Benefits of Peptides for Muscle Growth

The first thing you need to know when investigating the benefits of peptides for muscle growth is, what exactly are peptides? Peptides are interesting compounds of two or more amino acids in which a carboxyl group of one is joined to an amino group of another. Simply put, peptides are basically just small proteins. Technically, anything with fewer than fifty amino acids is considered a peptide, but that's not etched in stone. While a dipeptide is made up of two amino acids joined by one peptide bond, tripeptides are three amino acids bound by two peptide binds, and so on, a polypeptide is a long, un-branched chain of amino acids joined by peptide bonds that is not complex enough to be referred to as a protein, even though proteins are made up of polypeptides. If that sounds confusing, just keep in mind “protein.”

Since peptides are made from amino acids (protein), dietary intake of complete proteins make available all the amino acids necessary for production of all the peptides needed for the body to work at its best.

Various amino acids come together to create peptides that cause a vast stream of effects on the body. Peptides have been used by bodybuilders in recent years to achieve gains in muscle mass and ripped conditioning. While it's true that bodybuilders also use steroids, it's important therefore to understand the difference between them. Why do they use both steroids and peptides? Why do some use peptides and not steroids? While peptides cause fewer side effects than steroids – in some cases no side effects at all - the important distinction between peptides and steroids is the difference between muscle hyperplasia vs muscular hypertrophy respectively. Steroids increase protein synthesis in muscle to help grow and repair muscle fibers of the muscle you already have. The muscle fibers just get bigger - hypertrophy. Peptides, on the other hand, stimulate satellite cells on the muscle fibers to grow new muscle fibers – hyperplasia. So, bodybuilders use peptides to increase the number of muscle fibers, they use steroids to help increase the size of those fibers. Some just use peptides to grow lots of new muscle.

While the increase in muscle gain from peptides is in fact slower than the gains made with steroids, peptides don't cause you to retain fluids. All the gain in mass from peptides is muscle, not water. You only gain lean muscle mass. Also, since peptides enhance metabolic function, increasing your metabolism and consequently your energy level, you train harder in the gym and burn more fat, which makes that new muscle harder and more defined.

Additionally, all the new muscle you gain with peptides is permeant muscle. It doesn't go away when you stop using them. The increase in mass with steroids does diminish when you stop using them, both because the water weight dissipates and, since protein synthesis in muscle is attenuated when steroid use ceases, you lose size. The muscle gained with peptides isn't going anywhere.

The end result is that the benefits of peptides for muscle growth include better gains than with steroids, with relatively no side effects, such as water retention, gynecomastia, and no down regulation of natural testosterone production negating the need for post cycle therapy (PCT). And, since peptides cause few if any side effects, do not aromatize to estrogen or dihydrotestosterone (DHT), don't down regulate natural testosterone production or insult vital organs such as the liver and kidneys, you can take peptides virtually indefinitely.

As you can see, the benefits of peptides for muscle growth extend far beyond actually building muscle. Peptides increase metabolism which helps burn fat and help keep the muscle defined; peptides don't aromatize or convert to estrogen or DHT; don't effect natural testosterone production; and are not kidney or liver toxic. Peptides can be used year round to help keep your muscles growing.