Question
With the release of that Ecdysterone study a few months back, it seems to have made an impact. What I mean is I’m seeing it a lot more on the shelves, even as an ingredient in pre-workouts! I’ve also read conflicting stuff about what hormones it affects. But I thought it was non-hormonal?
Answer
The positive findings of the WADA human study have in fact generated a new buzz around Ecdy, although to be honest I was expecting more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Ecdysterone Source
What is bad is companies rushing low quality Ecdysterone products to market, this time using a new spin on the old inferior source coming from Cyanotis Vaga. I’m not sure if the new stuff (Cyanotis Arachnoides) is just cheaper or easier to cultivate. Perhaps both. One thing’s for sure – steer clear of it. The fact is that well done Ecdy products aren’t cheap – they never have been.
Last week, I gave you a peak into some of the reasons why. When it’s only harvested once a year from one of the most foreboding places on the planet (Siberia)… that’s all factored into the cost.
Is Ecdysterone Non Hormonal?
With respect to Ecdysterone being non-hormonal well…. Yes and no. No, in the sense it contains any active hormones such as testosterone, etc. Nor does it do anything to increase your body’s natural production of testosterone. Yes, in the sense that we now know it works through the ER2 or Estrogen Receptor Beta.
This pathway was entirely unexpected, as many people believed that because it didn’t dock at the androgen receptor like steroids or SARMS, it couldn’t possibly work. Well, the joke is on them, and they were fools to think that pathway was the only one
Some studies also indicate Ecdy lowers cortisol, and by no small amount. Personally, I think this is spot on and explains the rapid recovery many experience with it. Still another mechanism involves a rapid influx of calcium into the muscle cell.
Pay particular attention to this shifting of intracellular minerals, because it’s one of the reasons certain oral and injectable anabolics work so well to increase strength. At the end of the day, I think you’ll find at least 4 and possibly more metabolic pathways by which Ecdy works.
Insofar as being non-hormonal, it is in the sense there’s no endogenous test shutdown, disrupted feedback loops from use, even long term use that I’ve observed.
Bottom Line
Get around 100-200mg of a good, full spectrum RCE and stay on it for at least 10 weeks. I think you’ll find you wind up with more muscle, less fat and a far better VO2 max than you otherwise would..
