Another bodybuilding drug that is misunderstood or not that clear for people.
Many people not sure what is IGF-1?
What does it do? How to use it?
What to expect if you use it?
In this article we will answer these questions and more, uncovering the shadow over this drug and bodybuilder use of it.
Let start by what is IGF-1 (somatomedin)?
IGF-1 - short for Insulin-like Growth Factor-I, It’s a natural substance produced by the body, primarily in the Liver after being stimulated by growth hormones, it has lots of physiological effect on the body different cells.
The name insulin-like comes from the similarity of its structure to insulin Hormone.
IGF-1 is a single polypeptide composed of 70 amino acids in a single chain with three intermolecular disulfide bridges. IGF-1 has a molecular weight of 7649 daltons..
What affect the IGF-1 levels in the body?
IGF-1 levels is positively correlated with GH in the body, the more GH the body produce or has, the more IGF-1 Produced within the body. Other factors affecting the level are Genetic make up, Age, sex, exercise status, BMI, Stress level, nutrition levels, estrogen levels.
What does IGF-1 do in the body and cells?
- New development of muscles tissues by initiating muscle stem cells
- Hyperplasia (increase numbers of cells)
- Hypertrophy (increase size of cells)
- As A treatment for growth failure, burn victims, muscle wasting diseases & anti aging.
- Improve the capacity of misused nerve to raise, and fixes broken nerves
- Improved protein production and decline protein degradation
- Improved RNA creation
- It has an Important Role in childhood growth
As you can see, many effects of IGF-1 are of our interest as bodybuilders
IGF-1 Actually allow us to go beyond our genetic capabilities, for example our number of muscles cells was determined and fixed ever since our puberty, our training and steroids use is just causing hypertrophy (increasing the size of the cells) while with IGF-1 it not only aid in hypertrophy, but also causes Hyperplasia, which is increasing the number of the cells one has, this means combined with training and anabolic steroids use it will cause huge size and physique improvement in the long run..
IGF-1 Also noted to reduce body fat, since it prevents insulin from transporting glucose across cells membranes this results in the cells switching to fat as a source of energy.
Even with heavy bulking cycles users maintain or reduced bodyfat, as it helps the body depend more on the fat as a source of energy.
IGF-1 Mimics insulin in the human body as we mentioned before, if you are already using insulin then you should drop your dosage while using IGF-1 as it increaes muscles sensitivity to insulin, & will also help with preventing fat storage with insulin usage.
Users if IGF-1 noted better quality results from different cycles while using IGF-1.
Most of the results stays permanently. Anything gained by IFG-1 is quality gain, so don’t expect very big change in weight, but do expect very good change in the quality and appearance of your muscles.
IGF-1 Can be used in both bulking and Cutting cycle, as well as intra cycles.
During the bulking as we mentioned, will help with the results, adding more quality muscles, and hardness,limiting bodyfat gain.
While in leaning cycles, it will help shed the fat while maintaining and even improving the muscles on hand.
Intra cycles use: since it’s not an androgenic steroids with no effect on testes, hormones production or AR receptors sites, it can be used safely to maintain the results and get more new result between cycles.
IGF-1 is also one of the best drugs for site enhancement purposes, as it seems that the site injected benefited the most of the drugs, of course later it will end up in blood steam and affect the whole body, but the positive effect on the site is always sought by bodybuilder for improving lacking and weak muscles.
IGF-1 has also shown to have such big effect on vascularity and increases muscles pumps, you will be experiencing huge pumps with every workout
What is the difference between IGF-1 and LR3 IGF-1?
IGF-1 is a very expensive drug, and its less effective than LR3 IGF-1, why is that?
Because of the short life it has of 10-20min half life, which means you need to take it afew times a day for good results.
Scientists made some modification on the amino acid sequence to extend the half-life, by altering the amino acids to cause decreased in binding to IGF-1 Binding protein which inhibits the biological action of it.
Long R3 IGF-1 is an 83 amino acid analog of IGF-1 comprising the complete human IGF-1 sequence with the substition of an Arg(R) for the Glu(E) at position three, hence R3, and a 13 amino acid extension peptide at the N terminus.
This analog of IGF-1 has been produced with the purpose of increasing the biological activity of the IGF peptide.
The half-life of the Long-R3 IGF-1 is around 20-30 hours.
As bodybuilders, The use should be only with the long R3 IGF-1, Unless you had a free supply of normal IGF-1, you shouldn’t be wasting your money on it.
What are the side effects with IGF-1?
Similar to GH, IGF-1 is pretty safe to use, or at least thought off, since no serious side effect are known for the short term so far, and long term use wasnt studied.
Common side effect with use:
Headaches, occasional nausea, and low blood sugar in some people
How to use IGF-1?
As with most of the bodybuilding enhancing drugs, there isn’t a certain protocol medically approved for the use, so use of such substances was determined by individual experiments and incidental reports of users.
Mostly dosage ranging between 20mcg/day to 120+mcg/day is suggested.
The dosage can be split bilaterally, for example if you using 40mcg a day, you can inject 20mcg on each side (arms, Deltoids, calves, quads..etc) whatever you are lacking and preferably after training that body part.
Best timing would be after workout immediately, or at least not longer than 60min.
You can also split the dosage to morning one and post workout one.
Injections can be used subcutaneous as well as intramuscular using small insulin syringe.
Usual cycle with IGF-1 Last 6-8 weeks and then 3-6 weeks off and repeat.
How can IGF-1 be stored?
IGF-1 should be Stored at temperature between 35 - 46 degrees Fahrenheit (two-eight degrees C) in the fridge and not in the freezer. IGF-1 can be kept to room temperature for up to 1 months.
Who should use IGF-1?
Actually no one healthy should be used, but we (Bodybuilders) are healthy, or at least think we are and hopefully we are and we still will use anything that will help us reach our goal, even if its still an experimental drug.
We dont mind being the rats if there is a chance of good outcome for our muscles.
IGF-1 is used mostly by advanced bodybuilder, since beginners will easily get noticeable results with intake of small anabolic steroids and training, even by training alone combined with good diet they will have impressive results.
As more you go in this sport, results became harder and harder to get, or else we would be seeing 400lbs people on stage, which is not happening.
Our genes are limited and we try to cross it in anyway possible. IGF-1 is one of the drugs that will help you in that, after hitting a plateau and seemed to be stuck in it no matter what, IGF-1 will probably help you cross it.
The price of IGF-1 is highly expinsive, so if you are a beginner/moderate bodybuilder, you probably better off this drug, and investing the money in something better - like good quality cycle and supplements is a better option for you.
If you are an advanced bodybuilder and need an edge, then you have to do all in your hands to achieve results, the use of IGF-1 should be considered.
Last thing I say:
Always high priced substances is accompanied by high hopes from users
That is not always true
IGF-1 Is good stuff and will give remarkable results when used wisely, but it wont give magic, it wont turn you into a pro over a cycle, or make you the cover of next men’s health issue, but it will sure help you advance your body to the next level in a decent high quality solid muscles positive effect.
Shady Eid is a certified personal trainer, writer and competitive bodybuilder based in UAE. For questions and comments you can contact him at: Shady@arabianmuscles.com.
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