
Does it feel like your diet is lasting forever? If you’re deep into fat loss, you’re probably wondering why you aren’t getting the results you want. You started with the ambition of having a ripped 6-pack like the guys on the cover of Men’s Health. 6-weeks later, and you’re not where you thought you would be.
You’re doing everything right. You count calories, get your cardio, and take your supplements, but progress is slow. What if there was a way to get shredded and ready for the beach or your first show? With some chemical assistance, you can supercharge your results and get back on track to that beach body.
Cardarine is a unique compound designed to help you with your problem. This PPAR is not a SARM, and it’s not AAS. However, you get tremendous fat loss results from short cycles of Cardarine, making it a top choice for bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts.
In this post, I’ll unpack everything you need to know about using Cardarine to reach your dream physique. If you want cut abs with veins rippling across your mid-section, Cardarine can help you get there.
Cardarine quick facts: what you need to know
What is Cardarine?
Cardarine is the brainchild of a collaboration between Ligand and GlaxoSmithKline in the early 1990s. The project’s purpose was to create a drug suitable for treating patients with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers.
Cardarine isn’t a SARM; it’s a PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) (1). Unlike other SARMs, GW-501516 doesn’t bind with androgen receptors and creates no anabolic response. So, what good is it for muscle building and fat loss if it has no androgenic or anabolic properties?
Cardarine targets the androgen receptors in muscles that stimulate glucose, blocking the formation of fatty acids. Therefore, your body metabolizes fat instead of glucose for energy, similar to when it enters a ketogenic state. Running Cardarine alongside a keto diet can amplify your weight loss results, helping you reach your physique goals faster.
GW-501516 also helps your muscles conserve and efficiently use oxygen. As a result, you get a boost in performance, endurance, and recovery. Cardarine’s ability to activate fast-twitch muscle fibers also aids in enhancing muscular repair.
Furthermore, Cardarine activates AMPK, stimulating glucose-uptake in the muscular and skeletal tissues while helping to oxidize fatty acids. Cardarine gained popularity in the bodybuilding community in the mid-90s, and in 2006, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced GW-501516 as a banned substance.
Planning your Cardarine transformation cycle
Transformation Cycles
As mentioned, Cardarine is a PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor). That’s a good thing, because you don’t have to deal with any jitters from the drug, and you shouldn’t have trouble falling asleep. The side effects of Cardarine are non-existent, and most users report no problems handling the drug, even at high doses.
Adding Cardarine to your cutting diet helps to accelerate our fat loss. You won’t hit the plateau that so many dieters do around week-6 of caloric restriction. Instead, your metabolism powers through, helping you burn stubborn fat stores around the lower abs, love handles, and glutes.
When dieting, most people complain about a lack of energy due to the caloric deficit. It’s hard to hit the treadmill for your cardio session when you feel like a bus hit you. With Cardarine in your cutting diet, you don’t get those low energy days.
The drug helps your body burn fat for energy (2). As a result, you can run a deep deficit, never have a cheat day, and your metabolism keeps firing on all cylinders.
Beginners Cardarine transformation cycle guide
Beginners
According to research, Cardarine has a half-life of between 16 to 24-hours. (3) Therefore, for best results, it’s best if you split the dose into two. Take one dose in the morning and one in the evening. According to user reviews on GW-501516, the optimal dosage is between 10mg to 20mg per day.
If you’re a new user of Cardarine, it’s a good idea to start on the lower end of the dose, and build into it as you progress. Start with 10mg a day, and run that for two weeks. Add5mg to the dose every two weeks, until you hit a maximum daily dose of 20mg.
As mentioned with the half-life, you should be taking one 10mg dose in the morning, and one 10mg dose in the evening.
Advanced users follow these tips
Advanced Users
If this isn’t your first Cardarine party, and you have experience with PPARs and SARMs, you can think about stacking Cardarine with other compounds.
The most common stacks for Cardarine include LGD4033 and MK 2866. You can stack all three together, without dangerous side effects. However, this level of stacking requires a good understanding of your body. You should be looking at triple stacks if you’re not getting the same results from double stacks. Typically, only fitness athletes require triple stacks.
When combining Cardarine with LGD 4033 (Ligandrol), it enhances your strength, helping you maintain muscle mass on your cut. For this stacking cycle, start with 10mg for 1-week, adjust to 20mg for four weeks, and then a final week of 30mg.
Make sure you get your compounds from a reputable source. Check out the Verified Source list to find the best deals on high purity GW 501516, Ostarine, Stenabolic and more.
When stacking with Ostarine (MK-2866), Cardarine helps with the conservation of lean muscle tissue and works with your cutting cycle for six to eight weeks. Start with 10mg in week-1, and move to 20mg for the rest of the cycle.
I wrote a whole guide on using SARMs with Cardarine to recomp, so make sure you read that as well for a more in depth approach.
Using Cardarine during post cycle therapy
Cardarine for PCT
SARMs have a very mild effect on suppressing the HPTA. Therefore, you mustn’t extend your stack or run the doses higher than the recommended protocol. If you stick to the recommended guidelines, your body transformation will go to plan without any side effects or problems. Cardarine can also help during PCT.
When a research animal is given GW 501516, its body becomes better and more efficient in the way that it consumes energy. Such an effect is therefore attractive during Post Cycle Therapy, where the risk of muscle catabolization is high.
You can quickly recover your HPTA after finishing your cycle, provided you use the right regimen. OTC supplements to support your hormonal system. Adding test-boosters with natural ingredients to your post-cycle therapy (PCT), in the two weeks following the end of your cycle, helps bring your HPTA back online.
Final verdict about Cardarine transformations & FAQ
FAQ
Cardarine could be the miracle drug you’re looking for with your next diet. If you have everything in place with your training, nutrition, and recovery, adding Cardarine will dramatically amplify your results. You’ll reach your goals faster, and blow your expectations of what’s possible out of the water with this compound.
Stick with your required protocol for fat loss, and never extend past the maximum cycle length to suit your experience. With the safe administration of Cardarine, you can have the body of your dreams. Rock hard abs, that grainy look to your physique, and plenty of vascularity.
What’s the best diet to use with Cardarine?
A ketogenic (keto) diet is a good choice for running Cardarine. When you stop eating carbs, the body enters a ketogenic state. In ketosis, the body converts lipids (body fat) and dietary fat into fuel for metabolism. Since Cardarine helps to accelerate this process, the keto diet and GW-501516 are a match made in heaven for dieting.
Can I bulk with Cardarine?
Cardarine is not the best choice for a bulking cycle. If you’re looking to put on large amounts of mass, Cardarine works against its natural glucose uptake. Cardarine is a better option for helping you conserve your muscle mass during a cut, where you would otherwise waste muscle due to the caloric deficit of your diet. Check out the top SARMs for bulking.
Is Cardarine as effective as Anavar?
Yes, Anavar is a low-level AAS many professional bodybuilders use in a competition prep stack. Cardarine is a good alternative, without presenting Anavar’s liver toxicity or the shutdown of the HPTA.
DISCLAIMER: The author and publishing website of this post do not endorse or recommend the use of SARMS. The information in this post is purely for recreational, informational, and research purposes only. The website and author have no responsibility for your use of SARMs, PPARs, or any other research chemicals.
Literary References
Berger J, Moller DE. The mechanisms of action of PPARs. Annu Rev Med. 2002;53:409-35. doi: 10.1146/annurev.med.53.082901.104018. PMID: 11818483.
Schoonjans K, Staels B, Auwerx J. The peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARS) and their effects on lipid metabolism and adipocyte differentiation. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1996 Jul 26;1302(2):93-109. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(96)00066-5. PMID: 8695669.
Chen W, Gao R, Xie X, Zheng Z, Li H, Li S, Dong F, Wang L. A metabolomic study of the PPARδ agonist GW501516 for enhancing running endurance in Kunming mice. Sci Rep. 2015 May 6;5:9884. doi: 10.1038/srep09884. PMID: 25943561; PMCID: PMC4421799.