I've been pumping for years and I have a hard time staying above 5 for more than 15-20 mins and I do A LOT of my pumping at around 1-3, but I'm trying to get up to 5hg. I read somewhere that you get 1ml per hg per hour. Is it true? Who knows? But let's assume it is for the sake of math.
One person is doing 3hg for an hour straight, the other is doing 4 sets of 10 mins at 5hg with 5 mins of zero pumping rest.
3x60=180ml
5x40=200ml
If the 5hg guy does his rests at even 1hg that's an additional 20ml for 20 mins of pumping
In comparison of you can handle 10hg for any amount of time you're getting 10ml/min so I'm order for the 3hg guy to catch up to the guy doing sets and reps, he would need to pump up to 10hg for 2 mins, or for 30 seconds every 15 mins
On paper that means that if someone had a machine that could do 10hg for 30 seconds on/off alternating for an hour, they could get up to 300ml per hour of gains, or about 5ml/min which is just slightly slower than a saline infusion, but it's basically impossible to consistently do that by hand
There's also duration. If you only have 20 mins to pump yeah you need to get the needle as high as it goes as much as possible in that 20 mins as doing 3hg for 20 mins is only gonna net you 60ml instead of possibly 100+.The guy pumping at 10 isn't going to be able to pump as long as the guy pumping at 3, and the guy pumping at 3 isn't going to be able to go as long as the guy pumping at 5 with breaks because higher pressures reduce comfort and taking breaks increases comfort
That being said, I do dropsets to failure. I get into the tube at around 8-10hg and hold it for as long as possible before dropping it to 5hg and holding it, then 3 and holding it, then 1hg if it's a straight tube, or 0hg if it's a 2 stage that's not gonna fall off. I drink water constantly and most of the time I'll get out of the tube to piss, other times I'll keep it 3-5 and not look at a clock or get out until the tube is full.
I can't remember if I've said this before, but getting gains from pumping is a lot like running up an escalator. If you walk up it leisurely your best case scenario is staying in place.if you stop, you lose progress at around 20ml an hour and need to sprint to get those gains back
Last example. Let's say I pumped this morning for an hour and got 200ml. I go to work for 8 hours, I spent an hour commuting, and I ate dinner/showered for a totall of 10 hours. I would have lost 200ml but because I wore a ring around my package the whole day I only lost 100.
I get back in the tube for 3 hours this time. 30 mins at 10hg(300), 30mins at 5hg(150), and an hour at 3hg (180) with rests in-between. I go to bed for 6 hours (630-120=510) and I wake up and get 200ml in before work to get up to 710 and do the same thing. When I get home I will be around 500-600ml before I start pumping.
I also have a jar hidden under the sink in the bathroom at work for when it's slow and I can hide for 15 mins. Sometimes I'll take that jar to the burger king across the street from my work and manage to get 15-20 mins of pumping in the bathroom during lunch, or even get in the tube right after work and wear it home.
So yeah I have permanent gains in the way that a dedicated bodybuilder has muscles, by constantly working at it. Now here are some pics of my 4x6x10 for the people who read the whole thing