The Science Behind the Jelq

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

Hey gents,

The other day, I was researching the way that smooth muscle works, whether or not there was a lot of it in our bodies and whether exercises like jelqing can really cause that muscle to expand and grow. If any of you out there have tried to investigate the same thing, you will probably know what I mean when I say that there is a pretty minimal amount of valuable information to be had out there, but here is what I was ultimately able to find out:

First of all, there is other smooth muscle in the body and it seems as though the most widely studied is that which is in your heart (I could hardly find anything on Google relating to the penis but the theory remains the same). I found that there have been multiple studies done on the effects of sheer stress on the smooth muscle in the arteries of the heart (which simply put is the force created by increased blood flow to a region) and its relationship to the growth of smooth muscle cells.

In my research I found that in a multitude of studies, increased blood flow to an area does increase the amount of smooth muscle cells in that region… but only to a certain extent! In several studies, it has been found that the greater force applied to the area has actually stunted the growth of the smooth muscle cells in that area.

How it ties into PE

If you didn’t pick up on it already, this means that more force exerted on your penis, meaning a monster grip on your dick when you jelq, is only going to cause injuries and won’t get you very far. This has been touched on by a few people already, and many others have just found it to be true from experience. For example, KP touches on this in one of his routines by explaining that a lighter grip “allows for the plumping effect. Sometimes harder grips do not allow the blood to flow in and out of the penis correctly and you end up with a poor session. The penis does not expand effectively.” I will admit that I was guilty of this because I was determined to gain as quickly as possible in a short period of time so I was forcing as much blood into my dick as I could and then wondered why my P.I.’s went down. However, after a couple weeks of using a lighter grip, my PI’s are back up and it has been much easier to keep my erection while jelqing not to mention workouts have felt much better.

As time progresses, the amount of pressure that your penis can handle will increase because of the thickening of the walls in the penis, but there is absolutely no reason to rush this process. I really think HJFBoxer was onto something when he created the thread https://www.pegym.com/forums/penis-e...fect-jelq.html. This is a great for finding where exactly this fine line between too tight and too loose is.

Therefore, my point in this thread is that first of all, there IS scientific proof out there that PE will increase the size of your penis (as if the thousands of success stories out there weren’t enough), but also that less is really more when dealing with PE. Trying to speed up your gains by pushing your penis to the absolute limits of what it can handle is NOT the way to go by any means! Instead, just lighten up and enjoy the journey!

Happy gaining!

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

If anyone wants to see the studies I looked into to get this information, here are the links: (they're a little difficult to understand but the info is there)

Shear stress inhibits smooth muscle cell migration via nitric oxide-mediated downregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 activity -- Garanich et al. 288 (5): H2244 -- AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology

Different Effects of High and Low Shear Stress on Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Isoform Release by Endothelial Cells: Consequences for Smooth Muscle Cell Migration -- Palumbo et al. 22 (3): 405 -- Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology

[Gator Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Gator]

Cleave, excellent post. Rep point for sure for your hard work in putting this post together.

it has been found that the greater force applied to the area has actually stunted the growth of the smooth muscle cells in that area.

Probably the most important part right here. This goes right to the heart of a number of things: not only pressure while jelqing (and how hard you stretch), but total time under load as well. In other words, you need deconditioning breaks!

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this information? Does it seem plausable? I am completely sold on it but want to hear some others' takes on it...

[millia Senior Member;PEGym Editor Find all posts View Profile Close millia]

For whatever reason I can't open the sites on my machine, perhaps if I switch over to IE instead of Firefox.
But this is very interesting to read your post. Very well put together by the way. Now I'm intrigued and want to incorporate what you've said into my jelqs on my "off" day and compare my PI's as opposed to a regular routine day.

[boxer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close boxer]

Very good post buddy,keep up the good work

[bradshaw Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bradshaw]

wow massive gains cleave good stuff

i was just wondering if i should ease up on the pressure a bit, my main goal is girth so i dont want to grip too lightly, how do i find out the right pressure and is the redness and swelling good

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

i was just wondering if i should ease up on the pressure a bit, my main goal is girth so i dont want to grip too lightly, how do i find out the right pressure and is the redness and swelling good

Make sure to check out HJF Boxer's thread that's posted there as a link in the first post. The thing is that jelqing at a higher erection level should definitely help out with your girth goals but you also don't want to grip too tight when doing it because it can actually stunt the growth of your penis from what the studies seem to show (therefore more pressure doesn't always mean more gains). That's why Boxer's thread on finding the perfect jelq is a great one because it describes in detail how to make sure that your jelq is effective by finding the lightest grip pressure possible to fully engorge the glans. Also, if I remember correctly, you were having a bit of an issue keeping it around your desired 80% erect and in my personal experience this was happening to me because I was gripping much too hard trying to force as much blood as possible through my penis. I'm almost certain that if you release the pressure slightly, your routine should feel better and therefore be easier to keep at around 80%.

Also just a heads up, 80% is definitely at the outer limits of what you want to exercise your penis at so you might want to think about starting around 50% and then working your way up from there depending on what kind of P.I.'s you're seeing. Either way you're most likely going to gain girth but doing it at a little lower erection level is going to minimize the risk of injury. Just some food for thought.

[bradshaw Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bradshaw]

thanks man, that makes alot of sense i'll try that o yeah also after my routine i feel a slight bit of pain in the testical region even on my days off, just a slight bit

[W.M.P. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W.M.P.]

Great post, Cleave. Now, as I went through HJF's thread, I saw a post from rbi that points out what has been a key aspect of my mastering the jelq: It's not about how tight you grip but how well your grip. It comes down to learning how to conform your grip to the particular intricacies of your shaft. Once you focus on this, that's when you start finding the least amount of pressure required to get the glans swelling up like a mushroom.

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

Great post, Cleave. Now, as I went through HJF's thread, I saw a post from rbi that points out what has been a key aspect of my mastering the jelq: It's not about how tight you grip but how well your grip. It comes down to learning how to conform your grip to the particular intricacies of your shaft. Once you focus on this, that's when you start finding the least amount of pressure required to get the glans swelling up like a mushroom.

Good call W.M.P.,
I hadn't thought of that before but it makes a lot of sense! Thank you for chiming in.

[peaceseeker Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peaceseeker]

Interesting post. I have been jelqing for a year with a tight grip and have had great results. I restrict my work out to streching & 100 single stroke jelqs. I hate to switch up my routine but I am going to give it a 2 month trial.

[Cleave Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cleave]

Interesting post. I have been jelqing for a year with a tight grip and have had great results. I restrict my work out to streching & 100 single stroke jelqs. I hate to switch up my routine but I am going to give it a 2 month trial.

Hey peaceseeker, if you're getting results from the way that you're jelqing currently I would hate for you to switch things up but my thing is just that I think there are an awful lot of newbies to PE out there that could really benefit from a less intense jelq. If you say you've been doing it for a year now though you're penis is probably conditioned for a much more intense jelq anyway.

[DonClaudio315 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DonClaudio315]

Dear Cleave,
I read your post, and with due respect, I do believe you may be slightly misguided.
Smooth muscle is not like the skeletal muscle that is found attached to bones. Smooth muscle in the penis is responsible for shunting blood into the spongy tissue through vascular dilation. I think we can agree on this. This action is analogous to shunting blood away from exposed skin when the environment is cold.
As the blood collects in the penis it exerts a stretching force on the spongy connective tissue within the shaft. I think we can also agree on this.

Might I recommend you look up 3 things ---
1. Peyronie's Disease
2. Fibrosis
3. Extracellular matrix

Otherwise I think ur pretty much on to something...
~Word

Hey gents,

The other day, I was researching the way that smooth muscle works, whether or not there was a lot of it in our bodies and whether exercises like jelqing can really cause that muscle to expand and grow. If any of you out there have tried to investigate the same thing, you will probably know what I mean when I say that there is a pretty minimal amount of valuable information to be had out there, but here is what I was ultimately able to find out:

First of all, there is other smooth muscle in the body and it seems as though the most widely studied is that which is in your heart (I could hardly find anything on Google relating to the penis but the theory remains the same). I found that there have been multiple studies done on the effects of sheer stress on the smooth muscle in the arteries of the heart (which simply put is the force created by increased blood flow to a region) and its relationship to the growth of smooth muscle cells.

In my research I found that in a multitude of studies, increased blood flow to an area does increase the amount of smooth muscle cells in that region… but only to a certain extent! In several studies, it has been found that the greater force applied to the area has actually stunted the growth of the smooth muscle cells in that area.

How it ties into PE

If you didn’t pick up on it already, this means that more force exerted on your penis, meaning a monster grip on your dick when you jelq, is only going to cause injuries and won’t get you very far. This has been touched on by a few people already, and many others have just found it to be true from experience. For example, KP touches on this in one of his routines by explaining that a lighter grip “allows for the plumping effect. Sometimes harder grips do not allow the blood to flow in and out of the penis correctly and you end up with a poor session. The penis does not expand effectively.” I will admit that I was guilty of this because I was determined to gain as quickly as possible in a short period of time so I was forcing as much blood into my dick as I could and then wondered why my P.I.’s went down. However, after a couple weeks of using a lighter grip, my PI’s are back up and it has been much easier to keep my erection while jelqing not to mention workouts have felt much better.

As time progresses, the amount of pressure that your penis can handle will increase because of the thickening of the walls in the penis, but there is absolutely no reason to rush this process. I really think HJFBoxer was onto something when he created the thread https://www.pegym.com/forums/penis-e...fect-jelq.html. This is a great for finding where exactly this fine line between too tight and too loose is.

Therefore, my point in this thread is that first of all, there IS scientific proof out there that PE will increase the size of your penis (as if the thousands of success stories out there weren’t enough), but also that less is really more when dealing with PE. Trying to speed up your gains by pushing your penis to the absolute limits of what it can handle is NOT the way to go by any means! Instead, just lighten up and enjoy the journey!

Happy gaining!

[popol5169 Senior Member Member of the Month Nov 2014 Find all posts View Profile Close popol5169]

Dear Cleave has been off for three years.