Why do bodybuilders inject insulin? And what are the risks?

Insulin is one of the most well-known hormones in the world and awareness of it is spread especially by people with diabetes, which requires its application. But few people know that insulin also brings a variety of effects for which top bodybuilders choose to abuse it. So, in our today's article, we will introduce this hormone and tell you what positives and especially what negatives it hides for building our muscles.

What is insulin?

First of all, a short introduction is certainly in order for those of you who know insulin only marginally. It is a peptide hormone produced in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Its primary function is to lower blood sugar levels by allowing sugar to get directly into the cells. Insulin occurs quite naturally in our bodies and is secreted both continuously (i.e. regardless of whether or what exactly we are eating), and there is a greater secretion of insulin after meals, when it is most useful, of course.

Do you know anyone who has diabetes? There are a number of aids available today, including, for example, insulin pens.

The bogeyman called diabetes

One of the most talked about diseases of civilization is diabetes, which is a disease in which the body is unable to produce enough insulin. A less common variant is type 1 diabetes, which is associated with an absolute lack of this hormone - a person's body usually stops producing enough insulin during adolescence. Scientists are still unsure of the origin of the disease, but genetic predisposition and most likely some environmental causes certainly play a role.

Slightly more common is type 2 diabetes, which occurs when cells become resistant to insulin(for example) due to poor diet and excess weight. The pancreas produces insulin in these circumstances, but the cellular response is not sufficient. And since the body cannot increase the amount of insulin produced indefinitely, sugar begins to build up in the blood, thus creating diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is usually preceded by a condition known as prediabetes, when the body's response to insulin begins to deteriorate. You may also experience thirst, frequent urination during the night, fatigue or temporary vision problems. Once you've been experiencing any of these symptoms for a long time, it's time to get blood tests and schedule a consultation with your doctor.

Back to bodybuilding

If you made it through our initial explanation, you may be wondering how insulin can benefit bodybuilders. Before pointing out the potential benefits, however, it should be added that over-the-counter insulin is illegal and if you are undergoing tests at competitions, you will have a problem taking insulin. And now we come to the benefits, which are essentially three:

Promotes muscle growth

In addition to controlling blood sugar, insulin has a number of other (and more sought-after for bodybuilders) benefits. One of these, for example, is its potential effect on proteosynthesis, the process by which protein is made in the body and, as a result, muscles grow. It's no wonder, then, that even studies going back many years find that insulin-takers have higher rates of protein synthesis while experiencing less muscle protein breakdown.

Insulin has the ability to stimulate protein synthesis, according to many studies, which is one of the reasons why bodybuilders use it.

It improves carbohydrate utilization

As you may have already managed to understand, insulin affects the utilization of carbohydrates in the body. And this is what bodybuilders can also look for. Surely you know that athletes usually replenish carbohydrates after a workout (although it may not be that important). Elite athletes can also use insulin before or after a workout, which can effectively improve blood flow and thus get sugar along with amino acids into the muscle. This will keep the muscles strong, bulky and most importantly it creates an optimal environment for them to grow. However, to achieve this effect, it is always necessary to take along with a carbohydrate-rich meal.

Increases the effect of steroids

Although insulin has a number of positive properties, if you were to compare its effect on muscle building with, for example, growth hormone, you would probably see incomparably smaller results. However, these substances do not go against each other, but together. In fact, according to the available research, it seems that the effect of insulin is better when taken with both anabolic steroids and the aforementioned growth hormone. Elite bodybuilders will certainly have more information on why to take insulin. The problem is that it is not very ethical to administer this hormone to healthy people and study the effect on muscles, and thus this issue rarely falls into the scientists' crosshairs. Certainly one could come up with interesting effects, but unfortunately the whole process has serious negatives.

Insulin is rarely given voluntarily to healthy people, like anabolic steroids, for example, and therefore we do not have enough studies.

Is there a downside?

As we have already hinted in the previous paragraph, insulin has its negatives. Not many of these are known yet, but they are all the more serious. Insulin would not survive the action of enzymes in the digestive system and therefore cannot be obtained in capsule or tablet form. It must always be injected, which in itself poses a risk to inexperienced athletes. Fortunately, however, it is usually injected into the abdomen, where the risk of puncturing a vein is less than with anabolics.

The most significant negative effect, of course, comes after the injection, when insulin mobilizes blood sugar in the body and its level logically drops. This can lead to hypoglycaemia, a serious condition that can manifest itself as uncontrollable tremors, irritability, pallor, seizures in extreme cases, loss of consciousness or even death. There are relatively few known cases of bodybuilders who have died after taking insulin.

Last but not least, if you have enough insulin and you start injecting it, you will increase your sensitivity to this hormone. This can be a huge complication for those of you who have naturally lower blood sugar levels, because it will lower it even further and you can experience some really very unpleasant conditions that can lead to hospitalization.

For recreational athletes, there is another way

If you're a recreational athlete who doesn't have great genetics and top competition ambitions, you shouldn't even think about insulin, because in that case you're on really thin ice. Rather, it is advisable to focus on those things that may not be as attractive, but are extremely important. A typical example is figuring out when and what carbohydrates are good for you post-workout.

When you take in the optimal amount of carbohydrates after training (a combination of these with insulinogenic BCAA amino acids and the right type of multi-ingredient protein has worked well for many athletes), you can really push your results in the long run. Conversely, it's a good idea to avoid fats and all fiber after training, and even little things like that have an impact on results. And if you make a mistake in them, unlike a mistake in taking insulin, it won't put you in the hospital.

You know what to have after your workout? That alone can move you forward significantly.

What can you take away from today's article?

The main thing you should take away from today's article is that insulin has long been a thing not just for people with diabetes, but top athletes are reaching for it too. For them, it can improve blood flow, bringing more nutrients to their muscles and ensuring optimal growth. And on top of that, it works synergistically with a range of anabolic steroids and growth hormone. However, nothing is as great as it seems - at the same time, insulin has a number of negatives primarily associated with poor application and subsequent lowering of blood sugar levels.

You may end up with hypoglycemia that leaves you shaky, agitated and even at risk of unconsciousness and death. Not to mention that insulin for non-medical purposes is not even allowed in this country.