I personally wouldnt use Deca to keep pain away as you go into your first cycle. Pain signals that something is wrong, and should not be ignored.

IMHO what happens to us older guys is that we do not yet know our new age-imposed limits. When I started on my first blast of 500mg Test per week my strength skyrocketed! I thought; 'Holy fuck, I'm Superman!" and tried to set low rep, high weight personal best lifts every time I worked out. Well i found my limit when a tendon in my shoulder gave out.

To avod this, I suggest not lifting any weight you cant do at least 10 reps with. Your tendons will strengthen with time, then you can safely increase weight. This will keep you safer than adding Deca.

First off your not that old! Deca does nothing to strengthen the tendons! It merely masks the injury so you are more likely to hurt yourself by using the deca and test because your strength not only goes up but so does your ego. The reason deca is good for the joints is lubrication and while it may seem like it is lending a hand with tendons and because you feel no pain (it is not a pain killer), you lift harder and faster then your tendons, bones and ligaments can handle and when it is all said and done with, your left with injuries. While I love deca and I love that is makes my pain go away during a cycle I would not advocate it's use solely on joint and tendon health. There are as many cons as pros with it's use and typically is not recommended until at least your 5 cycle. By then you start developing a sense of how your body is handling the gear and if you are diligent in your research you have a basic handle on how to put together a more advanced cycle.

My advice is to stick to a basic test cycle and be moderate in your lifts. You will feel great and when you lift too hard your body will let you know. Tendonitis flare up and so forth will still be evident and you will know you are pushing too hard. Be conscientious about the fact that you are using a chemical that will increase strength, mass and bone density and instead of adding that extra plate maybe do another set with higher reps. These things will keep you safe for your first cycle.

For Us Old Farts, I believe that Deca should be a staple in every cycle, mostly for its purpose in collagen production and joint relief. NPP seems more suitable on paper since it doesn't linger around your system for a long time, and that's going to be my next experiment, along with some test to avoid "Mr. Limpy"; besides that, and it was solely my fault for ruling out the prolactin increase Deca yielded, I was very pleased with the outcome: shoulder & knees healed, an exceptional state of Well Being during cycle, muscle mass gained and so far after 3 months since my last pin, I'd say about half kept. Just the fact that I'm doing exercises without the pain I wasn't able to do prior to my cycle is pleasing enough for me, but definitely arm myself with Caber or Bromo next time so no limpy afterwards.
Good Luck on your endeavor to find the "Perfect Old Fart's Cycle", I'll be keeping an eye on This thread as well.