Cardarine (GW501516)

Introduction

Cardarine (GW50516) is a drug that was discontinued but is still used in fitness to give an athlete tremendous advantages over their peers.  It is one of the few PED’s that you can take and get a fast boost in endurance and that makes your body a fat-burning machine without causing stimulant side effects.  In this article, I will tell you about this amazing compound. 

Medical history of Cardarine

GSK and Ligand Pharmaceuticals collaborated to discover Cardarine back in the early 1990s.  It was kept under wraps until a publication came out in 2001 with phase 1 and 2 trials beginning in 2002 to treat lipid strain¹.  A few years later phase 2 studies showed it was effective for diabetes, obesity, lipid health, and heart disease. ² It would not make it past that and was discontinued in 2007 for reasons unknown .

Athletic history

During the 2000s coaches in the know were searching for something to help their athletes get a leg up on the competition.  I have talked to a few of these coaches and at the time the cost of the drug was $1000 for a month’s supply and they gladly paid it.  A few years went by with doping agencies unable to test for it and it was rumored to be heavily used during the 2008 China Olympics by a large percentage of athletes. Finally, in 2009, WADA and IOC began to test for it with many athletes being busted since. 

Endurance benefits

GW50516 works by binding to the PPAR (Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta) agonist receptors.  The output of energy changes the activity in the genes causing a noticeable uptick in endurance.  It is similar to taking a V4 engine out of a car and replacing it with a V8 engine.  You will be able to rev up your body’s engine more and push harder, without getting tired as easy.  I have personally slashed 45 seconds off my 5K time after just a week on, it works that fast for improving endurance. 

Fat loss benefits

The way Cardarine works for fat loss is that it will increase glucose uptake, changing how our bodies treat nutrients, and how we store fat.  Quite simply, it makes it harder for your body to store the excess fat, and when you combine this with proper diet and moderate exercise you can melt fat off. 

Half-life

The half-life is 24 hours. 

Detection times

The detection time is rumored to be around a month, but we do not know the real truth especially with sports testing so stringent.  Every league and federation has banned it and if you use it to cheat you could very well get caught.  We have seen bicyclists, runners, fighters, and boxers in recent years busted for using it.  One bicyclist from Costa Rica was hit with a 12-year ban³!

Side effects of Cardarine

GW50516 is going to be safe to use universally no matter what kind of physique you have or what sort of shape you are in, and it does not matter your gender, body fat, heart health, etc.   It is completely nonsuppressive.  The only side effect that I have seen reported is an upset stomach from taking it, but this should be remedied with taking it with a lot of water and/or food. 

If you ever take it and notice side effects that you should not have, you are likely either allergic to the solution/fillers mixed with it, or you are getting a fake product. 

Cardarine Dosages and stacking

Cardarine is typically run at 10-20mgs a day, with 20mgs a day the most common dosage.  You can dose it once per day, but some athletes like to dose it a couple of hours pre-workout just to give them a little bump psychologically.  The half-life is such that dosing it anytime each day will be sufficient for it to be in your system working its magic.

There is an unlimited amount of ways to stack it.  I am a big fan of always using it as your base of any SARM’s cycle because it automatically gives you fat loss and endurance benefits.  You can also use it during an anabolic steroid cycle to help with the same benefits.  A trick we have seen is guys will stack it with Trenbolone to offset some of the negative side effects of that harsh steroid and it works well at that.

Although it is nonhormonal, as I have talked about in this article above, it still is a drug and should be cycled off just like anything else.  I recommend 8-12 week cycles of it and taking 6-8 weeks off.  I have personally known people who have run it this way year-round and have had tremendous benefits across the board. 

Female use

GW50516 is not a hormone at all, nor can it cause any type of masculine side effects or anything like that.  It is completely safe for females to use it at the same dosages as males. 

3 biggest myths about Cardarine

1. Cardarine causes cancer:  The amount of the drug that was given to rodents who got cancer would have killed them regardless, no evidence using it at a correct dosage causes cancer, nor has there been a study done that showed it causes cancer in humans.   Discuss here.

2. Just taking GW50516 and sitting on the couch eating potato chips will help me burn fat:  If this is your mentality then you shouldn’t even bother using it. There is no magic pill that exists. We know that the more you push on this drug the better results you get, so get off the couch and take advantage!  Discuss here.

3. Cardarine is just for CrossFit or endurance guys, not for weight lifters:   When you lift weights your heart rate rises too, so if you can squeeze out an extra rep by having more endurance and stamina that will help you even with weight training.  Discuss here.

Popular brands, our opinions on how to choose, cost and availability

Most of the GW50516 being sold out there is fake or underdosed.  It is typically prohormones, clenbuterol, caffeine, or a combination of those.  I can remember when places like eBay were selling the raw forms, with the sellers completely unvetted.  This is dangerous!  It is very important to find legitimate compound or risk major complications, even death. 

Check the forums at evolutionary.org and elitefitness.com for legitimate brands of Cardarine that I trust.   The cost is around $70-$80 for 1 month’s worth. 

1. The Function of the Nuclear Receptor Peroxisome Proliferator–activated Receptor Delta in Energy Homeostasis by George Wolf, DPhil [↩]
2. PPARδ: a dagger in the heart of the metabolic syndrome by Grant D. Barish, Vihang A. Narkar and Ronald M. Evans [↩]
3. GW501516 positives confirmed, three of four riders are from same BCR Pizza Hut team
   by Shane Stokes [↩]