is normal?

I interpret this as my tunica reacting: for the first time it gets a stretch in the circumferential direction. Before, I mostly jelqed and did some light ULIs, but I never saw my girth swell beyond my standard 5.2”. I think I have a tough tunica, and now that it’s being forced to stretch, it gets sore, and my erections (temporarily while sore) are less enthusiastic.

My routine: jelq 8min, pump 5, jelq 8, pump 5, jelq 8 (with frequent warm-water dunking). Total: 10min in the pump.

I wonder if I should ease off, give my drum-skin-tight tunica time to recover and thus grow faster. Or is this the pain that gives gain and I should continue every 36 hours?

As for in-tube size, I see the tunica swell up as soon as I apply the pressure, so it’s clearly stretching, not filling with lymph outside the tunica, which would take much longer to build up. The length is +0.5” in the tube. Both length and girth revert to normal as soon as I remove the tube.

You are really not over doing things on the pump side, but clearly you are feeling the addition of the pump to your routine. I would keep going as is and see if things don’t improve on their own.

One thing you can try is when you first come out of the tube and start to jelq, don’t start up right away with your normal jelq pressure, but back off a bit for the first minute or so to make a nice transition from pump to jelq.

36 hours is an odd rest period. This means you PE on day in the morning and then next time is at night? Do you do this as a means to improve on the usual 24 hour rest period?

Also, you may consider reducing some of your other exercises.

Yeah, it’s odd. And yes, it’s just a different way of getting to five days a week. Rather than 5 days on, 2 days off, I just space it out.

I’m not worried about damage with my current routine. I just worry that gains may slow down if I’m a little sore. So perhaps I should go 48 or 60 hours initially, until the soreness goes away.

Or ar you vet pumpers always a little sore?

No, I am not in a state of perpetual soreness. But I think that if you continue as is, your soreness will disappear soon.

I don’t remember any soreness when I started pumping.

But you are doing a total of 16 minutes of jelks which to me sounds like a hell of a lot of strokes. How many strokes is that, anyway? Do you ever count?

Maybe cut back on the jelking some. Your pump times are not the problem, imo.

Avocet, 16 min of jelquing too much? I thought many people here jelq for 30min. But perhaps when combined with pumping, I should cut down.

Gprent, thanks. I’ll try less jelquing and same pumping, and hope the soreness goes away.

I don’t know. I count jelk strokes and don’t pay much attention to the clock. A normal routine for me would involve 400 jelks total, spread out; 100 each after multiple, short pump. That many strokes doesn’t take me anywhere near 16 minutes total.

Larslaukanen, Avocet, and others,

I hope you don’t mind my jumping in with a question. I’ve been pumping for a few weeks now, and I have also noticed that my erections are neither as frequent nor as vigorous. I even took a few days off, saw some improvement, and then started up again on a lighter routine. But the problem is still there, to some degree.

I also jelq and clamp. I’ve been doing both for a long time. In the past I used to jelq for quite long sessions, and my erections always seemed the better because of this. Likewise with the clamping. In my case at least, therefore, I think the pumping is the cause of the difficulty.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

How long do you pump and at what pressure?

Motivated, how would you describe your tunica? Is it stubborn and inflexible (when erect) like mine. Or is it looser, swells in response to a ULI squeeze?

I’m just thinking perhaps tough tunicae are more sensitive. Let’s hope they still respond to pumping!

Oh, and have you had any girth gains from before pumping?

Avocet,

You may remember reading this from a recent thread of mine. I feel next to nothing when I pump in the 4-6 in/HG range. I have been doing a lot of PE over the past year and a half or so, including quite intense clamping from time to time. In fact, if I don’t begin and stay 100% erect when pumping, the 4-6 in/HG range will not bring my length in the cylinder up to my full erection level. And I am pumping mostly for length.

So in the first couple weeks of pumping, I tested out the 6-8 in/HG range. This gave me a much nicer stretch, and the overall effects seemed to be much better (better flaccid, etc.). There was no pain. But I noticed that my wood diminished. So I took several days off all PE. The wood returned, and then I began very gradually again, staying in the 4-6 in/HG range. Most of the time, I’m in the 3-5 in/HG range. (I feel almost nothing!) I’m currently doing two 10 minute sets per day, though on some days I cannot pump at all, on account of lack of privacy.

The reason for the lesser erections may have nothing to do with PE. Generally, my libido has been a bit lower. I don’t know why. My mood is fine. I have been exercising more recently. Perhaps my energy is simply diminished because of that. But the fact that this has coincided with the pumping has me a little concerned.

Thanks for your help.

Larslavkanen,

I’m not quite certain how to answer your question about my tunica. I suppose it is normal, whatever that is. I have never thought it to be stubborn or inflexible, though I am a very hard-gainer in the length department, which I guess has something to do with tunica toughness.

However, my unit responds very well to Ulies and similar girth exercises. My favorite girth exercise to date (before pumping) is clamping. And, yes, I’ve gone from 4 7/8” EG to 5 1/2” EG from clamping.

Pumping has not made me very sore, perhaps a little when I tried pumping in the 6-8 in/HG range. But this I think was a good sore, and it was never anything more, or even as much, as I experience from clamping, etc.

Best of luck to you.

Hi Lars.

I had a similar situation when I first started using the pump. I pumped it too high, and too long when I first got it, and was quite often “floppy”, when trying to get erect.

It’s been about 8-9 months now, and I pump under control, and feel good. I also started getting night time “woodies” a few months in, of which I had not gotten in years.

Good luck in your quest :)

Thanks, SizerMan. That’s reassuring.

My pump sessions are at 5”Hg for 10min, spaced 1.5 days apart. This is considered newbie and not too high for the average person. But perhaps it’s too high for me?

I took a five-day break and last night I got a record length measurement! However, girth is not moving. Patience…

I plan to focus on the jelq initially, and add the pump in very slow. Last night I did 3min at 3-4”Hg.