Last updated on February 19th, 2024 at 08:50 am
This SARMs Dosage and Cycle Guide is your go-to reference for the safest and most effective research methods when it comes to selective androgen receptor modulators. If you’re unsure about the many different compounds, their half-life and recommended dosages, then you’re in the right place.
If you’ve made the decision to run a SARMs cycle to help you increase muscle mass, gain more strength and lose body fat without sacrificing muscle, then you need to know how to do it. This article will run you through exactly how to use the most popular SARMs, including their recommended dosages.
What Are SARMs?
SARMs are Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, chemicals which work selectively on the body’s androgen receptors to help you gain muscle and strength in a targeted way, with limited side effects.
For those looking to maximise their fitness goals, SARMs can offer the perfect solution. With proper oversight and accurate monitoring of dosage levels, you can achieve your desired outcome relatively safely, all while avoiding any potential risks.
Are SARMs Dangerous?
SARMs are believed to produce effects akin to anabolic steroids and prohormones, yet with significantly reduced risks and side effects. They are generally non-toxic to the liver, pose minimal impact on other organs, and typically do not induce gynecomastia (although rare exceptions can occur).
SARMs are known to help you gain muscle mass, build strength, and lose body fat whilst retaining muscle. If you want to add size or simply retain muscle during a cut, SARMs can help you achieve your goals more efficiently.
The last decade has witnessed unprecedented discovery effort to develop selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) that improve physical function and bone health without adversely affecting the prostate and cardiovascular outcomes. [R]
How To Take SARMs
SARMs are offer minimal side effects unless you exceed the recommended dosage. That’s why you should read up on how to take SARMs so you get maximum benefits without any risks. It’s really pretty simple to achieve your goals as long as you stay within the guidelines and buy from a trusted supplier.
Every compound will have a different half-life (the time it is active in your system), generally ranging between 6-48 hours. The half-life will determine how frequently you can take the compound (i.e. whether or not you need to split the SARMs dosage throughout the day).
Women can take lower dosages, for instance, women often use Ostarine or S-4 at half the recommended dosage and will reap the benefits with minimal side effects.
Are Liquid SARMs More Effective?
SARMs are available as a powder (provided in a capsule or tablet) or suspended in a liquid. All SARMs are a raw powder isolate in their original form; it is a misconception that liquid SARMs are more effective – this is simply not the case. Ultimately, whether you do your research with capsules, tablets or liquids, will come down to personal preference.
Why is SARMs Dosage and Cycle Length Important?
Cycling SARMs is generally recommended to prevent the body from building up a tolerance to the compounds and to minimise the risk of negative side effects. It’s important to follow a proper cycle protocol and to take breaks between cycles.
Each SARMs dosage is different, with various types of delivery methods, as well as varying concentrations and strengths. That said, every SARMs user sticks to a dosage range.
In general, most compound dosages range from 5mg to 30mg per dose. Be aware that some SARMs have more powerful effects, even at lower SARMs dosages. So always start low to assess your response and increase (in 5mg) as necessary.
Most people will cycle SARMs for up to 12 weeks (8-12 weeks is ideal), followed by the same number of weeks ‘off-cycle’. If you are using a strong compound such as RAD-140, you will want to run a PCT, followed by the ‘time-off’ period.
If stacking more than one SARM, you may want to decrease the dosage and increase only if necessary.
Can I Increase the SARMs Dosage for Faster Results?
When it comes to dosage, the recommendation of experts should always be respected.
Although there are some reports from people who like to ‘megadose SARMs’, going beyond this can put users in danger and drastically increase their risk of experiencing unwanted side effects.
Patience is essential because results won’t come overnight – but upping your SARMs dosage doesn’t necessarily equate to increased success; pursuing a higher amount could yield only minimal gains while putting you at greater risk for harmful consequences. Is it worth it? Probably not.
What Happens if I Overdose on SARMs?
Overdosing on SARMs can have negative consequences on your testosterone levels and should be avoided at all costs. Symptoms of overdose may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and headaches.
If you overdose, stop immediately and allow the compound to be excreted from your system. Take a break and monitor your body’s response to ensure you recover fully before you can attempt your next cycle.
Recommended SARMs Dosage and Timing
SARMs are widely known to be effective at helping build muscle, strength, mass, and endurance whilst also helping you lose body fat. As with any drug or compound, be sensible and smart about how you use SARMs.
Always check out the recommended SARMs dosage and always start low. Not only does this give you somewhere to go (if you start high, you leave yourself with nowhere to progress) but it also means you can assess the results at low doses.
At lower dosages, you may be able to avoid the need for any PCT. Be smart with your SARMs dosage and cycle length for optimal results.
Ostarine MK-2866 Dosage
Ostarine is one of the entry-level SARMs; it’s relatively mild and widely renowned for its overall ‘sense of wellbeing’ effects. It’s a superb healing, recovery and joint-repair compound, making it a favourite amongst athletes. MK-2866 is widely available and very popular, either as a standalone product or stacked with other SARMs.
Ostarine is known for helping you hang on to muscle mass when you are dieting to lose fat. Usually, in a calorie deficit, you would lose fat but you would also lose some lean mass (muscle). Ostarine helps to prevent catabolism so you get leaner but preserve your hard-earned muscle mass.
Ostarine is mildly suppressive on your body’s test production (suppression levels are greater if you run your SARMs cycle for longer, or use higher doses). For this reason, many people choose to use PCT after Ostarine. For short cycles of 4-8 weeks, most people will not require PCT to recover.
- Common dosage: 10mg-25mg per day
- Half-life: 24 hours – full dosage can be taken once per day
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT? For cycles 4-8 weeks, no PCT required. For higher-dosage cycles or longer than 8 weeks, PCT is recommended
Lingadrol LGD-4033 Dosage
Lingadrol is much stronger than Ostarine but has similar effects – fat loss, muscle retention and muscle gain. It can suppress natural testosterone and the HPG axis (the hypothalamus, pituitary, and gonadal glands), so pay attention to your post-cycle therapy and recovery. Use a SERM (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator) between cycles of Lingadrol to protect your body’s hormones.
- Common dosage: 4-10mg per day
- Half-life: 30 hours – full dosage can be taken once per day and LGD will build up in the system over the course of your cycle
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle? Yes, a full PCT including a SERM is recommended after Lingadrol
Testolone RAD-140 Dosage
Testolone is one of the newer SARMs, one of the more potent compounds in the range. It is known for its ability to help you build dense muscle mass. This is a highly anabolic SARM so only use low doses. It does inhibit natural test production, so a PCT is vital. Best used during a bulk, ideally a 12-week cycle length.
- Common dosage: 10mg-20mg per day
- Half-life: 16-20 hours – full dosage can be taken once per day
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle? Yes, a full PCT including a SERM is recommended after RAD-140
Ibutamoren MK-677 Dosage
MK-677, although not a SARM but often found in the same category, is also known as Nutrobal or Ibutamoren. It is a selective agonist of the growth hormone receptor, so it works by raising your body’s levels of IGF-1.
Be aware that it also mimics your appetite hormone, so your appetite is likely to increase. Great for a bulking phase (or for hard gainers who struggle to get the calories in) but maybe not so good if you have a big appetite already. Best for bulking and adding mass, as well as boosting fat loss considerably.
- Common dosage: 10mg-25mg per day
- Half-life: 24 hours – full dosage can be taken once per day
- Recommended cycle length: Long-term (minimum of 4 months for best results)
- PCT? No, MK-677 is non-hormonal and doesn’t cause any suppression, PCT is not necessary
Cardarine GW-501516 Dosage
Cardarine is actually a PPAR-delta modulator (not a SARM) that works by stimulating protein receptors which help the body create muscle tissue. But so many people group it in with SARMs that we thought it best to include it here. Effects of Cardarine include muscle gain, endurance and energy.
- Common dosage: 7mg-20mg per day
- Half-life: 16-24 hours – full dosage can be taken once per day
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT? No – Cardarine is non-hormonal and will not affect your test levels
Andarine S-4 Dosage
Andarine is one of the newer SARMs. S-4 is considered to be more potent when compared to other similar SARMs such as LGD-4033. It is very effective at lower doses and can significantly increase levels of lean muscle mass while reducing body fat levels. S-4 is renowned for increasing vascularity to give the ‘chiselled’, sharp look all bodybuilders seek to achieve.
Andarine is known for building muscle mass and bone density. Stick to lower doses to avoid side effects (some unwanted side-effects such as temporary night-blindness have been reported but only at very high doses!).
- Common dosage: 25-75mg per day
- Half-life: 3-4 hours – dosage ideally split 3 times per day for best results
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle: Yes, PCT is advised
S-23
One of the most potent SARMs on the market, some say that S-23 is the closest thing to conventional steroids that you can get. An excellent cutting compound, it boosts fat loss whilst offering impressive lean, dry gains. This compound is renowned for developing a dense, hard aesthetic with no water retention. If you’re looking for grainy-looking muscles, then you should definitely consider S-23. Often stacked alongside LGD-4033 or Andarine (S-4).
- Common dosage: 10-20mg per day
- Half-life: 6 hours – splitting the dosage twice per day is ideal
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle: Yes, PCT is advised
LGD-3303
A quick update here: LGD-3303 has now been patented by pharmaceutical company Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated and is no longer available on the market.
LGD-3303 is one of the newer SARMs on the market and rapidly gaining a reputation to be one of the best SARMs for overall sheer mass and strength gains. It is also known for providing a noticeable muscular fullness despite being a dry compound.
LGD-3303 offers superb oral bioavailability, is non-steroidal and binds to the androgen receptor with an extremely high affinity and selectivity. The androgenic effects in the body are minimal at the effective dosage for muscle building purposes, thus making it a very promising SARM.
LGD-3303 has also shown to stimulate aspects of female sexual behaviour and can potentially serve as a potential therapy for women with sexual desire disorders.
- Common dosage: 10-20mg per day
- Half-life: 12 hours – splitting the dosage twice per day is ideal
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle: Yes, PCT is advised
LGD-3303 is a potent and highly selective androgen receptor full agonist in skeletal muscle, a classic target tissue for androgen action. By comparison, in the prostate and sebaceous glands, the compound is a weak partial agonist. The sparing of these non-target tissues by effective, pharmacologic doses of LGD-3303 provides a novel and potentially safer treatment for osteoporosis.
Source: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
Released September 17, 2007
YK-11
YK-11 appears to be a super-SARM based on the reviews, while in reality, YK-11 is not a typical SARM. It is a new synthetic steroid based on 5-α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is a stronger form of testosterone that targets androgen receptors in the prostate, sex organs, hair, and liver. YK-11 has gained a lot of interest in the bodybuilding world due to its potency and ability to rapidly build muscle mass with minimal side effects.
Research has shown that YK-11 inhibits myostatin. It induces muscle cells to make more follistatin which is a strong myostatin inhibitor. Myostatin (also known as growth differentiation factor 8) is a protein produced by muscle cells which acts on muscle cells to inhibit myogenesis. Research through the years shows that when you block myostatin, it allows for significantly more muscle mass.
There is little information available on the half-life of YK11. Anecdotal experiences tell us that YK11 half-life is relatively short, meaning it should be dosed multiple times per day for optimal results.
- Common dosage: 5-15mg per day
- Half-life: Approximately 4-6 hours – splitting the dosage twice per day is ideal
- Recommended cycle length: 8-12 weeks
- PCT cycle: Yes, PCT is advised
SARMs Dosage when Stacking
SARMs are used for lots of reasons: building muscle, adding mass, increasing strength, boosting energy and mood, as well as getting leaner without losing muscle mass. What happens when you stack two or more SARMs together in the same cycle? And how should you dose a stack of SARMs? Be mindful about the combination of SARMs in a stack, the duration of your cycle and the doses. And always take a post-cycle break which is equal to the length of your cycle. With any SARMs cycle, start on the lowest SARMs dosage and only increase if you need to. Lowest is always best.
Unleash your potential with the holy trinity of muscle building compounds, the Pumping Iron MK-677 LGD Ostarine Stack. This SARMs trio is like no other when it comes to packing on muscle mass; expect as much as 3-4 kg of lean muscle gains per month with these compounds stimulating anabolic pathways, jumpstarting growth hormone production and speeding up protein synthesis.
Bulking SARMs Cycle
The Advanced Bulking Stack is a combination of RAD-140, LGD-4033 and Ostarine for ultimate muscle mass, strength and size gains.
RAD-140 is a dry compound (this means no water retention) paired with LGD-4033 which does carry some water resulting in higher potential for muscle protein synthesis; ultimately aiding the bulking process.
The Ostarine is renowned for its healing properties particularly joint repair and bone health. It also offers a host of other impressive benefits; it can enhance tissue regeneration, reduce inflammation and support joint health.
These compounds also work synergistically with MK-677 to amplify results.
Recommended SARMs cycle length: 12 weeks, always start with the lowest SARMs dosage for the first 5-7 days before increasing.
Cutting SARMs Cycle
The Pumping Iron Cutting Stack is designed to boost your metabolism and accelerate fat loss with a combination of S-4, Cardarine and Ostarine.
A must-have if you’re looking to take your physique to the next level, whether you’re bulking, dieting or looking for body recomposition.
This stack will effectively speed up results whilst improving your overall shape, fullness, hardness and even enhances your performance (endurance, stamina, energy levels and strength).
Recommended SARMs cycle length: 12 weeks, always start with the lowest SARMs dosage for the first 5-7 days before increasing.
What’s the Best PCT for SARMs?
Although PCT is a very subjective matter, it’s often recommended to run a PCT such as Pro PCT (6-OXO).
Pumping Iron Pro PCT (6-OXO) is an advanced SARMs and prohormone PCT that contains 6-OXO, a potent aromatase inhibitor which should only be used by experienced users of SARMs and prohormones. This supplement is intended for male athletes only and shouldn’t be used by women. PRO PCT can be used to prevent estrogen related side effects on-cycle as well as a powerful recovery agent for post cycle therapy (PCT)
- Strongest aromatase inhibitor on the market
- Increases lean muscle mass
- Reduces conversion of testosterone to estradiol
- Supports muscle retention
- Increases testosterone:estrogen ratio
- Suitable for vegans (HMPC Veg Cap)