When we think of performance enhancers and building muscle in the body, for a long time the answer was steroids. Not anymore. Today, there are safer alternatives to build muscle mass without the use of anabolic steroids which mess with your reproductive organs and hormones.
These alternatives are called selective androgen receptor modulators or SARMs. Now, sportspersons have been known to use them to enhance performance. But the World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA has issued alerts saying that these are harmful products. So, there is an official ban on SARMs.
However, studies have shown that they do help build muscle mass and are medically used by scientists to do research on how they can safely be used as therapeutic drugs for patients of advanced cancer and some other renal diseases to help patients who are losing muscle mass.
So, SARMs are still available in the black market as a “research product”. These are distributed by some agents in the underground fitness industry.
The Best Ostarine Dosage
Ostarine is one of the most popular SARMs in the market. If you take it in limited doses for a healthy cycle (which is the time period in which these compounds are administered orally), you can gain muscle mass and burn fat while staying healthy. But since these are banned products, you must make sure you are buying genuine, high-quality SARMs. Check out some of them here.
Your typical ostarine cycle lasts from six to eight weeks. Sometimes, these compounds can cause testosterone suppression. This leads to headaches, nausea and lethargy. To neutralize its effects and come back to equilibrium, your body will need post-cycle therapy or PCT.
This, should you need one, starts right after that and usually lasts for four weeks. It can be extended if you feel like you need more recovery. But you must take precautions.
There are three different ways you can take Ostarine depending on your goals:
Bulking Dosage – 20mg+ per day
An ostarine bulking cycle is about gaining muscle mass of approximately six to eight pounds. It lasts for six to eight weeks and you must take 20 mg per day. At this rate, you should not need post-cycle therapy. Ostarine by itself should not lead to suppression. The best way to make sure that is not happening is to take a blood test before you start the cycle.
Users have reported muscle gain, increased strength, stamina and lifting endurance, no water retention, increased energy, no post-cycle crashes, no need for liver support supplements or pre-cycle supplements and no increase in aggression. Women users have reported more muscle gain and fat loss when compared to men.
Remember to train and eat well during this time for the best results. Keep a count of the number of calories consumed and make sure you maintain or eat in the surplus.
Cutting Dosage – 10 to 15mg per day
The cutting cycle focuses more on burning fat and maintaining mass. A dose of 10-15 mg per day is good for men and women. The big benefit reported by those who have been through this cycle is the maintenance of muscle mass. They also lost no strength but did lose fat. This too goes on for eight weeks at 10 mg per day.
You could also mix it up with 15 mg of Cardarine per day. The mixing of Cardarine is to help lose fat effectively while ostarine helps maintain the necessary amount of muscle mass. This cycle at this dosage is also considered safe and does not need post-cycle therapy.
Body Recomposition Dosage – 12 to 25mg per day
The body recomposition cycle is mostly about losing weight through fat loss while gaining muscle mass. During this cycle, users can take 12-25 mg per day but the best dosage is considered to be 15 mg per day. This is also an eight-week cycle and benefits the user when 15 mg of cardarine is added to the everyday mix. Women, however, must keep ostarine under 15 mg per day at all times. This cycle is also safe and should not cause suppression calling for post-cycle therapy.
This is also a time to train well and eat enough calories to maintain weight. A little excess of calories is encouraged.
The Safest Ostarine Dosages
What we discussed above is the ideal dosage for those who want to bulk up with the help of ostarine and cardarine. But here’s the safest dosage for anyone considering these compounds.
Ostarine is quite popular as a compound for bodybuilding. So, even if there is sparse scientific data, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to consult. But you must remember that SARMs are banned products.
Many of them are still available because research about their impact on the human body is still being conducted. So, the places where you can procure ostarine sell it as a research compound.
The downside to these unregulated, clandestine deals is that there are a lot of fakes in the market. These fakes potentially have other substances mixed into the compounds. These substances can cause dangerous side effects without the benefits of the SARM itself.
The safest dosage is to consume 5 mg per day. This is helpful for those who are using it for therapeutic reasons like the healing of joints. The ideal dosage is 10 mg per day during a cutting cycle and 20 mg a day during a bulking cycle. Stay at around 15 mg a day during the body recomposition cycle.
Most studies also recommend an Ostarine dosage of 15 mg per day for six to eight weeks. This is not only safe but also does not lead to the need for post-cycle therapy. Bigger dosages for a longer period of time are not only harmful but also don’t have positive results on the body. You don’t keep gaining muscle because you have chosen to extend the cycle. If you are an experienced user, though, you can push it to 12 weeks. And that is as far as it goes.
Wrapping Up
Ostarine, as popular as it is, still is a banned drug for the simple reason that the clinical trials conducted on mice and rats led to some unsatisfactory results. Some studies were abandoned without the researchers even disclosing why they were halted abruptly. So, it is always the smarter choice to err on the side of caution and not push boundaries.
So, most of the information that has been presented in this piece is based on anecdotal data and a few studies that have been conducted on human beings. They have had limited reach because their aim was not to use ostarine for bodybuilding but to stop muscle wasting among patients of advanced cancer, renal diseases and bone health in the elderly population.
If you are using it for bodybuilding, remember to keep the dosage limited and only to the length of the cycle. This is not a product to be used for recreational purposes. You must also remember to train according to the intake of ostarine. Diet is also a key portion of getting the results you set out to achieve.
But most importantly, all of this is possible only if you buy pure ostarine. Without that, you will end with side effects like suppression, if not worse. That is always the chance you take when you enter the murky world of banned drugs.
Sources
Hoffmann, D. B., et al. “Evaluation of ostarine as a selective androgen receptor modulator in a rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis.” Journal of bone and mineral metabolism 37.2 (2019): 243-255.
Komrakova, Marina, et al. “The selective androgen receptor modulator ostarine improves bone healing in ovariectomized rats.” Calcified Tissue International 106.2 (2020): 147-157.
Hello, Are there any benefits for stacking an LGD 4033 with Ostarine (+20mg/day) for bulking cycles ?
Depends on who you ask. Personally I think stacking helps achieve similar/better results with lower dosages. Go for 10mg LGD / 20mg Ostarine and let me know how it goes