Cardarine is a unique type of SARM (is a PPAR-delta activator) that was originally developed by scientists to prevent the formation of tumors on the colon, prostate and on breast tissue.

With further research, it was soon recognized for its ability to: raise your metabolic rate; eliminate body fat; reduce recovery times and obesity; improve heart health and blood vessels; increase muscle growth; treat inflammation and diabetes, and boost stamina, energy, and endurance.

Is Cardarine a SARM?

Remember how we said that Cardarine is a unique SARM? Well, it’s unique because it isn’t one. SARMs stand for selective androgen receptor modulators. They work by mimicking testosterone and activating the androgen receptors in specific tissues – such as your bones and muscles. In doing so, you can achieve increased muscle mass.

Cardarine isn’t a SARM but is a PPAR-delta activator which doesn’t directly act on androgen receptors.

What Cardarine is used for?

Benefits of this substance

Cardarine GW501516 may not be an actual SARM but it is treated like one because of the Cardarine results it can produce.

In fact, multiple Cardarine reviews and studies point towards it being used for the following:

1 – Fuel – by stimulating your glucose uptake, Cardarine forces your body to use glucose as its primary fuel source enabling you to work out for longer (as your energy levels rise).

2 – Burn fat – Cardarine achieves this in three ways: 1) by stimulating glucose (which helps to raise your fat burning capabilities, 2) stripping body fat from your stores (sparing carbohydrates), and 3) activating fat-burning and carnitine genes (ABCA1 and CPT1). Combined this can help to keep you lean.

The Science: in one study of 13 men it was found to decrease triglycerides, fatty acids, and VLDL proteins. In two other separate studies, where participants took 5-10mg of Cardarine for 12 weeks, researchers noted how it helped to raise HDL cholesterol (in 305 participants) and reduce LDL and APOB.

3 – Bulking and cutting cycles – Cardarine is regularly stacked alongside other SARMs and performance-enhancing drugs to help prevent muscle wastage (during a calorie deficit) and increase lean muscle mass gains.

4 – Brain – Cardarine can protect your brain vessels from oxidative stress and damage, by helping to maintain blood flow to your brain. As a PPAR-delta it boosts the development of nerve cells, whilst having both pro- and anti-inflammatory effects.

5 – Obesity – during a study on 6 overweight volunteers, after taking 2.5 or 10mg of Cardarine (per day) over 2 weeks, they witnessed reduced symptoms of metabolic syndrome, as well as increased fat burn and carnitine in muscles. Cardarine also helped to lower liver fat by 20%, insulin by 11% and blood fats by 23-30%, and stopped the activity of inflammatory substances via PPAR delta activation in fat tissues. This helped to reduce chronic inflammation and obesity-induced insulin resistance.

6 – Heart and blood vessels – it is believed that Cardarine can have a direct effect on your blood vessels by preventing oxidative damage. This reduces plaque build-up in your arteries, whilst increasing levels of nitric oxide. Low Cardarine dosages can reduce tissue damage and inflammation to your arteries, decreasing the risk of heart disease.

7 – Kidneys – it can reduce kidney inflammation (by reducing MCP-1 activity which is responsible for kidney disease).

8 – Liver damage – one of the main things Cardarine targets is your liver. This is because your liver is crucial for storing, burning and releasing fats into the body. It switches your energy source from glucose to fatty acids (via PPAR-delta activation). It also prevents insulin resistance in liver cells and when used short term can protect your liver from damage.

9 – Muscle growth and stamina – by activating PPAR-delta, Cardarine can encourage the development of muscle fibers, increasing your energy and endurance levels to nearly twice as long.

10 – Skin diseases – the activation of PPAR-delta can improve inflammation in skin cells that can occur as a result of skin diseases such as psoriasis.

11 – Wound healing – by increasing nitric oxide, this can help to optimize blood flows and improve wound healing.

How Cardarine works?

Cardarine works in one of two ways 1) by binding to and activating PPAR-delta in your cells (primarily in your muscles) and 2) by stimulating the genes responsible for energy use.

In doing so, Cardarine is able to: increase your energy levels; boost your metabolism; burn more fat; build muscles; improve cholesterol, heart health, and physical performance; reverse Type II diabetes, and decrease the presence of lipids in your blood.

But how does Cardarine work? Here’s the science:

One – Burns fat: by blocking the formation of fatty acid chains (which stop your body from storing fat); this forces your body to use existing fat stores for energy in a similar way to when your body goes into starvation mode.

Yet, unlike true starvation mode – where your body stores fat and cannibalizes muscle tissue for fuel – Cardarine shows no evidence of muscle wastage; meaning you can lose body fat without sacrificing your muscle gains.

Two – Muscle recovery: studies have shown that Cardarine can increase the oxygen usage of slow twitch fibers in your muscles; helping to improve performance and recovery. This means you can train at a lower intensity for a longer period of time.

Now whilst this type of program is better suited for beginners, it can boost muscle hypertrophy (high set, rep range and reduced rest) and stabilize your joints when lifting.

This combined with GW501516’s ability to improve muscle tissue recovery, allows you to benefit long term from increased muscle growth (without over stressing your muscle tissues).

Three – Energy: by binding to PPAR agonist receptors, Cardarine can affect your energy output, as it turns your gene activity around.

How is it used for bodybuilding – dosages, cycles, and stacks?

Cardarine is great for both bulking and cutting. So the Cardarine dosage you need will depend on where you are in your cycle.

Typically you should only take 10-20mgs of Cardarine a day, split over two dosages. This is due to Cardarine only having a half-life of 16-24 hours.

Bearing that in mind, for optimum fat loss you should split the 20mgs into two 10mg Cardarine dosages and take them roughly 3 hours before you exercise.

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU CYCLE FOR?

Like all SARMS, you should only supplement Cardarine for 12 weeks before taking a 4-6 week break at the end. This will allow you to achieve maximum results without having to PCT (although we personally feel PCT should always be done).

STACKING

The great thing about Cardarine is that you can stack it with almost anything. However, most bodybuilders choose to stack it with LGD 4033 and MK 2886.

– Solo – you can use Cardarine all by itself and take 10-20mgs a day.

– Anabolic steroids – Cardarine can help to counteract some of the harsher anabolic steroids on the market (in particular Trenbolone). It can offset negative endurance issues and help improve lipid health.

– Other SARMs – it is possible to stack with other SARMs such as Testolone and Andarine for fat loss, and Ligandrol and Ostarine for fat loss and endurance.

BULKING

Cardarine is good for creating clean bulking and lasting muscle gains. Simply take up to 20mg a day split over two dosages.

CUTTING

Stacked with Winstrol, Turinabol, Anavar, Masteron or Trenbolone; Cardarine can encourage greater weight/fat losses without adding any side effects.

If you want a safe and legal stack SARMs stack with Cardarine, click here to check out our SARMs cutting stack.

PCT

Cardarine is quite popular for PCT as it can help you to avoid ‘fat rebound’ once you come off your cycle, as well prevent drops in effectiveness and endurance when your cycle comes to an end.