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Insulin For Bodybuilding Use
DIR By: Road2HardCoreIron
Date: November 7, 2022, 5:51 pm
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Important: Educate yourself on what is consider low and high.
Know what foods will raise blood sugar quickly. Always get a
blood sugar meter. Readings should not drop lower than 65. If
drop lower. Take half a Banna or whole banana. 3-5 mins check
again until you're up near 90. Educate yourself to the simple
sugars that will raise your blood quickly. This thread below is
a good start as to why and how we use insulin as a bodybuilder.
Insulin for Bodybuilders: Effects, Uses, and Risks
What it is
Types
Uses for bodybuilding
Serious health risks
Educate yourself
Bottom line
Bodybuilding is an extreme sport in which higher level
competitors often go to great lengths to excel.
While some prefer to stick to natural methods of building
muscle, others turn to pharmaceuticals such as anabolic
androgenic steroids and insulin.
Though people traditionally use insulin only in medical contexts
for diabetes, bodybuilders often exploit it for muscle-building
purposes. They use it to cause muscles to absorb nutrients
quickly after a workout.
This comes with significant risks.
This article details how some people use insulin in bodybuilding
and describes its effects and potentially serious side effects.
Nicolas Menijes/EyeEm/Getty Images
What is insulin?
Insulin is a peptide hormone produced in the cells of your
pancreas, which is an organ located in your abdomen just below
your liver (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
Insulin’s primary function in your body is to cause your cells
to take up and store sugar (glucose) from your blood. It also
encourages cells to take in amino acids (proteins) and lipids
(fats) to a certain extent (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
Insulin also prevents the breakdown of glycogen, protein, and
fat in your body. Glycogen is a form of stored carbohydrates in
your tissues (3Trusted Source).
Your body releases it mainly in response to increases in blood
sugar after you’ve consumed carbs.
In a person who doesn’t have diabetes, insulin levels rise after
a meal and gradually decrease until the next meal. However, in
people with diabetes, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin.
Traditional use
Pharmaceutical insulin is most often used in people with
diabetes, a condition in which the body produces little to no
insulin (type 1) or becomes resistant to insulin (type 2).
In this case, blood sugars become uncontrolled due to
inefficient carbohydrate metabolism. This may cause harm to
several organs in the body (4Trusted Source).
Medical professionals often prescribe insulin or other
medications to help lower high blood sugar and get it back
within the desired range.
A healthy range of blood sugar levels is 80–130 mg/dl before
eating and 180 mg/dl or under within 1–2 hours of a meal,
according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) (5).
When people use insulin, it’s usually because they have diabetes
and require insulin to help manage their blood glucose levels.
SUMMARY
Insulin is a hormone produced in the body that promotes blood
sugar storage. Some people with diabetes use supplemental
insulin when their bodies don’t produce enough.
Main types of insulin
While pharmaceutical insulin is often lumped into one category,
it’s important to distinguish between the different types
available on the market.
Short-acting
Short-acting insulins have a quick onset time of about 5–30
minutes after you administer them, with a peak effect in 1–3
hours. They remain active for 2–8 hours (1Trusted Source).
This is the type of insulin almost exclusively used in
bodybuilding circles. The goal is to encourage muscles to absorb
nutrients quickly after a workout.
Intermediate- and long-acting
Intermediate-acting insulins have a longer onset at 2 hours or
more and a duration of action of 12–24 hours, depending on the
specific type (1Trusted Source).
People using insulin for bodybuilding don’t typically use these
types of insulin because of their slower onset and extended
effect time.
Biphasic
This type, also called premixed insulin, contains a blend of
long-acting and short-acting insulin for more precise blood
sugar control in certain people with diabetes (1Trusted Source).
Biphasic insulins are generally used only for medical purposes.
Bodybuilders don’t typically use them.
SUMMARY
While several types of insulin exist, bodybuilders almost
exclusively use short-acting varieties because of their quick
onset and short duration of action.
Uses of insulin for bodybuilding
Though people typically use insulin to manage their blood sugar,
high level bodybuilders often use it for off-label purposes,
including to promote muscle gains.
Off-label purposes are those that aren’t officially listed on
the product label or recommended by healthcare professionals.
Why do bodybuilders use it?
Anabolism, the metabolic process of building up, is essential to
packing on muscle. Bodybuilders often try to maximize this
process.
Considering that it promotes nutrient storage and helps prevent
cell breakdown, insulin is considered an anabolic hormone.
This lends it well to bodybuilding, in which the central purpose
is to build up muscle mass through strategic diet and exercise.
May support muscle growth
While insulin is best known for its role in controlling blood
sugar, it has a few other notable effects that make it desirable
for bodybuilders.
One such effect is its ability to help with muscle protein
synthesis, the process through which the body builds muscle.
A 2006 study in 19 healthy young adults concluded that, when
people received intermediate doses of insulin, they had a boost
in muscle protein synthesis and a decrease in muscle protein
breakdown (3Trusted Source).
In addition, a 2016 review suggests that insulin has a
permissive role in the muscle-building process, as long as you
eat enough protein (6Trusted Source).
This means insulin allows muscle building to take place, even
though it doesn’t seem to directly promote it.
It’s important to note that sufficient amino acids, the building
blocks of protein, must be present in order to promote muscle
gains in the presence of insulin (7Trusted Source).
Often combined with other drugs
Another important factor to consider is the pairing of insulin
with other performance-enhancing drugs, such as anabolic
androgenic steroids or growth hormone.
While insulin alone may not have a potent effect on muscle
protein synthesis, it may have an enhanced effect when paired
with anabolic steroids or growth hormone (8Trusted Source).
However, data in this area is limited as a result of ethical
restraints in research. Users must tread with extreme caution.
Promotes carbohydrate storage
A well-known effect of insulin is its ability to promote
carbohydrate storage.
In the bodybuilding community, people commonly consume
carbohydrates after a workout to refuel the exercised muscles by
promoting glycogen replenishment.
Glycogen is the stored form of carbohydrates in the body. It’s
stored in muscle cells as well as the liver.
Ensuring sufficient glycogen stores helps support the
muscle-building process by aiding in protein synthesis (9Trusted
Source).
To further enhance nutrient storage and muscle fullness after
exercise, high level bodybuilders sometimes use insulin to help
shuttle blood glucose and amino acids (protein) into muscle
cells (1Trusted Source).
In the enhanced bodybuilding community, people usually take
insulin only immediately after a workout to promote an anabolic
state.
SUMMARY
While the vast majority of people who use insulin do so to
manage diabetes, some high level bodybuilders use it for
off-label purposes, usually to support muscle growth and promote
carbohydrate storage.
Serious health risks
While insulin is a hormone produced in the body, injecting it
comes with some serious potential dangers. For most people, it’s
not worth the risk.
Low blood sugar
The main potential complication of using insulin is experiencing
low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia.
While people with diabetes often use insulin to help manage
blood sugar, people without diabetes produce sufficient amounts
from cells in the pancreas.
Therefore, if you’re using supplemental insulin in an attempt to
enhance muscle gains, you run the risk of having too much
insulin in your bloodstream, which could send your blood glucose
levels too low.
Common symptoms of hypoglycemia include (10Trusted Source):
drowsiness
fatigue
hunger
irritability
paleness
shakiness
If you experience any of these symptoms, eat or drink a
carbohydrate-containing food or beverage immediately to help
bring your blood sugar back up.
In more severe cases, hypoglycemia may result in confusion,
blurred vision, seizures, loss of consciousness, or a
combination of these. It may even lead to death (10Trusted
Source).
This side effect alone is enough to make off-label insulin
unsafe for most bodybuilders. Thus, we strongly discourage its
use for bodybuilding.
A bump or dimple at injection site
Another potential side effect of using insulin is acquiring a
small bump or dent at the injection site after repeated
injections in the same spot. It usually occurs in the belly area
and is also known as lipodystrophy (11Trusted Source).
This is due to the effect insulin has on fat cells in this area,
causing them to change shape slightly. It is not harmful.
Insulin users may want to alternate injection sites to help
prevent this effect.
SUMMARY
The use of insulin for off-label purposes comes with some
serious risks, most notably hypoglycemia. Think critically about
this if you’re considering using insulin for bodybuilding.
Educate yourself
Before deciding to use insulin, it’s extremely important to
weigh the pros and cons.
Numerous bodybuilders have died from insulin abuse. Thus, proper
education and guidance are key.
It’s also important to be aware of the legal ramifications in
your country of using insulin for nonmedical purposes. In some
countries, insulin is available for purchase over the counter,
while other countries regulate its distribution tightly.
In addition, many sporting federations consider insulin a banned
substance unless it’s used for diabetes management.
Carbohydrate intake
The most important aspect of insulin use, especially in the
bodybuilding population, is carbohydrate intake.
If you’re using insulin to build your physique, a general rule
for adults is to consume at least 10–15 grams of easily
digestible carbs for every IU (international unit) of insulin
you administer (12Trusted Source).
The amount of carbs you consume directly affects your blood
glucose levels. Thus, if your carb intake is too low when you’re
taking insulin, there is a high risk of hypoglycemia.
To accurately track blood sugar levels, a glucose meter, or
“glucometer,” is an essential tool to have. You can buy one at
most pharmacies.
Never use before sleeping
You should never administer insulin before you go to sleep. This
is very dangerous and could result in a coma or even death.
This is because, while asleep, you wouldn’t be able to detect
the early stages of hypoglycemia, should it occur.
Therefore, if you choose to use insulin, administer it only
during waking hours when you can compensate for a drop in blood
sugar by consuming carbs.
SUMMARY
We strongly discourage using insulin in bodybuilding. Should you
choose to use it, proper education and guidance are key.
Watch More
The bottom line
Insulin is an anabolic hormone produced in the pancreas that is
essential for blood sugar control.
People with diabetes whose bodies don’t produce enough insulin
often use supplemental insulin to compensate for this.
High level bodybuilders also commonly use insulin for off-label
purposes because it may support muscle gains and promote
carbohydrate storage.
Insulin use comes with some serious health risks, most notably
low blood sugar. Therefore, we strongly discourage its use for
bodybuilding unless you’re using it under the supervision and
guidance of a healthcare professional.
Should you choose to use insulin for bodybuilding, proper
education and guidance are essential in avoiding potentially
serious health outcomes, including death.
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