Indyman's Journey

Well… I got another blister. Much smaller this time (2-3mm diameter) and in a different location from last time, so at least I know it wasn’t because my skin was still recovering. While annoying, I think this one should heal much quicker and has also given me a weight limit with my current vac cup.

I might have a look into other vac cups at some point, though I really don’t fancy the idea of needing to wrap before each session.

:: Cycle 1 ::
Warmup
0.35kg (12.3oz) to 1.10kg (38.8oz) cold over 5mins
1.10kg (38.8oz) to 1.60kg (56.4oz) heat over 15mins
Main
1.725kg (60.8oz) heat for 10 mins
Cooldown
2.07kg (73oz) cool for 5mins

Results:
Pre-BPFSL: 16.8 cm
Post-BPFSL: 17.2 cm
Strain: 2.38%

Was a fairly good strain. Would have been a good session if not for the blister! Seems that 2.07kg is slightly past my limits for now. Will heal and try 1.92kg next time. If I get no blisters then great - found my conditioning weight!

Woke up and the blister is already nearly gone. So will likely resume the cycle by next week Monday. This time I will go straight to cooldown after the maximum warmup weight of 1.60kg (56.4oz). This means the cooldown weight is now 1.92kg (67.7oz) and total session duration of 30mins.

I have decided to track what I am calling intensity (weight x time), to give me an idea of what I am subjecting myself too (it’s similar ppm that 5.5 tracked). Last night’s session was 62.8kgmin and for the next session it will be 44.0kgmin.

Righto, so the blister has now pretty much healed and I can resume cycle #1, though I will start on Monday just to be on the safe side.

Firstly, to combat future blisters I have bought some no-name brand micropore tape. Hopefully this helps with the problem, as I am losing too much time battling this (though the bright side is I am getting an amazing decon). I’m also making another adjustment which may help. Time will tell… Second, and most importantly, after re-reading Buck’s progress log and a few posts by Tutt I have decided to extend rather than hang. I like the ability to control strain rate, something not possible with hanging. The drawback is that I can only track load to minimum 0.4kg steps (half way between bars). The maximum the device can load is greater than 3.1kg (likely 3.6kg, which should be plenty).

So now to the dirty details:
My extender is a typical spring type, which you rotate/turn the arms to extend it. It has bars on the arms which indicate load/tension (measured roughly as 0.9, 1.6, 2.4, and 3.1 kg). Ideally we’d be constantly increasing tension, just very slowly. This is not practical, so instead I copy Buck and make a few turns every minute or two. For now I have settled on 2 minute intervals, though this can always be changed. The absolute minimum the device can go is 15.5cm (a rough measurement from base to tip at 0 turns). To keep the strain rate under 1%, I need to turn maximum 7 to 8 times (this extends 2.6 to 3.0mm).

So my plan is basically: Start at 0 turns, then every 2 minutes add 8 turns. I keep repeating until +2.4cm reached, then attach heat pad (this is at 16mins - would attach earlier, but need the space). Again, every 2mins add 8 turns until I reach a target load. Hold here for 10min. Then begin cooldown: 2min med heat, 2min low heat, 2min no heat (pad on), 2min no heat (pad off). Reduce turns back to 0, take off device. An example of typical log below (made up numbers):

:: Cycle #01 ::
Cold: 64 turns (+2.39cm) / 16mins
Heat: 72 turns (+2.69cm) / 18mins / 1.6kg
Cool: 0 turns (+0.00cm) / 8mins

Total: 136 turns (+5.08cm) / 42mins
Pre-BPFSL: 16.9cm
Strain: 2.64%

Strain will be measured as usual, though the post-BPFSL will be taken in the device at target load (not yet sure if by direct measurement or by number of turns). Otherwise the first few sessions will be fairly exploratory, and I may need to make a few adjustments here and there.

Finally a successful session without a blister! The session wasn’t 100% smooth - applying the heat pad is difficult. There is simply not enough room between the vac cup and pubic bone. I took a pre-BPFSL measurement of 16.9 to 17.0cm. I will claim 17.0cm as it felt I could reach it. However, I will not be measuring this everyday, only once a week on a non-exercise day. After reading Tutt’s post, and the fact that we don’t grow THAT fast, I felt that should be sufficient.

I actually ended up settling on 2 turns per minute. This gives 0.07cm per min, for a strain rate of 0.49% (calculated from extended minimum position).

:: Cycle #01 ::
Cold: 30 turns (+1.05cm) / 15mins
Heat: 30 turns (+1.05cm) / 15mins / ~0.9kg
Cool: 0 turns (+0.00cm) / 6mins

Total: 60 turns (+2.09cm) / 36mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 4.37%

I have to be honest here, I think the strain is not accurate. Two factors reduce it: the 15.5cm from base to tip was not right, there was a couple of millimetres of unfilled vac cup. Additionally, any strain reduces extended length (a drawback of the spring-based extender). So a guesstimated reduction in length of 0.5cm would mean only 1.42% strain. I will give thought to the former and how I can solve that. However for the next week I will not change anything about the routine except finding a way to fit the heat pad better - I don’t want to risk blisters on unconditioned skin.

Another good session! Let’s keep this rolling! Heat pad seemed a bit better to attach, though still needs some work - the fit is a little loose on the CC, but otherwise is direct contact to the skin. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll try make a gadget to “clip it” at the back.

:: Cycle #01 ::
Cold: 32 turns (+1.20cm) / 16mins
Heat: 34 turns (+1.27cm) / 17mins
Cool: 0 turns (+0.00cm) / 6mins

Total: 66 turns (+2.47cm) / 39mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 5.69% (corrected to 1.58%)

A few differences from the previous session:
1. Decided to push a little further this session because I wanted a positive strain. I will maintain this exact session for a few more days.
2. I completely filled the vac cup. However I suspect there is still some unknown gap between the inside tip of the cup and the top of the extender. As I write this, I have had an idea how to determine this. I won’t be able to do this now, so I will write it down below so I don’t forget.

For now I am including a guesstimated corrected strain. Hopefully it’ll be a lot more accurate after the vac cup adjustment just mentioned.

How to measure extender base to inner vac cup tip.
Attach the cup to the extender and reset to minimum extension. Place the support part (that sits on the pelvis) half on half off the desk. Prop it up (so extender points toward ceiling) so both hands are free. Get a long thin object (pen, chopstick, etc), preferably with a pointed tip. Keeping the *pen* against the table edge, insert upwards into the vac cup. The moment there is some resistance, mark on the *pen* where the table edge is. Distance from pen tip to mark is the new minimum extended length from pelvis to tip. Hopefully this makes sense to future me.

So you decided to no longer focus on grams/kilograms in the new cycle?

Yes and no. The way my extender tracks load/weight is too inaccurate to be useful. So what I am doing now is concentrating on strain per session. I only use load/weight to check when I should end the cycle. For example, when I have low strain sessions that have a load/weight exceeding 1.6kg (second notch) then it’s time to decon.

My plan in the future is to somehow make more notches or marks, so I can measure load with more accuracy.

Good job past me! Well worth the effort, more than you could possibly know…

I measured as accurately as possible with the tools I had: 16.3cm. Whoa, how is that longer than the extender minimum of 15.5cm?! Well, as it turns out, I am a moron who subtracted the blank ruler space rather than adding it… so the minimum length from base to bar is actually 16.6cm… I also re-measured the length extended over 100 turns (twice) and got 0.033cm per turn. This is slightly less than the original 0.037cm.

Obviously these new values change everything:
* The starting length is now a lot closer to my BPFSL.
* Heat may be applied too late.
* Strain rate is now slightly slower at 0.40% per 2 turns.
* Session strain is now much larger (for example last session what I thought was 1.58% is actually 5.16%).

Was busy tonight and too tired to put in a session. Since this will be a weekly thing, I’m thinking of adjusting to a MON/TUE/THUR/FRI routine.

Why don’t you attach an electronic scale to an extender?

Will keep this update short. I’m sure no one here wants to read an essay on every single session I have.

:: Cycle #01 ::
Cold: 12 turns (+0.40cm) / 6mins
Heat: 58 turns (+1.91cm) / 29mins
Cool: 0 turns (+0.00cm) / 6mins

Total: 70 turns (+2.31cm) / 41mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 9.47% (corrected to 5.94%)

Decided to try placing the heat pad a little earlier. Maybe it helped? Hard to tell. Will keep slowly increasing the duration. Only other thing I will say, is that at maximum session extension (35min) placing the ruler in front of the extender and eye-balling the tip, reads a BPFSL of 17.7cm to 17.8cm. That would mean a strain of 4.20% to 4.59%. I am not sure if the see-through plastic makes some funny optics… but thought it would be interesting to check.

Thanks for the idea! I have had a quick look into that just now. I will see if I can introduce a scale next cycle, as it will involve permanently modifying my extender (the design does not have a lot of extra room for a scale unfortunately). I’ll keep my mind open to new ideas on this front too.

Last session of the week complete. No blisters, though I did end this session a littler early as I could feel air pockets within the vac cup.

:: Cycle #01 ::
Cold: 12 turns (+0.40cm) / 6mins
Heat: 54 turns (+1.78cm) / 27mins
Cool: 0 turns (+0.00cm) / 6mins

Total: 70 turns (+2.18cm) / 40mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 8.69% (corrected to 5.16%)

I tried to measure with the ruler, similar to last time except standing up with my back straight. Annoyingly, if I am measuring correctly, I am only just hitting BPFSL or maybe slightly more. This is a similar problem I was facing in cycle #0…

Refocusing: Currently it takes me 33mins just to hit BPFSL extension. It also means that I am not achieving adequate strain per session. So next session I will test speeding up the first 30mins to 4 turns per minute (still an acceptable strain rate of 0.80%), resuming to 2 turns per minute thereafter. This will effectively yield 15mins extra time to extend past BPFSL at the original strain rate of 0.40%.

I apologise to those who read for not posting any updates. I was unable to extend last week at all due to work commitments.

Tonight I will resume my routine, taking a BPFSL prior to extending to ascertain whether the prior week resulted in any gains. If there is a clear gain of a mm or two then I will not change my extension regime. If there is little to no progress, then I will adjust to the one I mentioned above (4 turns per min for 15min, then reduce to 2 turns per min). Will update tonight.

Again life managed to get in the way of PE, though I do not regret missing the previous week.

I now have a clear calendar for the remainder of this month + change, and there’s little chance of that changing. So, again, tonight I will resume extending. Promise.

There’s a difference between working to improve your equipment and becoming maniacal about it… sometimes the Real World(tm) has to be dealt with, so you deal with it.

Interruptions are a thing. What you want to avoid is slowly falling off the wagon. You get tired, you’ll skip a day and take care of it tomorrow. Tomorrow becomes next week, which becomes next month, which eventually becomes “what year did I stop, anyway?”

As promised, I’m back!

Measured BPFSL before extending, still 17.0 cm. However I feel that I reach this value more easily, and suspect I’ll be measuring longer soon. Otherwise I decided to implement the faster initial 15 mins.

:: Cycle #01 ::
Total: 80 turns (+2.64cm) / 33mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 14.13% (corrected to 8.84%)

Firstly I will claim the modified routine a success. The initial increased strain rate did not result in notable increase to load. I also managed to achieve 10 more turns than the previous session. Not bad. I stopped this session short, including a shorter cooldown, because I felt a tingle at the top of my glans and felt it best to terminate the session there rather than risk a third blister this cycle. Glad to report I’m clear. I might keep 80 turns and simply increase duration a little next session. I am also beginning to suspect that Buckfever has the right of it, tracking turns per session rather than strain or extended length. It’s a simple but elegant manner of tracking progress.

I agree fully. It is one of my flaws that I tend to over analyse and obsess to the point of failure (analysis paralysis). I am working on striking a healthy balance.

Again, spot on. This progress report is one method of keeping myself in check and accountable, since I struggle to resume exercise. It’s not perfect but it does help a lot. I feel that my interruptions are now out of the way and everything can resume properly.

Another session in the bag. Glans condition felt better, not as much tingling this time though still a little. Did the full and proper cooldown, adding a further 3 mins. Will keep at 80 turns and 36 mins for the rest of this week (Thur and Fri) as it forms a nice baseline.

:: Cycle #01 ::
Total: 80 turns (+2.64cm) / 36mins
Pre-BPFSL: 17.0cm
Strain: 11.41% (corrected to 6.71%)

So quite happy with how everything is going. Hopefully will see some slight progress in BPFSL on Sunday.

Just a quick correction to the strain numbers - it should be the same as the session today, so slightly lower.