How SARMS help me smash my fitness goals: Recomping with RAD-140
Why did I pick RAD-140?
I had just come off of an LGD-4033 cycle and I wanted to hold my gains while trying some RAD-140.
I’d used RAD-140 before, but I was not too impressed. I suspected the source was bunk. Anyway, years later, as my interest in SARMs began to grow I got interested in RAD-140 again. The thing that most piqued my interest in it was that it seems to have an extremely significant effect on extremely low dosages. As a rule, I like to do more with less instead of blasting myself with gobs of stuff.
The coolest effects of RAD-140, however, aren’t just the muscle-building properties. Supposedly it is both neuroprotective (protect your brain) and useful for nutrient partitioning.
This will sound strange, but I couldn’t really find much data on it. Everyone was saying it was so powerful but no one could really bring much information to bear about it.
From what I understand, it was originally being developed as a possible alternative to testosterone in a replacement therapy context, however, it does not aromatize so I do not think that this would be a real way to use this compound.
On the other hand, it is many times more anabolic than testosterone, so if you have an aromatizing compound in the mix (like testosterone) and throw this on top you can get the benefits of RAD-140 without worrying about low estrogen symptoms.
As usual, I run all my cycles with a testosterone base of 120mg of testosterone undecanoate split into 3 doses administered every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Nutrient Partitioning
Imagine if all the food you ate went straight to the muscle and all the calories you burned came from your fat stores? You’d quickly go from being skinny fat to jacked quickly. That paper-thin look that jacked guys have would quickly be yours, right?
Well, some people achieve that more easily than others and we say that their bodies are good at nutrient partitioning.
Now, think of the guy you know who lifts. He doesn’t look bad. He maybe even looks athletic, but he carries that film of water and fat over his muscles unless he eats super clean, sleeps well, and trains right. He has a few beers and a few slices of pizza and his abs quickly disappear and he begins to look bloated.
He’s an example of someone who does not partition nutrients well.
RAD-140 boosts nutrient partitioning and that’s what interested me in it. My understanding is that someone who has primed their body to be good at nutrient partitioning can eat maintenance or even below maintenance and still gain muscle (the food put in goes to the muscle) while losing fat (the body burns fat stores for energy).
Naturally, I was pretty intrigued by this idea. The only time I really see this happen with guys is:
- natural lifters who have just started
- natural lifters who have come back after a long lay off
- HUGE bodybuilders with massive calorie requirements and insanely high BMR (basal metabolic rates) that are using well-timed Insulin to shuttle nutrients into the muscle.
I’m not 1,2 or 3 and I am not at all interested in playing around with insulin so RAD-140 sounded right up my alley.
I’m not quite sure it partitions nutrients, but I certainly do think that my increased calories went towards building muscle and not so much towards my fat stores. Obviously, on a recomp (lean gains) protocol you can still end up with water, but I do think the weight I added was mostly muscle and not much fat.
I Found that my appetite spiked pretty heavily. I could eat upwards of 8+ eggs in a day and still feel like I could have some more right before bed.
That said, I don’t quite know if it truly has this effect to any pronounced degree and I could not find any good data about this.
What’s Neuroprotective about RAD-140?
Well, this bit is a little tricky. You can go check it out for yourself, but in gonadectomized rats, it was shown that RAD-140 protected the hippocampus from the onset of cell death. Testosterone and DHT would normally perform this function in healthy mice. Personally, I’m not too sure if a healthy adult male would experience the same benefits. However, it did technically fulfill the function that healthy androgen and estrogen levels would in the deficient rats so that is something to think about.
Personally, I did notice a bit more clarity throughout the day when I was on RAD-140, but that is hardly a resounding “yes” to the question of “is it neuroprotective?”
My skepticism mainly stems from the fact that the rats were all gonadectomized so they were unhealthy rats. Would this work in a healthy organism where testosterone and DHT are sufficiently high to provide the androgen-dependent protection for neurodegeneration?
I really cannot say on this count. I lean towards “no,” but I have no real basis for this opinion.
However, I do think it’s significant enough to at least mention offhandedly. Perhaps A more refined reversion of RAD-140 could be utilized in the future for patients suffering from dementia?
All that said, If you were a guy looking for a tool to stave off the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s I am not sure that RAD-140 would necessarily be better than good, old-fashioned testosterone.
Let’s move on, though.
The Big Question:
Did it deliver?
Actually, yeah. Now, mind you, I was eating and just following my appetite (maintaining), but my body composition has not changed for the worse. My waist is tight while my arms, shoulders, and back are still pumped.
I’m pleased with my recomp. I feel like my body is a fat-burning dynamo. I’m using what I’m eating and not just storing it as excess fat.
RAD-140 Observations:
Slight Water Retention
I was a little surprised by this but it’s not entirely unheard of. The guys on the forums and such who use this often report that this SARM is often a bit more wet (water retention) than they would think. Now, I know what you’re thinking
Water retention
or
Selectivity
Choose one
however, I would stress that SARMs are not totally selective in their entirety, but they’re just more selective than steroids. This is especially true if it’s administered in dosages that go well beyond what they used in the animal studies. With that in mind, I’m not too surprised. However, I really suspect the water retention is more related to diet than anything else. At the beginning of the diet, I noticed some water retention but once I swapped my food choices around a little I noticed that the bloat and retention went down significantly.
You can be lean on “bulking” compounds and you can be fat on “cutting” compounds.
Personally, I was very lean on RAD-140, bordering on “dry” in fact.
Big, Juicy Muscle Pumps
The pumps, especially in my arms, legs, and lats are nigh unbearable. As in, they just hurt so well that I had to begin to use taurine while before training in order to get through some workouts.
Strength Gains
My weight is about the same and remaining stable but my actual strength is through the roof. I often walk in the gym and feel like 40kg dumbbells for bench are a warm-up. I’m a guy with small joints and small hands so this is a marked change.
Mood
feelsgoodman. I’m not particularly bouncy or ebullient but I attribute that to how selective this SARM is. It’s just for muscle, recomping, and other physical attributes.
Aggression
This surprised me a little. I’m a very chill guy. I rarely get flustered and I’m usually quick to let things slide. However, this SARM gave me a bit of “spice” I will say. Nothing too outside of the norm for me, but I definitely felt an uptick in aggression. Again, it wasn’t anything like people report for trenbolone but it was definitely there. Just something to keep in mind. Furthermore, this might actually be useful in the context of powerlifting, MMA, kickboxing, wrestling, and other sports where aggression and decisiveness play a big part in success. For an average desk jockey like me, however, the aggression wasn’t particularly useful. That said, if you’re a sane human who is in control of his emotions it shouldn’t be too problematic. However, I just wanted to point that out.
This is further evidence, IMO, that this SARM could be androgenic if you take too much of it.
Hunger
I noticed an increase in my hunger levels. I’m not particularly hungry and tend to let my body autoregulate when I eat but I would be getting home and be hungry. This made the recomp slightly harder but egg whites are a godsend in this situation.
Energy
I feel good. Nothing to write home about. There wasn’t any lethargy or anything.
Endurance
Nothing too crazy here. Slight boost but I couldn’t do a marathon or anything.
Sleep
Nothing wild. I sleep like a baby.
Skin
Nothing bad here.
Libido
Now, this was weird. It kinda flattened my libido which was a big minus for me. it wasn’t anything on par with what nandrolone-based compounds can do, but I noticed it.
Additional Notes:
Visually it left my physique looking slightly dry I think.
Not at all unlike, say, someone using dosages of compounds typically noted for things like cutting. That said, I’m not sure if this is the case for everyone else. For example, I’ve never had bicep and tricep separations despite having large muscles there, but they began to pop out after this run with RAD-140. I must say I’m pretty pleased with that.
There was a day where I did not sleep at all. Not a wink. However, I still went to the gym to just burn off some steam after work and ensure that I’m tired out. I was actually able to handle some pretty respectable weight while entirely sleep deprived. Now, I’m not suggesting that you should not sleep while on this compound. Personally, I considered that day a waste, but I was quite surprised by how strong I was despite no sleep.
This does lead me to conclude that this SARM is definitely strong in regards to boosting strength.
Would I recommend it to others?
Personally, that depends on your goals. I’m not going to just shill a product to people reading things. Go back over my writing and determine if this product fits your goals. That said, I am happy with my results from RAD-140.
