Many of us desire to become a bodybuilder. We go to great lengths to achieve the ideal body. You may be watching your macros and calories.
You may also be doing your workouts right and spending some amount of money on workout supplements. However, all the efforts aren’t paying off. You aren’t getting the results.
You may have also thought about steroids for quicker results. But the health risks and side effects may make you hesitate.
In the meantime, you might have come across the term called SARMs. And that’s when you might wonder if you have finally found the holy grail to workout supplements.
It is all over the internet that SARMs could help in losing fat and gaining muscle almost like steroids, but without the side effects.
They are also considered to be legal and cheap. Because of these benefits, people are making conscious choices to take SARMs for enhancing their performance in the gym, along with the body’s capability to build muscles faster.
Some may say that it is too good to be true. However, we are going to look at what science has to say about SARMs exactly. Before we go deeper, let’s understand what SARMs actually are and how they work.
SARMs – Meaning
SARMs are known to stand for selective androgen receptor modulators, which is a form of drugs that shares similarities with anabolic steroids.
You will find several SARMs available in the market. Some of them are known to be stronger, resulting in side effects as compared to others.
The popular options include
- GW-501516
- S-4 or GSX-007 (Andarine)
- LGD-3303
- LGD-4033 (Ligandrol)
- GTx-024 or MK-2866 (Ostarine)
SARMs haven’t been approved for medical purposes, because of this reason they have such bizarre names. They are currently available in the market in the form of “research chemicals” that are used for scientific purposes.
In order to understand how the drugs work, it is essential to look into the physiology of hormones. Hormones are considered to be chemical messengers that communicate with the cells.
They contain important information and are sent to the cells for commands to be carried out.
Androgen hormones are known for masculinity (facial hair, lower body fat levels, deeper voice, and so on). Testosterone is the most prevalent androgen, but there are several others too.
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Under normal scenarios, the body can regulate the production of androgen carefully, which helps in preventing any form of imbalances.
When anabolic steroids are introduced to the body, the cells overflow with androgens. It sends a powerful message to the cells, which also includes muscle cells, which end up growing rapidly in response.
It may seem to be pretty good for bodybuilders. However, there might be some liabilities. Research has been able to pinpoint some of the side effects caused by steroids that aren’t reversible, which means that there is a chance of permanent damage.
Some of the irreversible changes would include liver disease, heart dysfunction, male-pattern baldness, gynecomastia (breast development).
Another downside would be the chance of developing psychological and biological addiction.
Because of these reasons, scientists are trying their best to come up with steroids or similar drugs that do not harm the health and well-being of users as steroids do, and marketers are claiming that SARMs may be that wonder drug.
SARMs are non-steroidal drugs that have the ability to stimulate the body’s androgen receptors in bone and muscle cells, without effective the endocrine system entirely.
Therefore, SARMs will be able to help muscle cells grow without resulting in the side effects that generally result from the use of anabolic steroids.
SARMs is known to accomplish the desired results using two ways –
- SARMs do not affect the brain, liver, or prostate, but works only on certain tissues like bone and muscle.
- SARMs do not break down into harmful molecules that could result in side effects, like estrogen and DHT, as easily in case of anabolic steroids.
Another significant characteristic of SARMs would be that they do not get converted into DHT by 5-a reductase (an enzyme), which is known to result in many unwanted side effects.
SARMs also aren’t affected by the enzyme aromatase, which is known for converting testosterone into estrogen.
SARMs are also less intense than steroids, which means that they won’t be able to suppress the natural testosterone production of the body. Because of this reason, the body will be able to recover quickly.
Why People Use SARMs As Supplements
SARMs were developed to help people with diseases like chronic fatigue, anemia, osteoporosis, muscle wasting, and so on. They were also considered to be a better alternative in the case of testosterone replacement therapy.
Bodybuilders like taking SARMs mainly for two major reasons –
- They want to make their body accustomed to anabolic drug use before they try using traditional steroid cycles.
- They can SARMs for enhancing the steroid cycles’ effectiveness without causing health risks or side effects.
Many bodybuilders think that SARMs could help them in cutting because they would be able to retain mass without increasing water retention.
Research shows that SARMs are not as powerful as traditional steroids for muscle building, but they are definitely more effective when compared to natural supplements like creatine.
Athletes prefer taking them because drug tests aren’t able to detect them easily.
If you think that SARMs are what you need to get the desired results in the gym, you may want to consider checking out the various products available at SelectSarms to pick out your favorite.
SARMs – Safety Concerns
There isn’t much research evidence talking about the safety of these drugs. However, we know that SARMs have the potential to suppress natural testosterone production.
However, it can be reversed with time. It may not be the case with anabolic steroids.
If you take more SARMs, it could result in side effects. Therefore, these drugs aren’t entirely free from side effects. If taken in small doses, you may not experience side effects.
However, bodybuilders are not known to take these drugs in small quantities, which could pose a problem.
However, users can recover from SARMs better than regular steroids, which seems to be a promise.
Bottom Line
SARMs are a form of drugs that could offer benefits like anabolic steroids without causing side-effects as severe as the latter.
They may not be equally effective like steroids, but they are capable enough to boost muscle growth better than natural supplements.
If you plan on using SARMs, it is better to talk to your healthcare professional. He/she will be able to guide you better, depending on your present health condition and drugs that you may be taking.
However, at any point, you think that the risks are outweighing the benefits, you should stop using them.
Hi, I’m the Founder and Developer of Paramedics World, a blog truly devoted to Paramedics. I am a Medical Lab Tech, a Web Developer and Bibliophiliac. My greatest hobby is to teach and motivate other peoples to do whatever they wanna do in life.