The Hardgainers Guide to Breaking Through Barriers

Until now I didn’t feel that I had enough meaningful material to start a journal, but in the past couple weeks, that’s all changed. After years of on-again / off-again PE, including many consecutive months of hanging 10-20 hours per week with no gains ..

In the past 7 days, I just recorded 0.5cm of BPEL and BPFSL gains. My first length gains, ever.

Over a decade ago, even before reading about it here, I had identified this “steel cord,” as a hard limit to any stretches I might attempt. You can even read my first posts here from 2010, complaining about it. A few years later I would try various hanging methods, to little/no avail. Recently, I decided to give it one more shot: Hanging 3-6 hours per day at 2-4kg; during which, I discovered the pioneering work done by Kyrpa and others with ultrasound (US).

Just to illustrate how much of a breakthrough this is .. I started my newfound hanging ambitions without heat or ultrasound. The first 7 days I accumulated over 28 hours of hangtime at 3-4kg load, OTS, measuring *maybe* 1mm of BPFSL gains. I then took 3 days off; and went into another 7 day period, this time with an IR lamp and US device. And this where I recorded my first ever length gains, 1/2 a cm in a week.

And if you would humor it, allow me to convince you why this isn’t just another “heat matters, use ultrasound” journal. I have alot more than that.

- How to measure length to a high degree of accuracy and consistency
- How to measure while under tension to know exactly what to do in next during a hanging session
- High quality data recording methods (I’m an engineer by trade)
- Convenient methodologies for setup/execution
- Clear descriptions of how/what to do, *without trekking thru hundreds of pages of posts*
- I might be the first example of someone doing 2x per day ultrasound for PE.

Additionally, I’m pretty sure that I stumbled across how to easily add girth on top of this. But for me, that will have to wait a few weeks for me to get to proof of concept, as my time is almost entirely focused on length for the moment, and I’m eager to validate this first 7 days of progress as being real and extendable.

Obviously I’m extremely optimistic right now, moreso than at any time in my PE pursuits. I’m not starting this journal as a newbie, but as someone with years of PE practice, 3/4” of girth gains, and of course, slogging through the difficulties of a hardgainer. But I think I’ve turned a corner here. Hope to see you around, and I hope that I can help alot of guys get the most bang for their buck / time.

Great to hear that US was a way to go for you, and even better that you are willing to share the details. I will be following this log closely, wish you to keep those gains coming!

Before continuing on with methods and data, I figure it’s worth a quick summary of my PE experience thus far, so that readers can know where I’m coming from.

[Pre-PE] - BPEL about 6.5”, EG 4.5” to 4.75” depending on shaft location. Exact pre-stats are difficult to say, because I hadn’t developed solid methods of measurement.

[2004-2011] - Early PE days, sporadic at best. Some manual stretches, jelqs, squeezes. Maybe 1/4” of temporary girth gained. Nothing dedicated longer than a month at a time, with sometimes years in between.

[2013-2016] Many consecutive months in a row (off/on) of dedicated PE. *Lots* of experimentation. Stretches, clamps, jelqs, bib hanger, vacuum hanger, ADS, Bathmate, cock rings. At least 10-15 hours of hanging 3-10lbs for a couple months in a row on a few separate occasions. About 1/2” permanent girth gained, way better flaccid hang (4.5-5”). *Maybe* maybe 1/4” in BPEL, but really hard to say (measurement errors?).

[2020-2021] 5-25 minutes jelqs, clamping, and some erect squeezes, during showertime. 4-7 days per week, with the occasional week off here and there. Gained 1/4” in semi-permanent girth. As long as I do a few jelqs in the show every day (a minute or so), I’m steady at 5.25” girth.

[Aug 7, 2021] Beginning of my breakthrough in length. I bought a vacuum hanger, and went right in to 3-4kg for 7 days, with a little over 28 hours accumulated, but without heat application of any kind. I was hanging over-the-shoulder (OTS) with a little pulley system I had rigged up on my office chair. I *may* have measured a 1mm increase in BPFSL at the end of 7 days, but I hadn’t honed the measurement process.

It was here, while sitting stretched that I got back into ThundersPlace and surprised to find lots of activity in the “Dorsal Thickening/Septum” thread; with US being the latest vector. Very compelling, so I ordered the equipment, took a few days off, and then started a US routine. The days off were probably needed anyways, as my glans needed some recuperation, as I haven’t vacuum hung in years.

[Aug 16, 2021] First day of US. This is where my journal really begins.

Since I’m still only 9 days in, I’ll wait for posting my full spreadsheet data for maybe another week, and in the meantime, focus on writeups for how I do measurements, equipment, and my process. But every day one of my metrics typically improves at least just a little, and keeps me motivated to keep going (this is damn near a part time job!). This morning my BPFSL was up 1mm, now (Aug 25th) at 18.6mm up from 18.1mm on Aug 21st, and 18.0 on Aug 16th.

Which device are you using for US?

US Pro200 2nd Edition. I’m not sure it’s the best selection, I think a 3MHz device would’ve been better, but it seems to be working, so I’ll keep with that. I might order a 3MHz though, depending on if I can find a good one where I’m at.

What is ultrasound

MEASURMENT

Today’s topic will be all about measurement. I have found it notoriously difficult to obtain consistent length measurements that aren’t off by 5-10mm (or 1/4 - 1/3”), based on various factors, for example:

- Where on the pubic bone is the ruler placed?
- What is the angle of the eye to the ruler?
- How far below the ruler is the glans (and how it interacts with the eye-angle)?
- How good is your hip drive? (the ability to push your pelvis outwards like Elvis)
- Kegeled vs not?
- Visual focus to discern small variations of movement that are difficult to avoid

My conclusion is that trying to remember and recreate an exact body position, while attempting to strain the cranium and eyeballs to get a good/consistent angle, is untenable. 5mm growth per month is a common target for many people; but without solid methodology, 5mm could be within measurement error.

Having spent many years practicing alignment, myofascial therapy, stretching techniques, etc; one thing I’ve learned for certain.. When it comes to soft tissues, if you cannot detect *some* change in the target range of motion (ROM) before/after the exercise, then in almost all cases you have done practically nothing for increasing ROM.

This is particularly important for people with the steel cord. Personally, I’m looking at 2-4mm of BPFSL difference in pre/post session measurements (aka, strain). We must determine if what we’re doing is actually producing post-session strain; and of course, be able to definitively observe that progressive lengthening is taking place day-to-day, week-to-week; without having to wait 3-6 weeks for our length gains to finally grow beyond what might be just margin-of-error.

Personally, when I first started hanging in 2013; I was also doing hip-flexor ROM exercises. I didn’t realize it until afterwards, but I think what I measured was improved hip drive, rather than BPFSL or BPEL measurements. I’ll never really know for sure, because I never really had a reliable starting measurement.

Here is what I measure and track now. I believe that measuring all of these will help keep you motivated; as I have observed that even though any one of these might show no increase for a period of time, usually at least one of these is indicating progress of some kind:

- Morning Wood BPEL - Erection quality is important for measurement, and morning wood helps control for that. I won’t record the measurement unless I feel that the erection was good quality, which means that I might go a few days without recording a measurement. Non-kegeled.

- Morning BPFSL - In many ways, I prefer the flaccid stretched length, as it’s independent of erection quality. Morning measurement is good for getting an idea of where the tissues are returning to after a day of exercises and stretching. And also, BPFSL gains precede the potential for BPEL gains.

- Post Session BPFSL - You *must* be recording strain in your post-session BPFSL, above your morning baseline. It’s okay, especially in the beginning, to go a few days where you show little/no post session strain. But if you’re not seeing post-session strain over many days/weeks; you’re not gaining anything, and you need to change something in your routine.

- Post Session BPEL - I typically don’t measure this, but on occasion. My longest BPEL measurement was taken directly after a hanging session; and it was quite motivating to see that my dick in fact did have the potential to get there.

In conclusion, I hope those who encounter this thread, will have the tools to avoid the same mistakes I made regarding measurement. Your *actual* length matters far less than establishing a baseline procedure which produces very consistent measurements, as this is crucial in judging the effectiveness of your routine.

My next post will contain diagrams, pictures, and descriptions (not nude of course, this is the public journal forum).

It’s a method of heating tissues below the skin surface level. The device produces high frequency mechanical vibrations on a metal surface (called a transducer) which is applied to the skin; thus propagating the vibrations to the tissues below.

These waves are in the 1-3 Megahertz (MHz) range, which is readily absorbed by protein containing tissues such as collagen and muscles, producing heat in the process. The goal being to heat these tissues from about 32 C to 40-43 C; much higher than a heat pack or even infrared light would be able to achieve.

This is crucial for hardgainers with the steel cord, because it taps into the visco-elastic properties of collagen matrix; enabling strain that would otherwise not be possible if done cold. Furthermore, tendon/ligament tissues are far more likely to undergo the types of structural remodeling required for length gains, with higher levels of non-damaging heat applied.

In other words, believe it or not, your tendons/ligaments (collagen matrices) have *viscosity,* in addition to elasticity. Viscous material can permanently change shape with force and time. Thus, we are actually not attempting to achieve plastic deformation (which is damaging), but rather *viscous* deformation (which is non-damaging). During rest times, the tissues will undergo proliferation of new growth to support this viscous deformation and remodeling which took place under load.

Excellent post - thanks for taking the time.

Great thread. I am nowadays hard as diamond gainer, exhausted my newbie gains years ago and trained my dick to withstand huge loads. Getting tissues +40c heat maybe the only way.

MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGY (with diagrams!)

A picture is worth a thousand words, so take a look at the 3 attached drawings. They illustrate really well the problems that we’re trying to solve for, and how to solve them.

Equipment Needed:
- Cell Phone with video camera
- Clear hard plastic ruler
- Counter-top, ideally just slightly above penis height
- Something to set the cell phone on top of (like a short jar)

You’re going to place the cell phone on top of a jar that’s a few inches high; and then place the camera lens flush at the very edge of the counter-top. I turn the flash on, and with a slightly reflective floor, I use the bright dot as my alignment mechanism, putting it just barely out of view. [See attachment: “Camera_Placement”]

You’re *not* going to jam the ruler into the that area of the pubic bone that curves inward. Instead you’re going to jam it on the *flat* part of the pubic bone just a bit higher. Since that flat bone is going to be a hard stop against the ruler, and it’s perpendicular to the floor, jam away all you want! No really, that’s good, because it minimizes fat-pad inconsistencies. [See attachment: “Pubic_Bone”].

Next is hip drive. I’ve worked fairly well on my quad and hip-flexor range of motion over the years, so I can fairly well set my hips into a good pelvic thrust, while maintaining an upright posture. Again, consistency is the key. Personally, I drive my hips forward and also laterally (sideways); while simultaneously standing up tall with my chest high, and my butt clenched.

Play around with hip position. This one is harder for many people, because most people have bad hip flexor range of motion. You’ll be able to see just how much a difference that can make on the measurement. See the attachment “Hip_Drive”. Notice the guy on the left is too tucked in; but the guy on the right is too extended.

Remember, you’re going to measure your morning BPEL, morning BPFSL, post hanging session BPFSL, and on occasion when the mood strikes you, measure your post hanging session BPEL. I notice it’s 2-3mm longer after a session.

Later I’ll show you how to set up the vacuum hanger, and how to keep track of your strain *during a hanging session*. Strain is the amount of additional stretch you’re slowly achieving as a result of a prolonged hanging session, beyond baseline that you started with for a specified weight/force.

Excellent Guittarman.

This is the real evidence-based principle of PE-induced gains. The basis of any form of stretching induced elongation of living soft tissue.
We perform a threshold strain, the necessary displacement during exercise for triggering the growth responses.

Very nice way of explaining everything a thank you for putting in the effort to actually make pictures and show how to take accurate measurements.

Looking forward to your detailed routine, and heating post!

Also which vacuum are you using to hang?

Where can I get an ultrasound heater? I looked on Amazon, and couldn’t find one.

Thanks.

I’m using the VacHanger3 by autoextender.com. I’ll elaborate more with my exact setup in a separate post, but I use the deep cylinder, with water, and the sealing cone rather than a sealing sleeve.

Being in Latin America, Mercado Libre had the US Pro 2000 2nd Edition easily available for order. However, I recently ordered a 3MHz device here. The idea being that 3MHz is better absorbed by the collagen tissues, and doesn’t penetrate as deeply as 1MHz devices, thus heating the target tissues better, which is what we need to engage the viscous properties of the "steel cord."

https://dupuytr ens-contracture … ntracture-hand/