Muscle distribution (soreness and circulation issues)

[Nightingale]

I have a rather strange story about my muscle growth as a teen while having POIS.  I am curious about this now as I'm starting to find I have circulation issues, and muscle growth is very related to good/bad circulation.  This is why you see many muscle growth products advertising circulation enhancing products (many contain products that increase nitric oxide (NO) for example).

My strangeness is that by the age of 16, I had developed large neck, back and butt muscles, without exercising them.  I was having people tell me "wow your neck is so thick, you look so big!"  This is in contrast to the front of my body and arms, which were much less developed.  I wasn't complaining, I looked like I was a physically fit guy (from the front and back) which helped me get the attention of women  

But if you view me from the side, it was not such an appealing sight.  Firstly, I have mild pectus excavatum, or a "bowl chest" which makes sort of a cave in the middle.  This made my lower ribs stick out, and if I wore a shirt some mean people would say I looked like I had breasts.  There was so much muscle mass on my back, that it gave me an imbalanced look from the side.  I was almost hunchbacked, my neck and trapezoidal muscles were (are) so large.  Also, my jaw may have not developed as it should, since I have a mild overbite and a small jaw.

Also strange are that I have narrow wrists and forearms, which looked quite scrawny when I was young.  I later was motivated to exercise my arms and chest to try to improve my figure.  I have developed large biceps/triceps and have larger chest muscles, but the chest has been very hard to grow.  I am thinking, maybe I have circulation issues with the front of my torso that diverted blood/nutrients to my rear that caused it to grow so much but out of balance with the rest?  If that's true, did this also contribute to my "bowl chest" by stopping/weakening it's growth, and the same for my forearms and jaw?  Your front and back are innervated (supplied) by different nerves.  The main nerve in the front is the vagus nerve, which if understimulated has been shown to cause depression (there is a treatment for depression where they install a vagus nerve stimulator in your body).

And equally strange is the muscle distribution in my legs.  It's the same imbalance but reversed, the front (quadriceps) is really strong while the back (hamstrings) are seriously weaker.  I ran on my highschool track team, and was a very good sprinter, and I could kick a soccer ball very hard and far.  But I found out, when I played football (American), that I could not push others out of my way nearly as hard with my legs.  This motion involves your rear leg (hamstrings) much more!  On weight training days, I would be embarassed when I had to perform "squats" with my legs because I couldn't do half as much as the other guys for nearly as long.  I work on those muscles to this day, and it has been hard to grow them!

I'm wondering if this has to do with POIS and my findings that I have circulation issues.  My doctor told me I have Raynaud's Disease, where my hands and feet are purplish and blotchy showing bad circulation.   Niacin, ginko, fenugreek all dilate your vessels, improving circulation and helping our POIS.  I'm having trouble taking anything that promotes nitric oxide (NO), it's causing interactions with my psychiatric medications.  I wish that didn't happen.

EDIT: the niacin flush is really centered around the front torso and arms.  Coincidence or important?

Anyways, I'm curious if other guys here have similar stories.  Also, in the days before niacin and vitamins, if I had a "hard" orgasm (basically where it felt REALLY good), the weaker muscles in the back on my leg would feel soooo sore the next day, like I had old-man muscles.  I know you guys have soreness.  Where is it the most?

[kurtosis]

That's fascinating. I'm about 6"1 and weigh 205 pounds. I put on muscle when I work out but somehow remain relatively slender looking except my upper torso and back.  I've also noticed that I develop muscles faster on my back and I used to do rowing. My brothers are an inch or so taller but each over 20 pounds heavier than I am.

I have cold hands and feet. I've noticed that when I feel ginkgo and b's are most working for me (specifically ginkgo) and I feel really energetic then my hands and feet are warm. After 240 mg of ginkgo in a day I feel really pumped. I've had the occasional NE (I rarely have these) and I've still felt pretty pumped so long as my hands and feet are warm. When I took niacin after an O I'd start to feel better as the flush came on. I tried 120mg of ginkgo and a carnitine complex last night and I again woke up with warm hands and feet and feel marvellous today. While I believe ginkgo is having a range of benefits for me, including reducing my allergies, I suspect that the major cause of my POIS recovery is better circulation. So, effectively I'm using it as a kind of super niacin. Add in some taurine (or taurine derivative) and my stress levels are reduced. Vasodilation without a huge surge of adrenaline seems to do the trick.

Anyway, I hope to get back a comprehensive set of allergy tests next week and we'll see what they reveal. The only thing confirmed last time was gluten allergy.

[Nightingale]

Wow, cool.  You probably gravitated to rowing since you were strongest with your back!

I've mentioned nitric oxide in the L-Arginine thread, but I'll repeat here that NO can be supplemented for in more ways than L-Arginine.  Hawthorn and beetroot are both thought to increase NO and boost circulation.  I am currently battling a bad reaction to changing my lithium dose distribution, and both L-Arginine and hawthorn have caused me to feel very strange.  It must be related to POIS...  I'm seeing a neurologist next week about my circulation issues (Raynaud's) and muscle weakness attacks, and there's a chance I might go on a calcium channel blocker.

[kurtosis]

Wow, cool.  You probably gravitated to rowing since you were strongest with your back!

I've mentioned nitric oxide in the L-Arginine thread, but I'll repeat here that NO can be supplemented for in more ways than L-Arginine.  Hawthorn and beetroot are both thought to increase NO and boost circulation.  I am currently battling a bad reaction to changing my lithium dose distribution, and both L-Arginine and hawthorn have caused me to feel very strange.  It must be related to POIS...  I'm seeing a neurologist next week about my circulation issues (Raynaud's) and muscle weakness attacks, and there's a chance I might go on a calcium channel blocker.

Yeah I guess that I did. It was fun. I'm currently trying the carnitine complex with acetyl l-carnitine arginate, glycine propionyl L-carnitine Hydrochloride and acetyl l-carnitine taurinate hydrochloride - I'd be here all day typing in the chemical formulae of these. Despite the price I decided to give it a whirl the past few days.. I'll give some feedback in another week but it's going good so far. It's providing greater stress relief and more energy than separately taking taurine, acetyl l-carnitine and arginine. So it seems there might be something to the synergistic effects that sigma tau labs are suggesting. I get suspicious about any bodybuilding product (as there's such shit talked in ads and I'll need at least a week to determine this isn't just a placebo effect OR an effect based on short term but not durable chemical boosts - the kind you get from stimulants. 

I'm taking that instead of the 2nd ginkgo with no huperzine. If it goes well I'll be able to cut out the separate taurine and acetyl-carnitine. I doubt if I'll take huperzine again. Taking something which inhibits acetyl-cholinesterase isn't necessary when you're taking acetyl l-carnitine and variants which boost your acetyl-choline production. In general I prefer a supplement which the body can use to increase the level of a neurotransmitter than something which inhibits the action of one whether my body thinks thats a good idea or not.

Ideally I just want to be able to take a fish oil (krill), ginkgo, b complex and one other supplement with me. I think 4 capsules is more than enough for travel and over the course of my research I accumulated lots of sample size supplements which I studied, took, made notes on etc.