Cardarine (GW-501516)

GW-501516 or Cardarine was developed in the 1990s to stop the formation of tumours in the colon, prostate and breast tissue. Once the research started to develop, it began to catch the eye within bodybuilding circles throughout the world.  GW-501516 is a unique type of SARMs (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators). It blasts off unwanted body fat, reduces training recovery times and increases lifting endurance. All of these amazing benefits without any harmful side effects, GW-501516 is a bodybuilder’s dream!

Let’s have a closer look….

Chapter 1. The benefits of GW-501516

• Stimulating glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity- this means the body can use glucose as a primary fuel source and insulin is an important hormone for fat burning.
• Boosting your energy levels, so that you can smash the gym and work at a higher intensity for longer durations.
• Reducing recovery time post training which means that there is less time in between training sessions.
• Stripping body fat whilst keeping you lean and without the loss of your hard earned gains.
• It is not classed as a stimulant- you won’t crash or feel anxious after taking it.
• You can stack Cardarine with many other SARMs and performance enhancing drugs.
• You can use GW501516 for both the bulking and cutting phases of your training program.
• Improving your sense of general health and well-being.
• Striping body fat from the stores and this spares carbohydrate which your body can use as a primary fuel- this allows you to lift for longer!

Section 1. GW501516- the fat stripper

One of the major benefits of supplementing with GW 501516 is its ability to blast off any unwanted body fat. Specifically, it blocks the formation of the fatty acid chains and this stops the body from storing fat. A 2015 study revealed that GW-501516 uses body fat as energy in a very similar way when the body is in starvation mode (1).

OK- you may be thinking starvation mode caused by a reduction in calories; is not the best scenario for any lifter. It is well document that being in starvation mode can actually increase fat storage and muscle tissue is essentially cannibalized, so that it can be used as a fuel source.  These protective mechanisms occur within the body to counteract the reduction in food intake. However, research has indicated there was no evidence of muscle wastage when consuming GW-501516. A big bonus was that % body fat was majorly reduced at the same time!

Section 2. Impact on muscle fibres

The effects of GW501516 on SDH-positive fibres in skeletal muscle of sedentary and trained KM mice

A 2015 study on mice reported that GW501516 increased the oxygen usage of the slow titch fibres in the muscle and this improved overall endurance (2).  Granted that the study was conducted on mice but the results are promising. Plus, they do match much of the anecdotal evidence within bodybuilding and CrossFit circles. This means that you can train at a lower intensity for a longer duration with little bouts of rest in between. This is good news if you are completing a lifting circuit, as you can execute several sets with higher reps with a slower deliberate motion.

1) The flip side

The above training strategy is a valid starting point (aim at beginners) for boosting muscle hypertrophy (high set, rep range and reduced rest) and stabilising the joints when lifting (2). However, the ultimate goal is to increase the fast twitch fibres, as these increase hypertrophy (to a point), strength and power. You can achieve this by increasing the weight, lowering the sets and reps range whilst increasing the rest intervals. Or by manipulating your training programs by adding in super sets, split sets, pyramids, German volume training and/or drop sets etc.

Without going into too much detail, the main rationale behind manipulating your training program is to cause maximum stress on the muscle tissue, which can lead to micro tears. This mechanism activates the recovery process within the muscle and this is the platform for muscle growth. Basically, there is an increase in the recruitment of the fast twitch muscle fibres and this shocks the muscle tissue into action (growing).  A key point to consider is that muscle tissue does adapt quickly to training, it needs different stimulation to make it grow and this strategy should prevent you from plateauing.

Section 3. Improves tissue recovery

GW501516 promotes a healthy liver function and much faster recovery time for muscle tissues. This is good news as a quicker recovery post exercise, reduces the amount of time in between your work outs. Although you should build the right amount of rest days into your training program, reducing recovery time does play a major part in the growth of muscle tissue. Without over stressing the muscle tissue, the right amount of stimulus is the correct adaptation for growth and repair. There is a happy medium and lifting experience will determine this equilibrium between training and recovery!

Chapter 2. GW-501516 and cancer

There is some research to suggest that GW-501516 inhibits cancer cell growth on the colon, breast tissue and in other tissues of the body (4). The research within this area is relatively thin on the ground and further robust research may be required!

Chapter 3. Guidelines for Dosing Cardarine

The recommended daily dose of GW-501516 is between 10-20 mgs. However, if you really want to blast the fat off go for the 20mg per day quota. A key point to consider is that GW501516 does have a half-life of around 16-24 hours at the 10mg dosage level, and consider taking 2 x10 mgs every 10-12 hours for the higher dosage range.

A 2 year study reported that there was no stagnation in the impact of supplementing with GW-501516. The majority of the cycles lasted for 12 weeks with a 4-6 week break at the end (3). This indicates that GW501516 is a solid performance enhancing drug for long term usage and no post cycle therapy is really necessary. It can be used in a combination with many other supplements, as there have been no adverse reactions reported.

GW501516 showed a dose-dependent increase in proliferation.

Chapter 4. Stacking GW 501516

As mentioned previously the beauty of using GW-501516 is that you can stack it with almost anything and you can use it for:

• Bulking- good for clean bulking and improving muscle gains.
• Cutting– solid for weight loss whilst maintaining your muscle mass.

The most common SARMs stacks are GW-501516 in combination with LGD 4033 and MK 2886. Please read the articles on both of these SARMs for further details on their performance benefits.

Chapter 5. Side Effects

There are no published side effects when using GW-501516 and much of the research has been performed on healthy individuals. However, there is a small amount of research that has been conducted on individuals who smoke, drink alcohol and take narcotics. Still there are no evident side effects. This is what makes GW501516 so appealing. Thus, there is evidence to suggest that it can play a role in the reversal of type 2 diabetes, reducing obesity and high cholesterol levels.

Chapter 6. Summary

Classed as a SARM, Cardarine is excellent for stripping fat, reducing recovery times and increasing lifting endurance. You can use it for both bulking and cutting, and in conjunction with many other performance enhancing drugs. With GW 501516 there are no recorded side effects. The recommended dosage is between 10-20 mg per day depending on your training needs. If you want to strip fat and remain lean at the same, why not give GW-501516 a go!

Section 1. References

1. Grewal, Ajmer, Meenu Beniwal, Deepti Pandita, Bhupinder Sekhon, and Viney Lather. “Recent Updates on Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor δ Agonists for the Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome.” Medicinal Chemistry MC 12.1 (2016): 3-21. Web.
2. Chen, Wei, Rong Gao, Xinni Xie, Zhibing Zheng, Haijing Li, Song Li, Fangting Dong, and Lili Wang. “A Metabolomic Study of the PPARδ Agonist GW501516 for Enhancing Running Endurance in Kunming Mice.” Scientific Reports. Nature Publishing Group, 06 May (2015).
3. Stephen, Ruth L., Mattias Gustafsson, Roger Tatoud, Barry R. Marshall, Deborah Knight, and Ewa Ehrenborg. “Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor δ Stimulates the Proliferation of Human Breast and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines.” Home. N.p., 01 May (2004).
4. Roberts, L. D. et al.The contrasting roles of PPARdelta and PPARgamma in regulating the metabolic switch between oxidation and storage of fats in white adipose tissue. Genome Biol.12, R75 (2011).