I'm no one to criticize someone else's body but it seems you are happy and excited with how things are progressing. I forgot how old you are? I'm closer to 50 than 40, what horror. My friend who I've posted pictures of before, a dude who isn't a monster yet a very good bb, is a couple of years younger than me. He took like 4 years off competing and now he's thinking of doing one last show. It's unfortunate that he felt at least mentally so burnt out in 2019 because he was just at the cusp of becoming an old man, an age after which you can no longer be your "best ever." Like Shawn Rhoden won the O at 45 and that is really approaching the limit after which you start to get worse. One minor sign that one is past his prime is when you look at the skin on the side of the pec, when it starts to crease and fold - your skin will never be the same. I have some strength goals still as that is something some can increase even when from a bb
perspective someone is past his prime.
Why did you explicitly go "low protein"? I'm not saying you should eat this or that amount but you are now adding leucine to hit the "anabolic treshhold" but from my readings it's questionable how smart it is to supplement singular amino acids as scientists know this can theoretically throw your body off balance, an example is leucine lowering isoleucine and valine. A high dose of one single amino can lower a couple of others. So let's say you now max out protein synthesis how would you know you now have adequate EAAs circulating to actually take advantage of the increase in protein synthesis? Or how do you know your intake of nonessential aminos is optimal - we know these other aminos assist muscle building, sensitize the body to anabolic signals and essential aminos etc.
https://www.ergo-log.com/if-leucine-isn-t-stimulating-muscle-growth-try-combining-it-with-glycine.htmlI take aminos myself, based on a hunches mostly lol. For example I've now taken to taking up to 30 grams of Jordan Peters' EAAs with 20 grams of PEPTOPRO first thing in the morning and just before working out, usually with some insulin. I add a small dose of creatine, l-carnitine, sodium, arginine, citrulline, glutamine, and whatever else I think might enhance anabolic signaling. I'm probably majorly overshooting the dose of aminos but I speculate it's positive to drive blood aminos as high as possible a couple of times a day, maybe the most "important" time being just before the workout, (so it's available during the workout) to take advantage of the "hyperemia" during workouts, insulin further increasing blood flow while activating anabolic pathways when combined with the aminos. "Don't send empty blood" as Milos says LOL and there may be something to this. I'm probably at 30 grams of leucine alone lol around the workout window. Anyhow, this is just nerding out, probably mostly unnecessarily, but I tend to start micromanaging things in my mind. Oh yeah, there was a study showing "old" people needed 40 grams of intact protein to get the same elevated protein synthesis that young people get from just 20 grams so my 50 grams of free aminos and peptides might not be so excessive? But like you said, there's actually no real evidence EAAs as crystalline single aminos have any advantage over intact (food) protein.
Ever tried glycerol loading? It's just a temporary trick but I would be curious if you looked or felt different (pumps) trying the protocol. For me I calculated I needed 100 grams of glycerol with 2 liters of water, which I started drinking 2 hours before a workout. I added a few grams of salt plus some carbs and creatine so as to not piss everything out quickly (that's what the glycerol is for but we need sodium etc too). I only managed to do it once and didn't get the best workout (pump) but I was maybe 5lbs heavier.
