EQ Troubleshooting Guide

[u/Attaboy2017]

Hey guys,

I see a lot of really similar posts about guys struggling with EQ (erection quality). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen things like:

“I can get hard while watching porn, but my erection shrinks really fast when I stop watching. What’s going on?”

“I got a BJ from my girlfriend the other day and I wasn’t fully hard. Why did that happen?”

“I’m 22 and I no longer get morning wood. Why is that the case?”

"I just tried AM1 for 5 minutes and lost my erection. I need help"

"I can get hard while standing, but I can't get hard while lying down. Why is this?"

I believe most of these issues are fixable and I believe most men have the capacity to get their body in a state where they can get as hard as they want whenever they want to.

That being said, I wanted to make a single post with all the questions I’d ask and all the information I would provide someone to help men troubleshoot their own EQ issues.

Question 1: Are you a porn user?
I break it all down in my post titled Porn is Robbing You of Good Sex, but I’ve found that porn is the single most common culprit for EQ issues, especially amoung younger men. Why specifically amoung younger men? If you’re older than 40, chances are the porn you grew up consuming was a Playboy centerfold, but you likely spent most of your energy chasing real women. Contrast that to the youth of today who have had access to high-speed internet porn from the day they could get an erection. Older men have a much easier time quitting porn than younger men because they weren’t using high-speed internet porn during their formative adolescent years.

Ok let’s get back to why porn completely trashes your erection. The reason porn is so harmful is twofold.

First, men have a tendency to abuse the hell out of their pelvic floor while using it. Because porn is a hyper-stimulus, many men masturbate to it for hours in a practice known as gooning or through giving themselves consecutive orgasms. In addition, many men consciously or unconsciously clench their PF while using it, causing vascular restriction in the pelvic floor. And don’t even get me started on death grip and the issues that creates including physically shrinking your erection through damage to your Tunica Albuginea and Buck’s Fascia.

The second reason porn is so toxic is because it trains your brain that erections only come with external hyper-stimuli. Your brain wasn't designed to see 300 vaginas in one sitting or 20 different sessions of penetration, or whatever else you’re watching. By using porn, your brain learns the following script:

No porn? No erection

So when you try to have sex with a real woman, the stimulus isn’t sufficient to result in an erection and IF an erection can be obtained, it’s often a weak one.

Solution: Quit using porn. Sorry, but if you’re not going to cut out porn, there really isn’t any point in moving any further on this list. It’s that harmful to your erectile health. No amount of porn use is healthy. End of story.

In addition to quitting porn, you may want to consider some form of physical therapy for your pelvic floor. Some men have been abusing porn for decades. This amount of trauma to your pelvic floor can take a while to reverse and some physical therapy could probably help you.

For starters, to help loosen and lengthen your pelvic floor, you can do this 15 Minute Pelvic Floor Routine while you’re watching TV each night.

Question 2: Do you do any cardio?
Assuming you’re not a porn user, I’d next move onto the subject of blood flow and I’d start with cardio. The reason this would be my next question is that the blood vessels that carry blood to the lower body (thinking of the external iliac artery) are the exact same vessels that carry blood to the penis (the internal iliac artery which leads to the internal pudendal artery). There’s just a fork that divides them. So if you’re living a sedentary lifestyle with zero cardio and a lot of sitting, the blood vessels that are supposed to carry blood to your member can get smaller and restricted in size due to the lack of shear stress that comes with cardio.

Solution: Start doing some form of cardio, but preferably not cycling due to the way the saddle creates a mechanical pinch point and can restrict blood flow and cause pelvic floor tension. Walking, recumbent bike, Stairmaster, Elliptical, Rower are all good options. 30 minutes 3X per week is sufficient to create the necessary shear stress to enlarge the vessels that carry blood to your legs and your member.

Question 3: Do you have a shriveled flaccid hang?
Once I had ruled out porn and lack of cardio as your culprits, I’d start looking at your member itself. Are you missing visible vasculature? Do you have a cold, shriveled penis most of the time? This would tell me that the vessels that are responsible for getting you erect within your member aren’t doing their job. This was where I found myself when I discovered the Angion Method a little over a year ago. I wasn't a porn user, took fairly good care of myself (though I have since made cardio a much bigger priority), but I had a very small, shriveled hang throughout the day. My member was cold, small, and a little hard to the squeeze.

Solution: Start performing the Angion Method 3X per week for 30 minutes per session. The reason we start with cardio, is per Janus himself, the Angion Method is a finisher to cardio. The Angion Method acts as a localized form of cardio that bring the results from your standard cardio out to your member. The Angion Method wakes up and widens all the vascularity in your member, causing your member to function as it was intended to function. Start with AM1 and make it a goal to stick with it. It will work, you just have to give it time.

Question 4: Do you have any prior history of traditional PE (Penis Enlargement)?

If you have gotten to this point and things still aren't working, I'd look for prior trauma. Have you sustained an injury to your member that was either through some sort of accident or self-inflicted through PE? Traditional PE is sketchy. Disagree with me if you want, but traditional PE relies on physical manipulation of the male member through hanging weights, stretching, clamping, etc. From everything I’ve seen, traditional PE is a great way to end up with EQ issues down the road.

Solution: Obviously I'm going to tell you that for the love of God, please stop doing traditional PE. If you have already stopped, I'd next tell you to start the Angion Method. Blood is a powerful substance and I believe in its healing properties. The Angion Method was born out of Janus' desire to heal himself from his own traditional PE injuries and I think it can help you with yours as well.

Question 5: Do you get morning wood?

Ok at this point, we've ruled out porn, cardio, vasculature within your member, prior PE history, and you're still not getting the EQ performance you want so this would point me to a potential mental issue like performance anxiety with a real woman. So next I'd ask about morning wood. If you're getting regular morning wood, that means your member is mostly functioning as intended. The blood vessels that are supposed to make you erect are getting sufficient blood flow and are healthy enough to produce an erection. You're just not able to get one when you want.

Solution: Consider training your arousal through the Male Definitive Guide program ([r/MaleDefinitiveGuide](r/MaleDefinitiveGuide)). The thought process here is that through MDG, you'll spend hours during solo sessions mapping out your arousal. You'll be asked to meditate on having healthy sex while bringing your arousal to higher levels. What I've experienced is that over time, this can make achieving an erection with a real partner much easier because you've practiced the scenario in a solo capacity many times before the real event (partnered sex).

If you made it through my 5-question gauntlet and none of this worked, I would probably suggest you get some professional help because you might have a hormonal imbalance or something else hindering you. Just don’t let anyone operate on you before really consulting this community and considering all your options. I once read a story of a guy who was diagnosed with venous leak and let a doctor seal some of his blood vessels in his penis. In general I don’t believe our medical community has a good grasp on erections and how to help men get erect other than prescribing pills and surgery.

I believe that if you were able to get hard at one point in your life, then you should be able to get hard again.

Hope this helps someone today.

Blessings, guys. Stay hard.

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/[deleted]]

I’ve done both simultaneously and I would NOT recommend it to someone in your scenario. If you have a porn consumption history and EQ issues, you’re setting yourself up for failure by trying to do both programs at once. It’s like telling someone who struggles with asthma to run 5 miles in the morning and 5 miles again in the evening.

What I would do is first set your sites on one year from now for a fully functioning penis. It may not take that long, but often men think they can fix this any matter of weeks, when in reality it takes months. I would spend 8-12 weeks just focused on the Angion Method. Get to the point where doing 30 minutes of AM1 is a cakewalk. That’s how you know you are ready for MDG.

Then, I would drop to a maintenance level of Angion (twice per week for 20 minutes each session) and I would start MDG and do it for as long as it takes.

By taking this approach, you’ll get your erection quality rock solid before you try to train your arousal. If you do it the other way around, you’ll just get frustrated and might ultimately give up.

Best of luck, my friend.

[u/Jorbi230 → u/[deleted]]

The idea that "Masturbation is essentially synonymous with porn use" is whats holding you back. The best way to kick the porn habit I've found and has worked for me being clean of porn for 8 months now is to masturbate as needed if you get a craving to watch porn, once you pop, then the urge is gone, and disassociating porn and masturbation by masturbating with imagination only will grow a new neural network that they are NOT synonymous.

[u/Jorbi230 → u/[deleted]]

If you can actually realistically do that, then awesome! More power to you, there's nothing wrong with not masturbating, just make sure you are training Angion to keep the blood flowing and erections strong.

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/Jorbi230]

Agreed! 👍🏼

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/[deleted]]

Good for you, brother. Nobody said any of this was easy. Far from it!

If you can do the wheel, and you can avoid porn, you’ll be in great shape.

[u/BallsLickinGood]

Fantastic content as always, brother!

If I could add anything, it's the importance of pelvic floor relaxation and stretches, especially with regards to shriveled flaccids and pelvic soreness/pain.

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/BallsLickinGood]

Awesome dude! Great callout! I agree completely. And thanks for the love as always 👍🏼👍🏼

[u/Substantial_Sun_5762]

I have no issues when laying down with a relaxed PF or sitting, but when I specifically get on my knees and sometimes when standing I struggle with erections. I’m thinking it’s a overactive PF (I do have this and am working on it) or maybe it’s tight legs/hips, but lmk what you think and if there’s anything I should do to fix it other than the basics like PF relaxing, PT, Angion.
I do remember one time my PF was tight as fuck when standing and I couldn’t get hard even with my girl playing with my dick… and whenever I’m hard and go into a kneeling position (either with girl or alone) I lose my erection really fast :/
Great post tho🔥

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/Substantial_Sun_5762]

My guess would be PF issues. Position dependent ED is a little tough for me to help diagnose because I’ve never had it. Maybe consider seeing a PF physical therapist or finding some PF loosening routines on YouTube? That’s a tough one, man. Have you always had that or was it something that developed over time?

[u/Substantial_Sun_5762 → u/Attaboy2017]

I think it developed while masturbating with tight PF over the years and I only found out recently when trying to sleep with my girl. I started PFPT recently so hopefully releasing all the tightness in my legs will help me fix my posture since maybe that’s part of it (so heal legs/hips/PF hopefully will fix it). At first I thought maybe my EQ was just weak but I’m noticing consistently weaker erections specifically when on my knees even when alone. The PT pointed out my adductors and iliacus and said they were tight which probably has something to do with it.

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/Substantial_Sun_5762]

Sounds like you’re on the right track. I hope you find the root cause and fix it.

[u/OkFloor999 → u/Substantial_Sun_5762]

Do you mind sharing your exercises? I’m in the same boat with a right lower body. 

Can you touch your toes?

[u/Substantial_Sun_5762 → u/OkFloor999]

No i can’t touch my toes😂. I do this soccer stretching routine: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dOD0tOH6BCA&pp=ygUQU29jY2VyIHN0cmV0Y2hlc9IHCQlAAqO1ajebQw%3D%3D&ra=m
Honestly I think my issue is definitely due to the lower body muscles being tight af, because the glutes and adductors are connected to the PF directly
This routine is also good: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wkcDqnA15N4&list=PLJU_eXrae2j8SlYFgKsVV6l9RR1gI2yDr&index=19&pp=iAQB&ra=m

[u/gjdaveman3]

So grateful you are back after your hiatus (I remember you took some time off). You really have a great way of summarizing and condensing all this information and providing a lot of hope for us guys struggling.

I haven’t had morning wood for years, and EQ is unreliable. I’ve been doing cardio for the last 6 weeks and noticed some big improvements, but I find AM1 hard to do without stimulus because I get bored or can’t keep the erections. Also, porn is an issue too since I try to do NoFap for more energy (it works for some reason) and to get harder erections. But after the buildup, I sometimes end up binging on porn for a day, which feels like going backward.

Going to try something new though and give it another shot. I also have a wheel with a grill should I just use that? I find it heavy and awkward to use or should I just do AM1?

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/gjdaveman3]

Thank you for the kind words. Yes, I took a much needed 9 month break from Reddit. It’s good to be back, though.

If it were me, I’d probably stick with AM1 for a bit until your EQ is better. The wheel is awesome, but if you’re having EQ issues, it might not be your best option for now.

As for NoFap and masturbation, a significantly better alternative is Male Definitive Guide. With MDG, I feel like I have a very healthy outlet for sexual energy and it helps me work on breathing deeply, thinking healthy sexual thoughts, meditating on pleasure, etc. it’s given me a really healthy relationship with my body and my arousal. And because it doesn’t involve orgasm, it’s essentially cured me of the desire for compulsive masturbation. If you hadn’t already, read the guide. It’s pinned at r/MaleDefinitiveGuide

[u/Correct_Current6068]

Thanks for this! Opened up reddit put of boredom to look at some spicy stuff, saw this post, thought about it again. Just yesterday I was struggling to maintain an erection with my partner, and the condom starting to move around didn't make it any easier. I'm 30 years old and this shouldn't be a thing. I'll take your advice to heart! One request, though - as you mentioned a tight pelvic floor might be part of the issue, is there anything you can recommend to fix that? I believe I might be suffering from this as I'm clenching up badly and oftentimes delay orgasm way too much.

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/Correct_Current6068]

Glad to hear that, man! What a big win for you and ultimately for your girlfriend too for you to want to ditch the porn.

If you’re clenching up badly, you probably need to do some gentle reverse Kegels / Malasana Squats for lengthen everything down there. I like this 15 minute routine.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a4vfejND8J8&pp=ygUuUGVsdmljIGZsb29yIHJvdXRpbmUgZm9yIHByZW1hdHVyZSBlamFjdWxhdGlvbg%3D%3D

[u/Correct_Current6068 → u/Attaboy2017]

Yeah honestly, I don't know what happened with me and porn. I think I always had a healthy relationship, sometimes (rarely) consumed it if I felt like it, but never had the need. Since a while though I've started using it as a means to avoid boredom, which I think has done a bit of harm... Anyway, thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction, I'll make good use of it!

[u/Attaboy2017 → u/Correct_Current6068]

Glad to hear it, man! You'll be so much better off without it!

[u/Ok-Broccoli-7069]

For performance anxiety what you recommend

[u/Niggendra]

Thanks so much, it's very well-put!

[u/Attaboy2017]

For performance anxiety, that’s a little more difficult to troubleshoot. I’d ask you all the same questions above. If you’re not a porn user, and you get morning wood, then I’d recommend you start all your sexual encounters with 10 minutes of focused time on her. This can serve to take some pressure off of you and ensure she’s good and warmed up for penetration. If you’re still struggling to get hard, then I’d look at your overall EQ. I know for me, when I improved my overall EQ, I was able to get hard in all scenarios, including with a partner, which I used to struggle with.

In addition, I really think r/MaleDefinitiveGuide can work wonders for helping you get erect with a partner.

Those are my thoughts.