Does Insulin Increase Muscle Mass?

[EndAllDisease]

Two friends of mine have injected insulin into themselves to encourage muscle growth in combnation with strength training and noticed large gains in size.

I want to understand the mechanism behind this phenomenon and how it works.

 

[Brian]

Yes, it does. An optimal bodybuilding diet would emphasize insulin secretion. It seems strange to me to inject insulin when refined starch raises insulin very effectively. Good for a bodybuilder, generally bad for a sedentary person especially if their diet is anything but very low fat.

 

[Miggie]

Yes it does, the pancreas can only secrete so much insulin at a given time. So if someone were to inject insulin while eating a lot of food all these nutrients would get shuttled into the cells.

 

[youngandold]

I also say
Yes it does

But you can also increase fat.
You'll get better info on an anabolic steroid forum.
But don't use steroids as they are bad for you.

 

[EndAllDisease]

Okay so from your replies the consensus seems to be that the injected insulin will move more nutrients into the cell, essentially boosting the metabolism and raw materials for the body to produce muscle with. Am I on the right track in saying that?

 

[goodandevil]

I guess the question would be whether fructose or insulin results in more gains, plus if your beta cells decreased, would there be a loss in mass when you stop it?

 

[Miggie]

post 115503 I also say
Yes it does

But you can also increase fat.
You'll get better info on an anabolic steroid forum.
But don't use steroids as they are bad for you.

Thats what they always fearmonger on the bodybuild boards but speaking from experience and using insulin myself I can say that it actually burns fat rather than increases it. A lot of guys I know that use insulin say the same thing.

 

[EndAllDisease]

post 115804 Thats what they always fearmonger on the bodybuild boards but speaking from experience and using insulin myself I can say that it actually burns fat rather than increases it. A lot of guys I know that use insulin say the same thing.

If the muscle-building effect of insulin is a result of an increase in the metabolic rate, then the idea that it would burn fat would also make sense. Your experience adds weight to the hypothesis that insulin use reduces fat rather than adds it. Thanks for sharing.

post 115783 I guess the question would be whether fructose or insulin results in more gains

Great line of thinking. Aside from studying identical twins who workout the exact same way, with the exact same intensity, the same daily caloric expenditure, and on diets the exact same except one consumes only glucose and the other only fructose, it would be difficult to establish.

 

[golder]

Has Ray spoken much, be it favourably or unfavourably, about the efficacy of using insulin around the workout window for those looking to add size?