Vacuum Pumping 101

Here's my outline- first, the basic procedures.

Trim up: A day or two before you use your pump the first time, it's a good idea to clip pubic hairs at the base of the shaft of your penis then shave (very carefully) with a safety razor a narrow ring around your shaft and about half way down your testicle sac if you are hairy there. Doing this ahead of time will give any tiny nicks time to heal before pumping. The clipping/shaving will provide a clean surface for obtaining a pressure seal with your cylinder rim. In my experience, a few hairs can ruin a good seal. This will not change your pubic appearance much, and a bonus is that it will give the illusion of your being longer before you've even pumped once. When you start itching during the day, it's probably time to shave again.

Prepare Your Cylinder: Have ready: an indelible ink felt pen and a clean, dry wash cloth. Connect the male and female couplers of your cylinder and air tube. Spread a thin layer of lubricant on the bottom rim (or flange) of the cylinder. Apply and spread a small amount of a good, glycerine based lubricant around the bottom, inside, two or three inches up into the cylinder.

Apply a thin layer of the lubricant to the glans of your penis and to the shaft, but not all the way down to your testicles. A slippery testicle sac skin makes it easier to suck one of your testicles into the cylinder under pressure. This is not the end of the world, but it doesn't feel good when it happens. I don't like the sensation at all and it means I have to re-establish a seal before I can continue.

It's easiest to get an initial seal if you go into the tube erect or semi-erect. You can also pump up if you are flaccid. If flaccid, increase pressure very gradually as you achieve an erection under pressure. Hurrying is not good for your vascular system and penile tissue is very sensitive. When you have a normal erection, you don't achieve that in a mere 20 seconds. Take your time, work up slowly.

Wipe your hands dry with the wash cloth. Sticky hands make supporting the cylinder or manipulating the handles of a hand pump a slippery problem.

Place your penis in the cylinder. With your free hand pull your testicle sack down a bit to accommodate the cylinder rim. Fit the bottom rim snugly against your pubic bone and twist the cylinder a quarter rotation, then back, to create a firm seal. You are ready to pump.

I think timing is very important in pumping. As you begin to pump and know that you have an adequate seal, check your watch and begin your timing.

Pumping feels different from anything else I'd experienced. When I did it the first time I was not prepared for the sensations; it all got out of control before I could release the pressure, and I ejaculated into the tube. Semen under pressure has nowhere to go but everywhere within the tube and I was sure for a few seconds that I had blown myself up. Not so; but I learned quickly that I'd have to take a more distant and scientific attitude. I haven't had that problem since.

The first thing to learn is to understand the difference between pleasure and pain. The line can be very thin. Do not go beyond pleasure to pain, ever, because pain brings tiny skin hemorrhages, major and nasty blood blisters, and flesh distortions. If you bruise or blister, you will have to quit pumping altogether until you heal. There should be a firm sensation of pulling and a pleasant sensation of expansion of your shaft and glans.

Toward the end of your first session, take your felt pen and mark the outside of the tube with a line indicating the top-most point the that very tip of your glans has reached inside. You will use this as a marker to indicate your gradual progress during further pumping sessions.

For beginning pumpers especially, when your session time is up- QUIT, no matter how much you like what's going on in the tube, or how good it might feel to you. You are stretching your skin and the tissue of your penis in ways they have never been stretched before. Do not get carried away with that. Just stop and look forward to the next session.

Each time I finish a session, I add some lubricant to my penis and spend a couple of minutes doing massage of the entire shaft and glans, paying attention to all surfaces. Massage has the effect of evening out any blips you may have created by being over-enthusiastic with your pressure or timing and assures complete blood flow, and blood exchange within the penis. Massage will NOT make abrasions or blisters go away if you've overdone pressure, though it may help some in the healing.

Next, let's talk about a second part of the regimen- Jelking.

Following massage, I jelk for several minutes. Jelking is no mystery; it's a penile exercise that's been around for a very long time. Here's how it's done: Form an "O" with your thumb and forefinger; grasp the base of your lubricated penis; squeeze and pull firmly (not painfully) up the shaft to the base of the head (glans). You will notice that the glans will engorge as blood and lymph are forced up toward it. As you squeeze and pull, you are also stretching the core tissue that runs from the glans down into the pubic area. By stretching this core tissue firmly but not painfully, you can increase the rate of length gains. Unless you misuse this exercise, it will not cause your erect penis to point down rather than up.

Following some minutes of jelking, I wrap my penis in a warm wet wash cloth, as warm as is still comfortable. I add more warm water as I need to and do this for a few minutes. Men who have pumps which allow for warm water pumping can skip this step. Heat relaxes tissue and some believe that heat promotes cell division. This "break" time usually lasts 5 to 8 minutes for me. I believe that breaks between short sessions are important: Newly oxygenated blood enters the penis and with good frequency (this does not happen to any great degree while you are under pressure). If I plan another pumping session, I follow the same lubricating steps as when I began the first session and then continue.

Here's the schedule I used adapted having talked with sensible pumpers and after reading their advice. These sessions are always at moderate and comfortable pressures. I know a lot of guys are into high pressure and long sessions, but I'd compare my own gains so far with any of theirs.

Week 1: One 10 minute session per day
Week 2: One 15 minute session per day
Week 3: Two 10 minute sessions per day
Week 4: Two 15 minute sessions per day
Week 5: One 20 minutes session, one 10 min session, per day Week 6: Two 20 minute sessions per day
Week 7: Three 20 minute sessions per day *

* After a few months I settled on three 10 minute sessions per day and no pumping on weekends. Now I do only 5 - 8 minute sessions with more squeezes and jelking between them. I saw no difference in size gain as a result of long sessions.

Pumping pressure causes the Cowper's glands to produce more fluid than you would normally experience. "Pre-cum," the clear, slippery fluid you may have during sex foreplay, may ooze into the tube. You may also have some oozing after your sessions are over. Don't be concerned about this.

It is common for the penis to remain longer and fatter after a session. You have filled it with blood and lymphatic fluids. Your penis will have a "spongy" feeling. In the beginning of your pumping experience this flaccid increase does not last very long at all, but it's fun while it's there. Slowly, over weeks, you will probably find that you are hanging longer and heavier for hours, then all day, then for a couple of days between pump sessions. You are beginning to see permanent gains. Unlike some, I do not believe that pumping gives fully permanent gains. But a minimal maintenance schedule of pumping 3 or 4 times a month will let you keep what you've worked for. That, to me, is permanent enough.

If you find that your normal, non-pumped erections become soft or spongy instead of the rigid ones you used to have, you are overdoing pressure or session timing. Cut back. Having good sexual erections should be one of your goals.

If the frequency of your nighttime/waking erections increases after a month or so or you are more aware of them, you are doing the right thing. They may also be thicker and longer. You may find that you can last longer during sex. It's not that you are de-sensitized; it's just that pumping has trained you to handle more sensation without ejaculating as soon.

Do NOT go to pain. Pain cuts progress and causes damage. Limit your session times and be sure to take breaks at least every 20 minutes after you have some experience under your belt. I believe that if you build up slowly, you will build up larger and healthier, from a penile point of view at least.