Bodybuilding peptide overview
Bodybuilding peptides are growth hormone (HGH) releasing products that are used as performance enhancers and for muscle building. In addition, the anti-aging community is also embracing these products as alternative hormone therapy treatments.
This guide should provide you all the information you need to understand HGH peptides and the industry. These topics go hand in hand because as you know the internet is not always a reliable place, especially if you are new to the subject.
Throughout the guide I will insert links to third party pages that reinforce the topic I am discussing. Feel free to check my work by following those sources. I will also post other resources from within this site if you want to learn more about these peptides or are looking for a legitimate source of bodybuilding peptides.
Table of Contents
- What are peptides?
- Benefits of bodybuilding peptides
- Most common bodybuilding peptides
- Do bodybuilding peptides work?
- Are bodybuilding peptides illegal?
- How to spot illegal growth hormone peptide sites
- Where can you buy real peptides for bodybuilding?
- More bodybuilding peptide information
What are peptides?
Peptides are chains of up to 50 amino acids that are linked together by chemical bonds. These amino acids chains are too small to be proteins and are easier to absorb in this form.
Certain peptide chains have been found to act on the pituitary gland and stimulate the release of growth hormone. This growth hormone release provides numerous physical benefits which is why they are so popular among athletes and the bodybuilding community.
Most bodybuilding peptides are taken by injection because your stomach is well equipped at breaking the peptide bonds during digestion.
Growth hormone peptides are classified as growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRP) or growth hormone releasing hormones (GHRH). We will discuss some of these later in addition to an oral non-peptide that has the same type of results.
Benefits of bodybuilding peptides
Peptides have a number of positive effects in humans. First of all, HGH peptides stimulate the natural release of growth hormone. Synthetic HGH suppresses your ability to produce growth hormone naturally. This is another reason why peptides are so popular. Any bodybuilder can tell you the negative effects of synthetic testosterone treatment, which is why they often take drugs like HCG to post cycle to restore their natural testosterone levels.
“Exogenous growth hormone inhibits growth hormone-releasing factor-induced growth hormone secretion in normal men”
National Institute of Health
Additionally, these peptides can provide the following benefits without the risks of synthetic HGH:
Build lean muscle mass
Bodybuilders primarily take these peptides for lean muscle growth, recovery or preserving muscle. Numerous studies have proven that the release of GH can increase muscle size with or without resistance training.
This makes peptides an extremely attractive solution for putting on quality mass in a short time. In fact, GH releasing products may help those with chronic conditions retain weight and mass. An appetite increase is often associated with these products which can assist in muscle growth as well.
Bodybuilding peptides for weight loss
You may not think that you can use bodybuilding peptides for weight loss but you would be wrong. Growth hormone releasing peptides have been studied for their ability to retain lean muscle while restricting calories. These studies have proven that even with extreme calorie restriction that muscle retention improved vs placebo groups. These findings don’t just benefit bodybuilders either. Athletes that compete in weight class sports may find it useful as well. Patients with chronic conditions may also benefit from diet induced muscle wasting as well.
Recovery and healing
Intense workouts require rest and recovery. Recovery time often takes days before a muscle group can be worked again. When you work out you create small tears in the muscle which are repaired and made bigger and stronger over time. When you shorten recovery time you have the benefit of resuming intense exercise sooner.
Growth hormone has proven beneficial in recovery in addition to the healing post operative patients. Athletes are always at risk of injury. The accelerated regeneration of muscle, bone and cartilage can get these individuals back to training much sooner than those recovering without aid.
IGF-1 production
IGF-1 is short for insulin like growth factor. Bodybuilding peptides also stimulate the release of IGF-1 which works in synergy with growth hormone. The way this synergy occurs is the IGF-1 essentially “oversees” the use of circulating growth hormone to accelerate the (anabolic) muscle building effects.
Other benefits of bodybuilding peptides
Growth hormone peptides have additional benefits that are listed below. All of these benefits can appeal to everyone bust especially athletes and weight lifters.
- Sleep quality improvement
- Improves oxygen in red blood cells
- Bone density improvement
- Accelerated protein synthesis
- Promotes fat metabolism
- Improves skin condition
Most Common Bodybuilding Peptides
Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH)
GHRH or growth hormones releasing hormones directly trigger growth hormone release from your pituitary gland These hormones increase the number of growth hormone releasing cells in your bloodstream. Next GHRH’s trigger these additional cells to increase the amount of GH that is released. GHRH are usually taken before bed because that is when you normally produce more growth hormone pulses.
The most common GHRH’s you will see find (legally) CJC-1295 aka Modified GRF (1-29) and Sermorelin.
CJC-1295 (Mod GRF 129)
CJC-1295 is a growth hormone secretagogue is commonly used as an anti-aging peptide. The peptide helps you stimulate your own GH and IGF-1 release.
While all of these peptides have similar effects, some are better than others for certain situations.
Fat metabolism is one of the major benefits of CJC-1295 over the others.
Sermorelin
Sermorelin therapy is the most common anti-aging therapy found in clinics.
For this reason, Sermorlin is easy to get and popular among older athletes, bodybuilders and the general public. Sermorelin therapy is for women and men all over the country. Like other growth hormone releasing hormones Sermorelin promotes fat loss and muscle growth.
Growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRP)
GHRP or growth hormone releasing peptides behave a little differently than GHRH products. GHRP’s stimulate the release of growth hormone through the release of the hormone Ghrelin, directly from the pituitary gland. GHRP also blocks the GH inhibitor somatostasin. Somatostasin tells the pituitary when to stop releasing GH. This function allows for you to be producing growth hormone virtually any time since you are not as concerned with timing natural GH pulses.
Combining a GHRP with a GHRH creates quite punch by increasing the number of growth hormone pulses and the amount of growth hormone that is being released. Your growth hormone production will skyrocket with this type of peptide stack.
Ipamorelin is extremely effective and popular which also make it easy to obtain legally. This GHRP is also frequently combined with CJC-1295 for accelerated muscle growth and fat loss above and beyond what either could do alone.
Ipamorelin
Ipamorelin increases growth hormone and blocks Somatostasin. Another Ipamorelin benefit is it does not give you a huge increase in appetite making it easier to put on lean mass. It also does not cause a spike in cortisol and prolactin which are associated with negative effects.
Non-Peptide growth hormone secretagogue
I threw this one in because for all intents and purposes this secretagogue behaves just like a growth hormone releasing peptide. As I mentioned earlier GHRP stimulates Ghrelin which then acts to increase growth hormone and IGF-1. Ibutamoren, also known as MK-677 is the secretagogue I am talking about.
MK-677/Ibutamoren
Ibutamoren is gaining popularity due to how flexible this drug is depending on the results you want to achieve. Did I mention that it is a first of its kind, orally active drug that can achieve these results? Thats right, you take it by mouth.
Originally developed my Merck, Ibutamoren has been the subject of several different types of studies with positive results. MK-677 has shown benefits relating to: Bone density growth, increasing muscle mass, retaining muscle mass while on a diet, improved sleep quality and injury recovery.
Do bodybuilding peptides work and the steroid vs growth hormone debate
A debate that is happening in forums and social media surrounds the effectiveness of growth hormone vs anabolic steroids. I suppose it is no different than arguing politics online or debating the merits of Coke over Pepsi.
But since this seems like a popular topic, I thought I would chime in and then move on.
The argument seems to be concerning which is “better” for muscle growth and each side has their own point of view.
The steroid side argues that testosterone is far superior for pure muscle size. This is their definition of “better”. As a matter of fact, they are correct, anabolic steroids are better for pure muscle size and strength. For example, this study involved synthetic testosterone vs placebo after 10 weeks and weightlifting 3 times per week.
“The men assigned to testosterone and exercise had greater increases in fat-free mass (6.1±0.6 kg) and muscle size (triceps area, 501±104 mm2; quadriceps area, 1174±91 mm2) than those assigned to either no-exercise group, and greater increases in muscle strength (bench-press strength, 22±2 kg; squatting-exercise capacity, 38±4 kg) than either no-exercise group.“
New England Journal of Medicine
The 6kg worth of fat free mass translates into almost 13.5 pounds in just 10 weeks.
The downside of steroids is the number of reported side effects. These include shrinking testicles, disrupting normal testosterone production, anger or mood issues, liver issues, heart issues, balding, acne and more.
What the bodybuilding peptide side argues
Growth hormone is not an anabolic hormone by itself. The interaction between GH and IGF-1 is anabolic however. But this is not where bodybuilding peptides shine. The anti-catabolic action of these peptides prevents the breakdown of muscle which is an important benefit.
Another thing these growth hormone stimulators do is they metabolize fat extremely well. The tissue healing, sleep quality improvement and IGF-1 one activation also provide benefits for growing lean muscle.
Recovery is also a factor with bodybuilding peptides.
Each of these benefits allow serious lifters the ability to push weight more often, hold on to muscle mass, feel energized and reduce fat so all that hard earned muscle can be seen.
And it’s not like it doesn’t provide any muscle growth!
Peptide results
This study lasted 8 weeks and involved men between the ages of 19 and 49 years old. There is no mention of an exercise requirement therefore we have to assume there was none.
“FFM significantly increased by 3 kg with ibutamoren treatment compared to placebo while there were no changes in total body fat. BMR was increased at 2 weeks of treatment with ibutamoren but there were no changes in daily caloric intake, fasting concentrations of free fatty acids, glycerol, or ketones compared to baseline or placebo.“
US National Library of Medicine
3kg of fat free mass translates to 6.6 pounds in 8 weeks. The steroid subjects gained an average of 1.35 pounds per week over 10 weeks and the peptide group gained an average of .825 pounds per week over 8 weeks with NO exercise.
The peptide group also argue that because these drugs optimize your natural GH and IGF-1 that technically it is not cheating. They also add that it is much safer and has fewer side effects than taking a synthetic testosterone.
My personal opinion is that this is a silly argument. Both testosterone and growth hormone peptides improve muscle mass. I would also argue that many competitive bodybuilders and athletes do both together.
That may be overkill for your typical gym rat or 40 year old that wants to have the body of a 20 year old though.
Are bodybuilding peptides illegal?
One more thing, it is difficult if not impossible to get a prescription for testosterone at the levels that bodybuilders need to take them.
Which brings me to my next topic. While it is legal to sell and buy bodybuilding peptides with a prescription, there are many sites trying to capitalize on the black market.
Watch out for “research peptide” sites
It is illegal to sell and PURCHASE research peptides for human use. In fact, most of these sites try to skirt the law by posting: “these products are intended for research purposes only” and/or “not for human consumption“.
First of all this is not a legal defense and people have been arrested for doing this. Second, many of the products either don’t contain the peptide or they contain trace amounts. Third, research products do not have to undergo the strict purity and potency testing that actual prescription drugs must.
Dangers of research peptides for bodybuilding
Instead of just lecturing you I will let others do the talking for me.
“providers say getting a prescription ensures a degree of quality and precision in dosing. It’s costly, though, to remove potentially harmful manufacturing by-products and to have a third party test the batch for quality. So the risk-tolerant are looking to the internet.“
The Markup
“From a chemistry perspective, “Not for human consumption” is often not just a legal warning, but a chemical safety warning as well. The synthesis and preparation of any drug must be done in a certain way so that any residual chemicals are either a) safe or b) under certain limits. Research chemicals are often prepared without concern for these contaminants, so they often aren’t measured or monitored within a particular batch because that’s costly and time consuming for something you don’t have to do.”
“Additionally, some research chemicals are intentionally adulterated with additional substances that make them even less safe. Ethanol, for instance, is often sold as “denatured” which means it contains several additional compounds that don’t affect the chemical properties of the ethanol but do make it unsafe and unpleasant to drink. Denatured ethanol is cheaper since you don’t need to pay taxes on it, since it’s not safe to drink.”
Some people are willing to risk buying Chinese products with unknown by products or contaminants in them. However, that’s not the only issue.
Fake bodybuilding peptides
You are very likely to be getting fake peptides or a much lower potency of the peptide.
“they tested 65 samples seized by Belgium’s Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) between 2009 and found one or more of the peptides were present in 33 of them.”
Securing Industry
“As it turned out, 32 per cent of 75 pharmaceutical samples tested were counterfeit, and another 33 per cent were substandard – apparently genuine products with levels of active ingredient that didn’t match the original product specifications – and two samples had no actives at all.”
Securing Industry
“Jose Garcia, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine, who has been involved in studies of ghrelin mimetics, told MedPage Today that scientists would never acquire their active drugs that way. “You would never go to a site like this because there is no quality control so you never know if these products are contaminated or if they contain what they’re supposed to,” Garcia said. “Not even for animal experiments.”
MedPage
Bummer, isn’t it? The first quote shows that only 50% had peptides in them at all. Unfortunately, they did not test the potency. The second study did though. They found one third with no active ingredients and another third with less than expected. The last quote is from a PhD that actual studies bodybuilding peptides and said even actual researchers wouldn’t buy research peptides from these sites.
Sterile compounding pharmacies and bodybuilding peptides
There is a legal and safe way to buy bodybuilding peptides online.
Sterile compounding pharmacies are responsible for manufacturing these drugs in a sterile environment. The process includes manufacturing the product with minimal environmental contaminants, removing by products from raw materials and ensuring the potency of these peptides.
A clean room is used when completing this process by a technician who is covered from head to toe in order to avoid shedding skin or sneezing into your medication, for example.
At that point a sample of the compounded product goes to a 3rd party laboratory that tests the peptides for sterility and potency. The entire batch of peptides must be discarded if the samples fail testing.
I once worked in a field that used sterile compounding pharmacies to fill prescriptions. I remember having multiple product shortages for certain injectables because the testing facility did not approve the product. While this is rare, because it is bad for business, tainted products do make it to customers. For example, tainted steroids made it to the consumer which affected 750+ people.
You get the picture. If this can happen with several safety steps involved consider the odds of buying from untested peptides. Follow this link to learn more about sterile compounding.
How to spot illegal growth hormone peptide sites
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to spot an illegal distributor. Your best clue are the terms “research purposes” or “not for human consumption“. By the way, if they say “not for human consumption“, believe them! Buying from these sites gives you no protection if you get sick or buy fake peptides. Trying to sue these sites is like taking the Tide pod challenge then trying to sue Tide.
Other clues will include:
- Little to no support
- dosage instructions missing
- No doctor involvement
- lack of pharmacy involvement
Since we are friends by now, let’s have some real talk.
Any lowlife can start selling growth hormone stimulating peptides. All they need is some risk tolerance, a little bit of cash and a Chinese contact. In fact, I am a bit surprised that meth dealers aren’t changing their business model to this one. Customers have the same legal recourse if they get fake or tainted products but the penalty for selling meth is much harsher.
Where can you buy real peptides for bodybuilding?
The only way to be sure you are buying real peptide products is to get it from a pharmacy. Buying peptides from a pharmacy requires a prescription. A prescription requires a physician.
Luckily there are some online sources that comply with all the safety and quality laws. An added benefit is they have support and instructions in the event of questions and concerns. You also have a layer of legal of protection if you get sick or buy fake products.
I have two vetted sources for buying bodybuilding peptides online. Both sources provide peptides by prescription and have doctors that prescribe the product.
Both sources do a remarkable job of delivering peptides that are high quality and safe for human consumption. One of the sources also provides additional services such as nutritionists and weight loss coaches if needed.
Your choice will depend on your level of experience with growth hormone stimulating peptides.
My last word on this subject. Whether you are looking at looking at these peptides for bodybuilding, athletic performance or just to be in better shape make sure buy real peptides. Safety is a major selling point of these GH peptides, why buy them from an unsafe source?
My lecture is over.
More Bodybuilding Peptide Information
More links from this site if you want to read more about growth hormone peptides for bodybuilding.
- Glutathione injections the master antioxidant– This tripeptide is another great immune system booster. Read all about it.
- Sermorelin therapy near me– The pros and cons of buying sermorelin at a local clinic vs online. Also how to spot shady online vendors.
- Rep ranges for muscle growth– A basic primer on how your workout should be set up if you are looking for hypertrophy.
- Where to buy MK-677 (Ibutamoren)– The scammers are out in force. Learn how to spot them!
- What is ZMA– Developed by the same people supplying A-Rod with GH peptides, Balco labs. We take a look at this OTC supplement.
- My Diet Doc Review– I have the utmost respect for this company. I worked for a direct competitor of theirs 5 years and they always did things the right way. Even if it cost them business! They have amazing ongoing support which is provided by experts in their fields. They have been in business for well over a decade. If you want the best US peptides for weight loss or muscle size, run don’t walk to them!
