Originally Posted by viksenpai
What do you consider to be the reason behind gains? :)
I can’t say exactly.
I believe the two most commonly held theories at this point are:
(1) Plastic deformation
(2) Stress induced cell division
(note that one does not exclude the other)
As far as (1) is concerned, it’s usually applied purely on a macroscopic scale. Proponents believe that the tunica structure as a whole undergoes general plastic deformation when stress is applied. The biggest problem with this idea is the irregularity of gains. It’s not sufficient to explain why people sometimes suddenly start/stop gaining. Personally, I think it’s futile to try to explain PE this way.
(2) is likely a more accurate description, but also more vague. I think I recall Firegoat once writing that mechanical stress can induce collagen growth that start up to 48 hours (or maybe it was more) after the stress was applied, and that the process would be “reset” if additional stress was applied before this time. I’ve read a decent amount of research that supports the idea that mechanical stress can indeed cause collagen formation. But then, does it really lengthen the structure, or just thicken/strengthen it? I know some people are of the belief that the additional collagen created will only contribute to a length increase if the whole structure is held extended while the formation of new tissue occurs.
What I’m trying to illustrate is that there are probably as many theories as there are PE practitioners.
Personally, I don’t have a conclusive opinion, though it is something I think about a lot.
If I had to give an educated guess, I’d say that for one, growth likely happens mostly close to the base, specifically were the suspensory ligaments attach to the deep penile tissue. This seems logical since the force of a stretch is transmitted through the ligaments. Unfortunately, the weakest point in the chain seems to be the attachment to the pubic bone. Stretching would be more efficient if we could grab the ligaments.
If this is true, there should be some easy gains to get from fulcrum stretches moved up through the shaft since these parts of the tunica are comparatively unstressed in a normal stretch. Problem is, fulcrum stretching doesn’t focus the force the same way normal stretching does to the attachment points. Creating as high a degree of bending as possible should be key, though. So twisting your shaft 180 degrees around a fulcrum would be ideal.
.. and now I’ve started to ramble.
I haven’t actually addressed the problem of “how” growth occurs, I realize that. I don’t think I can do that at this point. But from a mechanical perspective, progressing from straight downwards stretching to fulcrums along the length of the shaft makes sense.
When it comes to choosing a routine scheme (1/1, 2/1 etc), it would help greatly to know what was actually going on.