Striated Delts

[Elvia1023]

It’s a delicate balance of using insulin to shuttle the right nutrients at the right time. If you eat a ton of fat in your insulin windows you will store fat.

Insulin inhibits lipolysis. This is why timing of it with the right nutrients is key. HGH also promotes lipolysis so having it in helps offset the storage of fat.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00620.2020#:~:text=Insulin%20primarily%20inhibits%20lipolysis%20stimulation,(mTORC1)%20that%20inhibits%20ATGL.

Someone such as you or myself knows this and we take in insulin, carbs and fats at strategic times.

How many bodybuilders do we know who aren’t as rigid as us though who pin insulin in the offseason (sometimes with every meal) while eating like crap. It’s a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

That’s my stance and understanding of it and I could be way off base. If any of the coaches on here want to chime in feel free.

But I’ve never seen it be a problem unless guys are abusing it to abuse eating the wrong food at the wrong times.

All very true but I still wouldn't state it's the cause... well it can be. I answer this question as if a person is lean enough what would cause a lack of detail and that is inflammation and scar tissue from constantly injecting your delts. It's the same for when guy on stage has a lack of separation in their bi-ceps and it's usually due to site injecting their bi-ceps for more size (Martin Fitzwater is a recent example of this).

Insulin can put fat on people so it definitely could make it harder to get striations because it's inhibiting lipolysis a.k.a. fatloss. Although we could also say simply not dieting hard enough is what stops people getting shoulder striations. I think everything can be a factor and if you are not lean enough because of using high carbs to feed your massive insulin dose that would be an obvious reason but if you are lean enough I don't think insulin suddenly makes striations disappear especially when using properly.

 

[danieltx]

Insulin can put fat on people so it definitely could make it harder to get striations because it's inhibiting lipolysis a.k.a. fatloss. Although we could also say simply not dieting hard enough is what stops people getting shoulder striations. I think everything can be a factor and if you are not lean enough because of using high carbs to feed your massive insulin dose that would be an obvious reason but if you are lean enough I don't think insulin suddenly makes striations disappear especially when using properly.

I can say in my case it for sure isn't insuiln - I don't use insulin at all when I diet.

 

[bbxtreme]

All very true but I still wouldn't state it's the cause... well it can be. I answer this question as if a person is lean enough what would cause a lack of detail and that is inflammation and scar tissue from constantly injecting your delts. It's the same for when guy on stage has a lack of separation in their bi-ceps and it's usually due to site injecting their bi-ceps for more size (Martin Fitzwater is a recent example of this).

Insulin can put fat on people so it definitely could make it harder to get striations because it's inhibiting lipolysis a.k.a. fatloss. Although we could also say simply not dieting hard enough is what stops people getting shoulder striations. I think everything can be a factor and if you are not lean enough because of using high carbs to feed your massive insulin dose that would be an obvious reason but if you are lean enough I don't think insulin suddenly makes striations disappear especially when using properly.

I agree, I worry more about scar tissue than I do insulin ruining my delts.

It’s much harder to break down years of scar tissue than cutting harder to lose excess stored fat.

When I was in Columbia getting stem cells the doctor told me straight up “quit pinning in your delts”.

They see a ton of top guys down there and he said the constant injections in the delts are not doing bodybuilders any good in the long term.

 

[luki7788]

If insulin was the real reason for this then Roman Fritz for example would not have had a single cut and he is probably the most shredded open bodybuilder lol

 

[b-boy]

I can say in my case it for sure isn't insuiln - I don't use insulin at all when I diet.

And I can say in my case it definitely isn't scar tissue, my shoulders are like injecting through cardboard...LOL

 

[danieltx]

I agree, I worry more about scar tissue than I do insulin ruining my delts.

It’s much harder to break down years of scar tissue than cutting harder to lose excess stored fat.

When I was in Columbia getting stem cells the doctor told me straight up “quit pinning in your delts”.

They see a ton of top guys down there and he said the constant injections in the delts are not doing bodybuilders any good in the long term.

I've been using a massage gun pretty regularly over the last two year and it's helped with scar tissue. But areas like my quads have so much I don't know that it will ever all break. But that's part of what helps my quads look so big!

 

[Elvia1023]

I can say in my case it for sure isn't insuiln - I don't use insulin at all when I diet.

I wouldn't list insulin as a reason either. I would think it was common sense. If anything I think out of any drug HGH would be worse for this. It's a combination of reasons in my opinion with the main ones being injecting (inflammation, scar tissue etc), genetics (skin, dryness, body fat placement etc) and not getting lean enough.

I should add when I used syntherol in my arms I was noticeably more vascular within days of using it. The same for my calves as well. Vascular and striations are very different things but it almost "pushed" them out. As BBoy posted he has shot his AAS in his delts loads and he doesn't have an issue and his shoulders are extremely striated. For most especially with high dosed/volume over long periods if you are shooting constantly in one area it's likely to cause inflammation and scar tissue and to me it's the number 1 reason for most people. Put it this way if Wesley Vissers put all his AAS he ever done in his delts (he has never injected them) I am sure his delts wouldn't be anywhere near as striated.

 

[Muay Thai]

I've been using a massage gun pretty regularly over the last two year and it's helped with scar tissue. But areas like my quads have so much I don't know that it will ever all break. But that's part of what helps my quads look so big!

same bro, my left hip flexor (idk why in early 20s I thought that was a smart spot to inject and hold 3cc) but I hit those spots often in my hip flexor tendons and the left one causes me to walk different ever since, grinding it out is grueling and I am a TOUGH to the point id rather die than beg for mercy but man its excruciating

 

[b-boy]

Maybe it has to do more with size and maturity of the muscle

My delts have always been pretty good size and I have been lifting FOREVER, I almost ALWAYS have delt and chest striations. When I diet my skin on delts, traps, and shoulders get really thin faster than everything else.
This pic isn't even really lean, but I was dieting and you can see how thin my skin is in the delt and chest area.

 

[BLKGUY2006]

I wander if there is genetic component?? I have an old team picture from college basketball that you can clearly see delt striations. Us guys on the back row had our arms behind our back standing at mid court. I had just started messing around with weights and weighed about 185. I was only 20 at the time. Of course I didn’t have big delts but caps and stations were clear as day.

 

[Muay Thai]

Maybe it has to do more with size and maturity of the muscle

My delts have always been pretty good size and I have been lifting FOREVER, I almost ALWAYS have delt and chest striations. When I diet my skin on delts, traps, and shoulders get really thin faster than everything else.
This pic isn't even really lean, but I was dieting and you can see how thin my skin is in the delt and chest area.View attachment 196943

bro that looks INSANE! props ... WOW. horse sized road map veins@!@ perfect 3D delt cap

 

[danieltx]

I wouldn't list insulin as a reason either. I would think it was common sense. If anything I think out of any drug HGH would be worse for this. It's a combination of reasons in my opinion with the main ones being injecting (inflammation, scar tissue etc), genetics (skin, dryness, body fat placement etc) and not getting lean enough.

I think there is something to GH impacting this with how it promotes collagen and how doses have steadily increased over the decades.

 

[marssel]

are we seeing less of this and more of a " dense cap shape" in pros these days? The conditioning in the 80s and early 90s was insane

my delts in my 20s were very striated I used to pride what I could on that little bit of achievement lol. now it is not the same look. scar tissue? I've been that lean again and they came back to a degree

I don’t inject in my delts so when lean I’ve got the separation and lots of little muscle tears that aren’t in my pics from 20 years ago. I think in the IFBB it’s missing bc SEO use is just insane now and never marked down. IMO anyway.

 

[aHarness]

It’s a delicate balance of using insulin to shuttle the right nutrients at the right time. If you eat a ton of fat in your insulin windows you will store fat.

Insulin inhibits lipolysis. This is why timing of it with the right nutrients is key. HGH also promotes lipolysis so having it in helps offset the storage of fat.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00620.2020#:~:text=Insulin%20primarily%20inhibits%20lipolysis%20stimulation,(mTORC1)%20that%20inhibits%20ATGL.

Someone such as you or myself knows this and we take in insulin, carbs and fats at strategic times.

How many bodybuilders do we know who aren’t as rigid as us though who pin insulin in the offseason (sometimes with every meal) while eating like crap. It’s a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

That’s my stance and understanding of it and I could be way off base. If any of the coaches on here want to chime in feel free.

But I’ve never seen it be a problem unless guys are abusing it to abuse eating the wrong food at the wrong times.

But once stage ready, we are fat free so how would that be relevant at that point? Why would it localize to delts?

I’m really inclined to believe it’s from all the pinning

 

[bbxtreme]

But once stage ready, we are fat free so how would that be relevant at that point? Why would it localize to delts?

I’m really inclined to believe it’s from all the pinning

What I said in my previous post is my “best guess”. There’s nothing I can conclusively point to and say “that’s why”. Hence I use insulin and don’t think it’s an issue personally.

But I can say if you ask someone like Andrew Vu he will tell you straight up that insulin “blurs the lines”. Maybe some of the coaches like @Shelby could weigh in here.

What I can say is that I had a lot of deep stored fat in places I’d never had before after working with Milos (not knocking him).

I had to diet my ass off through multiple cuts to get my lines as deep in my midsection again. I personally would never use insulin that same way again.

But I’m in the camp of genetics, SEO and scar tissue being the main contributors and in that order when it comes to delts.