Get a grip, and gain.

mistergeorge

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The secret to length gains is all in the grip.

I'm convinced the main reason some guys struggle to gain length has everything to do with grip. There are so many things we could talk about when it comes to creating a sufficiently non-slipping non-gliding grip that won't cause injury and yet will produce length gains.

This post will offer solutions to just one very fundamental challenge. Slipping or slippage. All solutions offered here in turn will require trouble-shooting and problem solving of their own.

I'm going to focus on the one thing that worked better for me than anything else. I will include other things I tried. Not everybody will be able to use my own solution happily. I hope this thread will encourage anyone else to post with their own solutions.

Whatever you do, you are going to have to find some friction-promoting tool to help you minimize slipping during manual stretching. Bare skin on bare skin will always slip too much. You might be able to gain that way, but why make it harder than it needs to be? Some guys will never gain because they are going skin-on-skin with manual traction.

There could be other factors, but slippage which always produces slack is the biggest killer of length gains as far as I'm concerned.

I'll spare you the analysis. Here are the tools:

Magnesium Carbonate Liquid Gym Chalk

Hands down, the #1 most effective friction-promoting tool I experimented with. This is probably the first time you are reading about it in any PE forum community. I searched around but didn't find anybody else using liquid gym chalk to prevent slippage during manual stretching. This still surprises me because the stuff has worked so well for me.

It is the standard by which I compare everything else I tried. Not everyone will be able to use the liquid gym chalk comfortably or without side effects they would rather not manage.

There are many brands. I have my own favorite, but don't want to get into trouble for breaking rules here. Whatever product you choose it absolutely must have magnesisum carbonate as the active ingredient. The magnesium carbonate is suspended in isopropyl alcohol along with some bonding agents which help keep the stuff on your hands once it dries. I recommend finding a fragrance free product.

I can't over-emphasize the importance of this tool to my own modest success.

You apply it to your fingers and palms, liberally. You allow it to dry on your hands before you start pulling. The liquid chalk has bonding agents which keep the chalk on your hands after it dries. It takes about a minute to dry. There will be very little transfer of chalk from your hands to your penis.

The magnesium carbonate on your fingers and palms will have a chemical reaction with the natural moisture and chemistry on the surface of the skin of your penis which will create a slightly sticky effect.

For me it was Love at First Pull! I was like, "Ah. Oh! AAAAAaaaah! That's it!"

I have tested the liquid chalk on other surfaces. I doubt that it will be much use in combination with attachment gear on extender devices or weight hanging apparatus because the active principle of the magnesium carbonate seems to be the chemical bonding on the skin.

NOTES and CAUTIONS: All solutions require trouble shooting and management of a downside. The liquid chalk will create an abrasive feeling you will have to get used to. The first time you peel your hand away from the skin of your penis you will be met with a very unique and intense sensation. I got used to it. You might not.

Two other drawbacks to manage:

a. The liquid chalk will also cause the skin of the penis to dry which will contribute to sliding because you'll have two dry surfaces sliding across each other. The solution to this problem is to get into the good habit of washing with warm water and soap before and after every session. You will also want to apply a fragrance free moisturizing lotion to your penis.

b. If the skin of the penis is too moist when you begin your session there will be transfer of chalk from your hands to the penis - again, this will cause some degree of sliding and you will have to manage it by making sure there is way more chalk on your hands than there is on your penis.

Magnesium carbonate liquid gym chalk requires patient management and practice to get used to working with, but I found it to be the most practical and reliable solution.

UPDATE May 13, 2022: A footnote to my thoughts on chalk (see post #16 this thread)

Theraband wrap (latex exercise bands cut into 1.5 inch X 9.0 inch strips)

This was probably the 2nd best solution I found. The problem is that the wrap requires resetting throughout a stretching session because it does move a little and moisture starts to accumulate between your skin and the wrap. Another problem is that your penis covered by the wrap so you can't see and feel precisely where you are placing your grip. By the way: the Theraband wraps require washing with warm water and a degreasing laundry or dish detergent in order to become tacky enough to get a good wrap. This also makes the use of these wraps time consuming and tedious. But you might find it worth your while to try them especially if you already own the material as part of a weight hanging kit.

Dry hands/natural moisture penis

Keep dry towel nearby and keep rubbing hands on it throughout practice. The idea is similar to the use of chalk. The hands are always dryer than the penis. Better than nothing else, but nowhere near as effective as the chalk.

Soft cloth

YOUCH! The fibers were a killer because they don't bond to the skin. They dig in and slide across the skin and are abrasive. I just didn't find this practical, but other guys might.

Tissue paper

It broke. Worthless. The fibers were also irritating to the glans and skin of the shaft.

Latex or neoprene gloves

These worked a little bit, but there were problems as moisture formed inside the gloves. Eventually they broke and weren't nearly as effective as the theraband wrap, if latex is your thing.

Various powdered mineral compounds

* talcum
* baby powder
* smashed up sidewalk chalk (calcium carbonate)

There was some initial satisfaction with these, but through the course of a stretching session all these powders started failing. They also make a mess.

Any powder chalk or other mineral compound doesn't work too well because what you end up with is two very dry surfaces that slip on each other. Think: sand on concrete pavement.

Water

Strange as it may seem, I found it suggested in the forums somewhere that water will stop slippage. I know of one story of guy who did all his manual stretching in the bathtub while drinking whiskey (Alan Wieder - see Year of the Cock). I found that water was a sure way to cause massive slippage problems.

Pine pitch rosin (powdered)

DON'T! I did, but DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

I have a bag of this stuff because I was looking for ways to keep guitar picks from flying out from between my index and thumb. It works great for guitar picks, but keep the stuff away from your penis.

I had to try it because I'm a curious cat. The result was that it worked TOO GOOD. My hand was literally glued to my penis. When I finally managed to peel my penis away from my palm I had lost a layer of skin cells on my glans and walked around for a few days with a very sensitive penis.

Never again.

Two more brief tips:

1. Overhand grip (palm pronated) always.
I've seen a few photographs and videos over the years demonstrating manual stretching. Some of them are pretty ridiculous from my point of view. The worst of them feature an underhand grip (palm supinated) placed about midshaft. This is a recipe for extreme gliding problems and potential burst capillaries on the glans. I found a winning combination in the overhand grip plus liquid gym chalk. Stretch straight out and straight down only. Stretching every possible direction won't make a bit of difference. You'll see that it's much easier to apply direct force to the target tissues straight down and straight out. Gradually work beyond your beginner limits.

2. Teodeles, a Case in Point. Combination mechanical/manual.

I'm going to do this from memory. So forgive me if I have anything wrong here, but it was a little more than a year ago maybe 2 years that I was lurking and watching PE Gym member teodeles struggle with length gains. Somehow he managed to gain girth, but was unable to produce a length gain. He was frustrated and kept mentioning it in his posts. I almost tried sending him a PM to talk about grip. I decided to let him suffer instead.

And what do you know?

The guy figured it out for himself!!!

If you look in his post history, somewhere you will find him talking about how his own grip solution was to use the attachment component from his extender device as his gripper. He then grabbed onto the extender attachment and applied force with his hands and arms.

I was thrilled to witness his breakthrough by employing his own ingenuity. He had posted for a long time about those elusive length gains. Fundamentally his solution came down to fixing a sufficiently non-slipping grip.

I had a breakthrough of my own with the liquid gym chalk.

May this post inspire your own solutions. May you find your own breakthroughs. Best of luck always.
 
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Physdoc

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A very well considered post. Thank you mistergeorge.
 

Ultimate Burrito

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Mistergeoge, more like Inspector George :mosking:

This guy always does some great investigative work. A fine contribution right here.
 

Alex1988

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mistergeorge

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Mistergeoge, more like Inspector George :mosking:

This guy always does some great investigative work. A fine contribution right here.

LOL Hey Ultimate Burrito. The investigations thing is an old habit. I'm okay with forum members coming up with a better name for me. Maybe that's it. I kind of like it. Thanks for the kind words.
 

mistergeorge

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Great thread!

A soft cotton towel works very well for padding and enhancing the grip.

Thanks for this additional idea, BigAl! I'm hoping this thread will get some mileage as an ongoing resource.
 
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mistergeorge

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Nice post @Mistergeorge!

I made this stretching device some time ago when I was still into stretching. I got too lazy to use my hands. It's not the best device I've ever tried but it had a lot more grip than my hands. It can hurt a bit.

https://www.pegym.com/forums/penis-devices-forum/138244-stretching-gadget.html
https://www.pegym.com/forums/members/alex1988-albums-power-stretching-picture104724-img-3063.html

Thanks for posting this Alex1988. This is very interesting. I tinkered around and tried to create something that would work like my hands do. The hand is such a marvel of mechanical engineering, but the work of manual traction did sometimes cause me some repetitive strain joint stiffness especially by about week 12. Maybe I'll look into something like you posted here. For everyone else reading, those threads you linked to are worth a look.
 

mistergeorge

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A very well considered post. Thank you mistergeorge.

My pleasure Physdoc. So many posts lately from guys asking about manual stretching. Hoping this information is in demand.
 

C01209

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Dude! This ought to be stickied and included in the "Start Here" thread.

Who knows what my gains would be if I had this info when I started!!
 

Big Al

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Thanks for this additional idea, BigAl! I'm hoping this thread will get some mileage as an ongoing resource.
It's a great thread! Some have made the mistake of using dish towels or other rough materials for gripping(!)
 
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BigO

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Don't know how I haven't seen this before, great write up.

I've always had good luck with a small strip of theraband or t-shirt material
 

mistergeorge

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Dude! This ought to be stickied and included in the "Start Here" thread.

Who knows what my gains would be if I had this info when I started!!

I hoped it would be helpful. It was really the thing I struggled most with in the beginning so I started hunting for solutions right away. It's still something I have to troubleshoot. Even the best solutions are imperfect.

Thanks everyone for the nice words, but more than anything thanks for adding all your own slip-minimizing solutions!
 
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PEispossible

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Great thread and great ideas to implement.

A pizza delivery driver have time to do it but sometimes not so much time depending how far the delivery is out and when seated like that the position that seems most comfortable is straight up. I would think straight up would be fine but since I saw straight out or straight down in this thread there's always exceptions to the rule and I hang mainly BTC sometimes if I get the chance straight out. Putting this in context I've done I've hung for over 3 years and I've put my time in four 20 minutes minute sets a day for those 3 years abouts.
 

mistergeorge

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Footnote to my thoughts on chalk

My research on grip continues. My latest experiment is with magnesium carbonate powder. It's still in the early stages, but I wanted to make a note of it here. Liquid gym chalk is great on its own, but I was having some problems. So along with another bottle of liquid chalk, I ordered an 8oz bag of pure powder chalk.

It was a good idea. :)

Stretching with just a pinch of powder rubbed into the hands AND onto the shaft skin provided a very comfortable grip. It feels soft. And it minimizes slippage about as well as the liquid chalk. But about halfway through my 20 minute session it started to lose its magic. That's okay because you can just add a little more chalk.

I also tried using a combination of the liquid chalk on my hands, and dusting my shaft skin with the powdered chalk. This was an excellent combination and might be the ultimate winner. The problem I was having with the liquid chalk only on my hands is that the shaft skin hides a lot of moisture and if there's any slippage against moist skin you can end up with pinching and abrasive sensations you have to constantly manage. The combination of dusting the shaft skin with powder and applying the liquid chalk to the hands seems to have resolved those issues.

The quest for the perfect solution continues...


PS: I'd love to share the product line I've chosen because I think they are great, but I don't want to come across all spammy. All I will say is that it's the only laboratory grade magnesium carbonate chalk made in the USA. And if you can think of an American superhero who climbs on walls and the animal he is named for you will probably find exactly what I'm using.
 
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mistergeorge

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Mr. G,

Please feel free to mention the name of the product(s).
Thanks Big Al.

Spider Chalk. They have a line of liquid gym chalks. Their standard Spider Chalk Liquid Chalk is probably my favorite of the three liquid options. It just gets the job done. They have another product called Black Widow which includes a pine rosin. It's very similar to their standard liquid chalk but comes in a smaller 4 oz bottle. I really like this stuff too as a variation. Both of these products are fragrance free but they do smell pleasantly like the ingredients. They have a third experimental liquid called White Widow which I don't like as much for manual stretching. It has a mint fragrance which is real mint by the way. You can feel it cooling your skin. It also has benzoin which is a tree resin and some other ingredients. I don't recommend it as strongly as their standard liquid or the Black Widow.

The Spider Chalk pure powder chalk is my latest rave. It has the same consistency as corn starch or powdered sugar. Very soft almost like talc, but more effective at minimizing slippage. I'm really enjoying working with this stuff. I'm finding that it actually works very well alone. Just a tiny pinch is all that's needed. And then maybe one or two refresher applications during my session. This of course varies with atmospheric humidity and temperature and perspiration. I keep a small amount in a zip lock baggy and do all my application over the opening in the bag, so I haven't made a mess on the floor yet! Great stuff.
 

sf0n

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Ahh what a wonderful thread, bought myself some liquid chalk a few days ago!

First couple sessions I used a little too much, but after using literally a drop or two in my last few, wow the difference is insane. thank you very much for the suggestion! can feel a stretch and maintain it without having to re-grip too many times, you're a star!
 
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Arthur Morgan

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Hey guys, any tips on avoiding hand pain from stretching? I seem to get intense cramps in my fingers and joints from holding a stretch and have to swap hands about 10 times every stretching session? Is this normal? I do use my hands all day at work too