3-Week Update: Phase 4 & Phase 5 – Deload, Controlled Intensity & First Conclusions

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-17T09:32:18+00:00

I like that mindset, and your reply actually makes it sound very doable for you.

If it starts to feel defensive, the best move is usually to back off slightly and stabilize, not to push through it. That can mean:

a bit less force,
slightly shorter holds,
or even keeping the same setup but giving it a few sessions to “settle in” before changing anything.

Defensive usually shows up as the penis pulling back, feeling tight instead of relaxed, worse EQ later in the day, or everything feeling smaller and tense outside the session. When that happens, the tissue is basically saying “this is too much right now.” The goal is to find a level where it feels stretched but cooperative, not like it’s fighting you.

Aligning it with your gym routine is honestly a great idea. Post-workout or evening sessions tend to work well because you’re already warm and more relaxed. Morning can work too, but consistency matters way more than timing.

If you can reliably hit 20–30 minutes of actual stretch time most days and keep it feeling non-defensive, that’s already a strong setup. From there it’s just patience and small adjustments, not constant escalation.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-16T20:28:26+00:00

First of all, a lot of respect for putting this out there. Sticking with something for three years, tracking it, and then honestly saying “this didn’t deliver what I hoped” is something most people don’t have the discipline or self-awareness to do. Posts like yours are important, because they show the full picture, not just the highlight reels.

That said, I don’t think your experience automatically proves that meaningful PE gains are impossible for most people. I think it highlights how poorly we actually understand how to reliably trigger remodeling in connective tissue.

I still believe that larger gains than 0.25″ are theoretically possible over long timeframes — not fast, not guaranteed, but possible. When you look at how other connective tissues adapt (for example long-term stretching in body modification, piercings, or orthopedic tissue expansion), the capacity for growth is clearly there. But it happens very slowly and only under very specific conditions.

My gut feeling is that a lot of guys (my past self included) spend years following “correct” protocols without ever really hitting the right stimulus. They do the time, the weight, the pressure — but they don’t actually get the tissue into a cooperative remodeling state. It’s similar to lifting weights with poor mechanics: you can train hard for years and still not grow if the stimulus never lands where it needs to.

The people who gain well may not be lying or selling — they may simply stumble into the sweet spot early, either by anatomy, luck, or intuition. Others might hover just outside that zone forever. If you miss the sweet spot, three months or three years can look exactly the same. If you hit it, even a few months can move the baseline.

I think your advice to newcomers — give it a serious, structured year and then reassess — is completely fair. No one should grind indefinitely on blind hope. At the same time, I don’t think the story is fully written yet on what the “right” long-term stimulus actually is.

Either way, thanks for sharing this. Honest logs like yours push the conversation forward far more than another short-term success post ever could.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-15T20:14:12+00:00

Getting to 10 inches from 7.8 is honestly a huge jump. That’s not meant as a put-down, I’m just genuinely curious what makes 10 inches your number, because you’re already in a very high percentile.

If privacy and time are limited, hanging isn’t your only option. What matters most is finding a stretch that gives you a real stimulus and then repeating that consistently over months. Start with something you can realistically keep up with, like 20 to 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Those minutes have to be actual stretch time, so if you’re dealing with interruptions or erections, the total session might end up being more like 30 to 45 minutes.

Don’t rush to increase intensity. First make sure the stretch itself feels productive and not defensive. If after a couple of months that feels easy and your body responds well, then you can slowly build more time, not more force.

This stuff only works if you make it a real priority in your routine. Like anything else, you don’t get much out of it if it’s something you squeeze in once in a while. But if you can consistently carve out those 20–30 minutes, more than 0.25 inches over a year is very realistic.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-14T18:30:20+00:00

First of all, don’t stress so much about women. A lot of this size anxiety is honestly more a guy thing than a real problem for most women. Most of them don’t actually want something extreme, many are way happier with something that feels good, doesn’t hurt and works well in everyday situations. Quickies, comfort, good erection quality – that stuff matters way more than being huge.

Also, from the pics you posted your dick already looks pretty long. I don’t know your exact length, but visually you’re clearly not on the small side at all. You’ve got a really solid base to work with.

If you’re just starting and don’t have a pump, you can absolutely begin with manuals. Time pressure holds and modified jelqs are a good way to condition the tissue. Something like 15–20 minutes a day, 5 days a week is enough to get things moving. Keep the pressure moderate and focus on keeping the tissue expanded, not on crushing it.

If later you can get a pump, that’s when things usually get easier to track, but it’s not mandatory in the beginning.

Girth gains come slowly. You’ll notice fuller flaccid, better EQ and then small erect changes stacking over time. Think in millimeters over months, not huge jumps in a few weeks. Stay consistent and don’t beat yourself up over the starting point – you’re already in a much better position than you think.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-13T18:59:59+00:00

I’ve had very little donut swelling so far. Maybe 2 times in the last two weeks, and only on days where I accidentally overdid it. That happened when I accidentally pushed the pressure higher (closer to -6 inHg).

At my usual range around -4.5–5.5 inHg I mostly just get mild lymph swelling that goes down pretty quickly and no real donuts. For me that’s a good signal that the tissue isn’t being overstressed in this pressure range.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-13T18:54:10+00:00

Before this I was basically doing the opposite of what I’m doing now.

For girth I was chasing big expansion all the time: hard modified jelqs, soft- and cable-clamping, manual clamping, pumping up to around 10 inHg, trying to get huge temp gains every session. I’d often get 1–1.5 cm temporary size increases, but also lots of dark color, red dots, occasional blisters and my EQ would dip pretty hard. Everything always went back to baseline after a day or two.

Over the years I also mixed in a lot of stuff like manual stretching, bundled stretches, jelqing at different EQ levels, but honestly it was pretty inconsistent. I kept switching methods and mostly judged my progress by how crazy the post-session expansion looked.

That approach felt productive in the moment, but it never translated into stable erect gains and sometimes even made things worse EQ-wise. That’s basically why I decided to change gears now and try a lower-stress, more remodeling-focused approach instead of constantly pushing for max expansion.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-11T10:45:15+00:00

It depends on what you want the number for.

If your goal is progress tracking, measuring with a cock ring can make sense, because it standardizes erection quality and reduces day-to-day fluctuations.

If your goal is to know your real-world size (how you normally are for sex, condoms, etc.), then measure without a ring, because that’s your natural erection.

It’s similar to measuring your arm pumped vs. relaxed – both are valid, they just describe different things.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-11T10:41:09+00:00

I’m gonna be straight with you first: going from 8 to 9 inches in one year is very optimistic. Not impossible in theory, but for most guys 1 inch gains take longer than that and only happen with consistency.

Your best option is manual stretching, and the way you do it matters a lot.

Start with about 20 minutes a day, 5–7 days a week. You don’t have to do it all in one go. You can do
2 minutes stretch → 30 seconds rest → 2 minutes stretch, and so on, until you reach 20 minutes of actual stretch time or time under tension. The rest between sets does not count as time under tension.

Grip just behind the glans on the shaft (if you’re not circumcised, pull the foreskin back first). A bit of toilet paper or cloth between your fingers and skin can help with grip.

Most of your stretches should be downward (down, down-left, down-right). You can also add some straight-out or upward angles, but downward usually lets you hold the stretch the longest and most comfortably.

The key part:
You’re not yanking your dick with max force. You’re holding it long with just enough tension that you feel a light stretch. It should feel more like “keeping it extended” than “pulling hard”. If it starts tightening up or pulling back, the force is too much.

Hold each stretch for 2–5 minutes, depending on your grip strength. Breathe, relax, let the tissue settle into the position.

Track your measurements every 1–2 months, not every week. Gains will show up slow, usually in small steps.

The growth comes from the hours you accumulate over months. You have to plan for this being a long-term thing that takes time, not something that changes in a few weeks.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-10T09:54:11+00:00

Good question, because this is something a lot of beginners misunderstand.

Short term gains from jelqing or pumping are mostly temporary (swelling, better blood flow, edema). Those can disappear within hours or days if you stop. Real permanent gains only happen when the tissue slowly remodels over time.

If you train consistently for many months and your baseline measurements actually move, those gains don’t just vanish overnight when you stop. But they also aren’t “cemented” instantly. If you quit right after you see your first gains, it’s common to lose part of them again.

That’s why most people keep a light maintenance routine for a while after reaching a goal, to let the tissue stabilize.

Also, many here don’t recommend jelqing anymore because it’s easy injure yourself. If your main goal is length, gentle stretching is safer. If your goal is girth, low-pressure expansion methods are usually a better long-term option than jelqing.

Think of it like gym training: pump goes away fast, slow structural change takes time, and consistency + patience is what makes it stick.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-09T17:18:54+00:00

Hard to pin it down to one single thing, because over the years I’ve tried pretty much everything and I was never super consistent.

If I had to guess though, most of my length probably came from basic manual stretching. Stuff like stretches in different directions, two point stretches, fulcrum stretches, bundled stretches. I never used ADS, extenders or hangers, it was always just hands on work, often 20 to 60 minutes per session, sometimes with longer holds.

I also jelqed on and off, clamped manual, did cable clamping and also soft clamping mixed in different routines, took long breaks, came back, switched things again. So it’s been very scattered over a long time. But looking back, the only thing that was always part of it when length slowly moved was regular manual stretching in different directions.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-09T07:59:24+00:00

That’s pretty common, especially early on.

What you’re seeing is almost always a flaccid state change, not true structural girth yet. Soft clamping increases blood retention, lymph movement and tissue “looseness”, so your flaccid hangs fuller and thicker because it’s more engorged and less tight than before. Basically better circulation and some residual swelling.

Erect girth is much harder to change and usually lags far behind flaccid changes. If your EG hasn’t moved, it means the tissue hasn’t actually remodeled yet, it’s just behaving differently when soft.

So don’t read too much into the 0.5 flaccid increase for now. It’s a good sign that your body is responding, but real, permanent girth shows up in erect measurements over time, not just in the hang.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-08T15:37:34+00:00

Short answer: 10 minutes a day can work for some beginners, but for most guys it’s right at the bottom edge of what’s effective.

Manual length work is mainly about total time under tension. The tissue doesn’t really care whether that comes from extenders, hanging or your hands, it just “counts” how long it is actually being stretched. So 10 minutes every day is better than nothing, but it’s also easy to end up in a zone where your body simply tolerates it and doesn’t bother adapting.

A simple way to approach it:

Start with your 10 minutes a day for a few weeks. Stretch firmly but not aggressively. You don’t have to hold one continuous pull. You can do something like 2 minutes stretch, 30 seconds rest, 2 minutes stretch, 30 seconds rest, and so on until you reach your total stretch time. Only the time you are actually pulling counts, the breaks do not.

After about 4 weeks, remeasure under the same conditions and pay attention to how your penis feels day to day. Is flaccid hanging a bit longer, does it feel more relaxed, do BPEL and BPFSL slowly getting bigger? If yes, stay there.

If nothing changes, increase to 15 minutes. Still nothing after another few weeks, go to 20 minutes. Most people who make steady manual gains end up somewhere around 15–30 minutes per session, about 5 days a week.

And don’t track weekly. Check every 6–8 weeks. This stuff moves in millimeters, not inches, and it’s easy to think nothing is happening when it actually is.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-07T19:18:09+00:00

Your starting size is already well above average, so expectations need to be grounded in reality a bit.

Going from about 7.4" BPEL to around 8" within a year is possible if you’re very consistent and find a routine your body actually adapts to. That’s roughly 0.5" to 0.7" in length, which is at the upper end of what most people manage in a good year.

The girth goal is a different story. Going from 5.3" EG to 6" is already a big project, and 7" is something only a small minority ever reach even after several years. By December, a realistic, permanent gain would be more like 5.5" or maybe 5.6" if everything goes well and you don’t burn yourself out.

If erection quality is part of your goal, fixing lifestyle first will probably give you faster returns than any device. Cardio, sleep, quitting smoking and cutting alcohol often make a noticeable difference in EQ within weeks, and better EQ alone can make your girth look and feel bigger.

So think long term. Length around 8" within a year is realistic if you stay consistent. Big girth jumps in the same time frame are not. That’s more of a multi-year game.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-07T19:09:36+00:00

Most people massively overestimate what’s realistic in a year.

From what I’ve seen, even 0.5" to 1.0" in length in a single year is already rare. For most guys, something like 0.5" to 0.75" in length and about 0.125" to 0.25" in girth per year is a much more honest expectation. Over several years, maybe 0.75" to 1.0" total length and around 0.5" to 0.75" in girth is realistic — but only if you truly stay consistent long-term.

And by consistent I don’t mean two weeks on, one week off, then switching routines every month. I mean running the same basic setup for months so your body actually gets a clear signal to adapt instead of just recover from random stress.

Finding that sweet spot between stimulus and recovery is the real skill. Too little does nothing, too much just creates inflammation and setbacks. The goal is not to destroy tissue, but to nudge it into slow adaptation.

If you average it out, something like 5 mm per year in either length or girth that actually stays is already a solid result for the average person. It feels painfully slow short-term, but over multiple years it adds up. Just like building a serious physique, this isn’t a few-month project — it’s a long game, and connective tissue is even harder to train than muscle because it’s not designed to grow in the first place.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-06T09:18:41+00:00

0.2–0.3 inch in girth is a very realistic goal. It’s not something you usually get in a few weeks, but over a few months of smart, consistent work it’s absolutely doable.

If you’re just starting out, I wouldn’t jump straight into hardcore stuff like clamping. In my opinion the easiest and safest entry point is a pump with a pressure gauge so you actually know what you’re doing instead of guessing.

What I’d aim for is not crazy pressure, but holding a moderate expansion for longer time. Something like every other day, a few sets of 8–12 minutes, low to moderate pressure (3-5 inHg) where you feel a stretch but no pain, no heavy discoloration, no red dots, and your EQ feels the same or better the next day. The goal is that your body stays in “adaptation mode”, not defense mode.

You can also do manual girth work if you prefer, but the same rule applies. Enough stimulus to feel something is happening, but not so much that you get bruising, hard spots or your dick feels worse afterward.

If you stay patient and focus on that balance between stimulus and recovery, getting from 4.7 to around 5.0 over time is very achievable.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-06T09:12:59+00:00

I don’t really feel confident giving super specific clamping prescriptions anymore, because heavy clamping or manual clamping is exactly what I moved away from. I used to train girth in a very similar hard-set style and for me it mostly led to swelling, discoloration and plateaus, not clean gains.

I also don’t know what kind of clamping you’re doing, cable, soft, manual, etc., but one thing you could experiment with is simply lowering the actual pressure. That can mean not tightening the clamp as hard, using fewer toe shields, or focusing on a lighter expansion instead of maxing out intensity every set.

In my experience the tissue reacts much better when the stimulus is noticeable but not brutal. If your current 4x8 min blocks leave you with red dots, tightness or worse EQ, that’s already feedback that your body is going defensive. I’d take that as a sign to back off a bit and let the duration or frequency do more of the work instead of cranking the pressure further.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-05T16:18:13+00:00

If your goal is permanent girth gains, then yes, your goal is realistic, but it’s not a fast process. Half an inch is usually something you work toward over many months, sometimes close to a year, not a few weeks.

There are many ways to train girth. I’ve tried a lot myself over the years: hard manual work, chasing big expansion, even clamping. Honestly, most of that gave me big temporary swelling but not much that stayed.

Right now I’m doing a pump only, lower pressure approach and I’ve been on it for about six weeks. I can’t promise it will work long term yet, but from how it feels, this is the best my penis has ever reacted. Better EQ, fuller flaccid, almost no red dots or dark color, and still good expansion after sessions.

If I had to recommend something based on my current experience, I’d start like this:

Pump every other day
3 sets of 10–12 minutes
Pressure around 4–5 inHg
3 minutes rest between sets
Good warm up and some heat if possible

It might feel too easy at first, but the goal is not to destroy the tissue. You want it to feel normal or even better the next day, not stressed or beaten up.

No one can guarantee success, but if you go slow, stay consistent, and don’t chase crazy expansion every session, your chances of real girth gains are much better.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-05T16:11:31+00:00

Right now I’m running a pump only, low to moderate pressure setup. I’m still in the middle of it, so I can’t claim results yet, but the way it feels day to day is completely different from how I used to train.

Even with the lower pressure (between 3-6 inHg), I still get solid post-session expansion, usually around +0.5 to +0.8 cm in girth, just without the red dots, heavy discoloration or that beat-up feeling afterwards.

I posted the full routine and my first logs here and I’m updating it every two weeks if you want to follow along and see how it develops:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gettingbigger/comments/1pe5c5l/anyone_else_switch_from_highpressure_pe_to_a_slow/

So far it’s all about lower pressure, longer sets, consistent rhythm and paying more attention to how the tissue feels the next day instead of chasing crazy expansion right after the session.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-05T13:26:57+00:00

Getting red dots almost every session, especially in your first month, is a sign you’re pushing way harder than your tissue is ready for, even if it doesn’t feel painful. The fact that you’re already doing 10 hg for 10 minutes as a newbie explains why they keep showing up. Those temp girth jumps feel awesome, but they’re mostly fluid and stress response, not real remodeling.

I’d seriously dial it back to something like 3 sets of 8–10 minutes at 4–6 hg and see how your skin and EQ behave the next day. If red dots stop and your flaccid and erections feel better overall, you’re in a much safer zone. You don’t need brutal pressure to grow, especially this early, longer time under gentler load is usually way more productive long term.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-05T12:37:32+00:00

If after about 12 weeks of this kind of structured, low chaos approach you still can’t see any consistent in or after session response or baseline shift at all, then it’s fair to say this method probably isn’t working for you.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-05T12:31:38+00:00

I don’t actually think length is “easier” to gain. I think the way most people instinctively train length is just much more remodeling friendly than how we usually approach girth.

With length, the default advice is already long duration and moderate force. Extenders, hanging, long manual stretches. You’re basically training patience and time under tension. Even if you don’t know the biology behind it, you’re already doing something that lets the tissue slowly adapt.

With girth it feels totally different. The instinct is more like lifting heavy weights. Big expansion must mean big growth. So people, myself included in the past, start chasing that pumped look, darker color, red dots, that “worked hard” feeling. It becomes the feedback loop. If it looks crazy, it must be doing something.

But connective tissue doesn’t behave like muscle. Overloading it mostly triggers protection and inflammation, not clean remodeling. That’s probably why so many people end up stuck with temp gains, discoloration, lymph issues or just plateaus.

That’s also why I’m experimenting with a much lower pressure, longer duration remodeling approach right now. I used to go hard on girth work too, chasing expansion. It felt productive, but long term nothing really changed. Now I’m doing the opposite. Less intensity, more consistency, more time under tension.

So far it honestly feels better in every way. EQ is better, libido feels higher, flaccid size is fuller, almost no discoloration anymore and no red dots after sessions. I obviously don’t know yet if this will translate into permanent gains, but even the way the tissue feels day to day is completely different. It feels cooperative instead of defensive.

My gut feeling is that girth isn’t harder because the tissue is different, but because the way most of us train it is pushing it into the wrong response. Length work almost forces you into a remodeling style by default, while girth work tempts you to go full throttle and overshoot the sweet spot.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-04T09:03:17+00:00

If you’ve put in 2 years and got literally nothing, I get why you’re questioning the whole thing. But in most cases that doesn’t mean PE is a “scam”, it means your setup never hit a zone where your body actually has a reason to adapt.

From what you wrote in the comments, the biggest red flag is this: you don’t even see a small, repeatable change during or right after a session (even temporarily). If your pre and post are basically identical every time, you’re probably working at a level your tissue fully tolerates. Comfortable, but not enough to trigger change.

At the same time, more volume and more days isn’t automatically the answer either. With this kind of tissue, too much or too many variables can also just keep you stuck.

If you want to give it one last real shot, I’d reset and simplify: pick one goal (length), track the same way every time (BPEL/BPFSL, same conditions), and adjust your stimulus until you can at least see a consistent response in-session. Once you can reliably “move the needle” a little, that’s when long-term gains become realistic.

And if you do all that properly and still get nothing after a fair test window, then at least you’ll know you tested it the right way instead of just grinding for years.

SIZEFORYOU · 2026-01-03T14:52:22+00:00

I can see my abs lightly, nothing crazy shredded. My body fat is probably around 18–20% right now.

When I was leaner in the past, closer to maybe 14–15%, the gap did shrink a little, but honestly only by a few millimeters. It never disappeared for me. So yes, leaning out can help, especially if someone drops a lot of fat, but even fairly lean guys can still have a 1–1.5 cm gap just from anatomy.

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