Locating and Activating the Ischiocavernosus Muscle (IC) to obtain more 'Penis Power'

[badsanta]

Hi,
don't know if I can post YT videos (it's not commercial so probalby it's OK)... But in this one, the lady explains good and shows where the IC is, how to contract & what to feel + how to combine it with a BC & back kegel for a successful kegel exercise.

https://youtu.be/MJ7EfGu03-0

Please advise if we should do as she said, or only IC contracting?
Thanks and good luck.

[Jay1983]

My IC muscles are fucked. It seems they fall below balance point during high arousal, and then it's hard to get them to tighten back up after ejac, and it's kinda uncomfortable.

I suppose this is where I must rewire the brains pelvic floor response to arousal.

At least I think it's my IC muscles.

[badsanta]

To be honest, I also can't isolate them at the moment.... After few contractions, I don't know what I'm doing/feeling.
But, I belive that's the way it is if you don't have any balance or strenght in it, and it will eventually come?
I'll add this kind of kegel to my daily routine (5 days on, 2 days off - when driving to work for 5-10 min) and observe if there will be any change.

[DickerSchwanz]

Normal to lose access to control the IC kegel after getting there a few times.

It`s a rather small and normally autonomously working muscle so conscious control needs to be trained. It`s different to engaging a bicep muscle.
Try to wiggle your ears by themselves. Most people can`t do it until they keep trying and focus their mind to the muscles at the ear.

[badsanta]

Normal to lose access to control the IC kegel after getting there a few times.

It`s a rather small and normally autonomously working muscle so conscious control needs to be trained. It`s different to engaging a bicep muscle.
Try to wiggle your ears by themselves. Most people can`t do it until they keep trying and focus their mind to the muscles at the ear.

True, isolating & moving IC feels pretty much the same as wiggling with my ears at the moment

[WoodWork]

Great work DickerSchwanz

Wanted to add my two cents and check if other have similar observations. Just to be clear here is a post I did about which pelvic muscle is which in the beginning:
https://www.pegym.com/forums/prematu...ml#post1609507 (post #11)

Hope I'm right so here goes:

So for me a IC kegel is the first part of what I once thought of "front keggle". At start it's a small twitch that retracts the penis inside. So for anyone having problems: "it gets better, keep doing it, just don't compensate it with contracting the BC". Also while doing this I keep a RK for the back and the front BC part which helps isolating the IC.

Another way for me to experience the IC is when hard. If you can do a full kegel and feel your erection expanding try this:
Wrap your hand around the end of the penis so you both have the glans and some shaft. Give it a small squeeze so you will feel the expansion. Now do exactly the same full kegel but slowly. You should first feel the shaft expand (predominantly the sides), then the glans. The first part is the IC muscle connected to the corpus cavernosum (shaft), and the second is the BC connected to the corpus spongiosum (glans and the middle "urethra part" of the shaft).


The last way is when exercising with a semi/hard (something I not sure but it feels right so if anybody can confirm then that would be great ):
Normally when exercising the IC and flaccid i pull away and do IC kegels to feel the pull back. I don't hold firmly, but have a little give so there is a bit of a range of motion. I also pull to the side and do IC kegels for each side. I noticed that my left IC is weaker.

Now if I get any stiffness I can do "better" IC kegel and maybe other will be able to find theirs IC this way:
With a stiff penis (does not have to be 100%, just to have some rigidness) pull the penis to the side with the hand. For me I can go 90 degrees and touch the pelvis. Now try to bring the penis back to the middle (without using the BC). The muscle trying to do it seems to me to be the IC muscle. Have a bit of give in the hand and allow the penis to move just adding a bit of pressure. Currently for me I feel the pull of the IC up to 45 degrees, then it fades off. But I can clearly feel the muscle contract and visibly see it straightening the penis so it seems a good indicator of having the IC isolated and working.

And lastly after the sides, for the middle, I do towel rises . Currently with a very small hand towel but focusing on holding a RK and not using other muscles.

IC I wouldn't know how to get my hands right at the muscle. It`s inside check the anatomy diagrams different ones.
Sounds you are getting there. Kegel and IC are different. You can`t do a full kegel while doing a full IC and vice vers, if both are ok. Like triceps vs. biceps.

Just to be clear because I'm not sure: are you putting IC and BC muscles in opposition just as the biceps and triceps? So you can't flex both at the same time as one relaxes the other?

For me it seems both function independently and together to hold the erection. So as I wrote above, squeezing the IC engorges the shaft, squeezing the BC engorges the glans, and you can do both at the same time.

I can also do a RK for the PC and BC while kegling the IC as you said. I cannot do/feel a strict RK in the IC and I didn't ever try to squeeze the BC without squeezing the IC. Is it even possible? Oh, and I can feel the IC muscle inside the PF if I dig in with my fingers, but it's a really slight motion, more like feeling a vine pulse with passing blood.

Thanks again for bring the topic once more back to the front line

[DickerSchwanz]

It`s not the same as biceps and triceps, it`s similar.
You can flex your biceps and triceps same time but the range is smaller. I can`t engage a full BC and IC kegel at the same time.

The IC and BC are described to fire fast alternating to create an erection or ejaculation, that is when they act autonomously without conscious use. Consciously it's probably not possible to mimic that speed but I alternate them and increase the blood in my penis too.

When I want to hold an erection I mostly use an RK to increase the pressure of blood into the penis while keeping the inflow going. (which would be prevented if you hold a BC kegel). I do that along with a slight IC hold. It helps to be able to use both in various intensities depending on the situation.

I can also do a RK for the PC and BC while kegling the IC as you said. I cannot do/feel a strict RK in the IC and I didn't ever try to squeeze the BC without squeezing the IC. Is it even possible?

Are you saying you can`t engage the IC and BC isolated? They always engage together? i dont understand.

[WoodWork]

Ok, just tried flexing IC when holding a BC and PC kegel and it works somewhat. Guess I just had to try But I'm not sure I can contract the BC without engaging the IC first.

I will have to exercise this a bit to have full control. Can you fully independently contract PC, BC and IC, so you can do three separate kegels? Maybe even squeeze the PC and IC while having the BC relaxed? And how much can you "artificially" inflate your penis alternating the IC/BC.

Also can you do and feel a RK in the IC. I can feel the RK in the BC and PC, and can have an RK in one while having a kegel in the other. But for the IC I only feel two states: contracted (kegel) and not contracted (relaxed). Can't do/feel the stretched state as in a RK. Maybe it happens with the "front RK" but I can't feel the stretch in the IC specifically.

As for a full contraction of BC and IC at the same time: for me it seems easy and like the basic form of kegel where you contract all of your pelvic floor muscles (PC,BC,IC) without taking care for any isolation. I could be mistaken but it doesn't seem that the BC and IC are in any opposition as a biceps and triceps as they are not antagonist muscles working in opposite direction. There's seems no leverage that would extend one when the other contracts.

[DickerSchwanz]

Ok, just tried flexing IC when holding a BC and PC kegel and it works somewhat. Guess I just had to try But I'm not sure I can contract the BC without engaging the IC first.

I will have to exercise this a bit to have full control. Can you fully independently contract PC, BC and IC, so you can do three separate kegels? Maybe even squeeze the PC and IC while having the BC relaxed? And how much can you "artificially" inflate your penis alternating the IC/BC.

It's still all somewhat connected down there. There`s always some movement beyond one muscle group if you flex one.
But I can flex IC and BC independently from each other. Engaging both same time is doing nothing for me like doing triceps and biceps same moment.
It's a weird immobile state.
With a 0% erection and no arousal hard to keep blood in. But with 10% to 80% I can add blood to continuously increase the erection and with a 100% erection I can add some percent that would otherwise only possibly with some light hand clamping.

Also can you do and feel a RK in the IC. I can feel the RK in the BC and PC, and can have an RK in one while having a kegel in the other. But for the IC I only feel two states: contracted (kegel) and not contracted (relaxed). Can't do/feel the stretched state as in a RK. Maybe it happens with the "front RK" but I can't feel the stretch in the IC specifically.

The position of the IC means it's rather one dimensonaly stretched by a RK. The RK goes outwards and the pubic bone doesn`t give the IC's room to stretch.
So the penis and IC are pushed to the pubic bone with a strong RK.
The RK to IC stretch happens for me where the 2 legs of the IC are deeper inside. They move/stretch apart from each other leftward and rightward.

Dfull RK's where your whole area balloons inside out into all directions will stretch all muscles somewhat.

As for a full contraction of BC and IC at the same time: for me it seems easy and like the basic form of kegel where you contract all of your pelvic floor muscles (PC,BC,IC) without taking care for any isolation. I could be mistaken but it doesn't seem that the BC and IC are in any opposition as a biceps and triceps as they are not antagonist muscles working in opposite direction. There's seems no leverage that would extend one when the other contracts.

No matter what I do my most powerful IC clench kegel is nowhere near as intense when I engage the BC kegel and vice versa. LIKE doing triceps and biceps same moment. It feels unnatural and unnecessary. Has it any effect for you that you can use engaging both?

[WoodWork]

With a 0% erection and no arousal hard to keep blood in. But with 10% to 80% I can add blood to continuously increase the erection and with a 100% erection I can add some percent that would otherwise only possibly with some light hand clamping.

Thanks for the info. Will have to try this, as it seems interesting.

The RK goes outwards and the pubic bone doesn`t give the IC's room to stretch.
So the penis and IC are pushed to the pubic bone with a strong RK.
The RK to IC stretch happens for me where the 2 legs of the IC are deeper inside. They move/stretch apart from each other leftward and rightward.

You are right. I do feel the IC with my fingers deeper in, when they are two separate legs so I know that they go quite far. So an all around RK should target also the IC but the RK won't be felt near the penis part of the IC because of the pubic bone.

No matter what I do my most powerful IC clench kegel is nowhere near as intense when I engage the BC kegel and vice versa. LIKE doing triceps and biceps same moment. It feels unnatural and unnecessary. Has it any effect for you that you can use engaging both?

Interesting that we have different sensations. Maybe I still have my IC to weak/small for it to be competing with the BC for space when clenched.

As for effect I don't feel any direct effect from IC kegels strictly speaking. That is: maybe having them stronger helps overall but currently I don't feel any benefit on the spot when clenching the IC.

This is the ED part of the forum but I come from the Pre-E part. I'm currently on the end of the journey of Pre-E (hopefully) where I'm trying to gain 100% control (bit of a perfectionist) than struggling with having any control. So IC kegels is more of an interesting new exercise to see how much isolation/control I can get and maybe it will have some additional benefit in the Pre-E part, not just even better erections

And could you confirm if I'm not mistaken:
Do you feel you're engaging your IC when holding a semi erect penis to the side and try to pull it back to the middle with the IC. For me it seems the most strengthening variation of the IC exercise together with towel raises but I'm not sure I'm right.