Couple of thoughts my good man, then I'll sit back and watch...
"Over all it wasn't quite as taxing as it should be, but I figured baby steps..."
- VERY wise move right here, and you did the right thing. With respect to the injuries, happens. What's important is to identify why they may be occurring, and how much may be related to aging and/or exercises that don't agree with you. Having said that, you state dips don't bother it so RUN WITH THOSE!
Training around these injuries is not only possible, but necessary. Many times these injuries are a blessing in disguise, because dips are head and shoulders better than incline db/bb presses. Why? Any movement where you move the body and weight simultaneously brings the brain/CNS recruitment to a MUCH higher activation level. Bravo man, bravo.
On the BIU!, glad you're noticing the merits of such. No idea about the itching though, never bothered me. An idea for you though, as to how best to mitigate that AND get better results.
If you dosed 2 BIU!, consider just one plus a caffeine tab. May take away the itching and adding ANY amount of caffeine to BIU! radically increases the "tunnel vision"/"crisp" CNS effects it imparts.
That little bugger is a true winner IMO. I noticed a BIG difference when running The BP Mass Stack (all 3, BIU/KA and AN) vs. just KA or AN in isolation. My take on that?
I incorporated PeakATP into Synthagen largely b/c I felt it was what was making such a profound difference. Not only does it boost ATP levels in the body, it improves nutrient/oxygen etc. levels to both the body and
BRAIN - for up to 6 hours.
As such, I feel it was transporting all the other goodies in KA/AN to where they needed to be. When running the Synthagen prototype, I dropped each ingredient while using the rest of the formula - to see what a difference each ingredient made.
Result?
Dropping full spectrum RCE and PeakATP made the biggest difference. I do feel quite strongly too, that the Phosphaditylserine in BIU adds strongly to the effect, via cutting cortisol. For that though, Synthagen utilizes not 1 but 3 nutraceuticals to manage cortisol...
- "Full Spectrum" RCE
- Orotic Acid
- TMG
I did consider adding PS, and ran a Synthagen trial with it. It seemed to be overkill, b/c the achy joints started appearing at that point.
One more tip for that shoulder: Consider adding this gem of a movement, in your EDT blocks -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W9GhAXyXq4
Shoulder injuries are the most prevalent in the gym. Two biggest offenders here are the bench press and military press. Wanna know why?
2 reasons:
1.) They force the barbell to come in contact with the body, relaxing the joint/muscle and thereby increasing injury potential
2.) The BIG one - These movements force your elbows to flare out, at an un-natural angle.
You'll notice in the BB jammer press, the elbow is kept in line with the body. This greatly reduces pressure on the rotator cuff, and builds all 3 heads of the shoulder. Also, ensure you're performing an equal amount of reps/sets with a pull/rowing movement for every press.
Doing so should help, as it addresses any shoulder imbalances. Hope that helps brother!
Anyway,
GREAT work here and keep playing offense JlCH!!!
