Ever since Ephedrine was banned in the United States, there has been a dearth of viable alternatives that can selectively help burn body fat.
Not that Ephedrine isn’t available in the black market.
But if you are prepping for a competition, or just want to peel off the last few layers of stubborn body fat for the upcoming holiday season, then Clenbuterol is a better bet.
Clenbuterol or Clen, in short, is a very powerful bronchodilator that’s used for the treatment of asthma in most countries around the world. (1)
But it’s more popular as a ‘Thermogenic’ fat burner that can selectively target fat deposits while sparing muscle tissue.
Why, in animal-model studies, Clenbuterol was even found to have an anabolic effect where it promotes lean muscle tissue.(2)
That said,Clenbuterol is a drug that even seasoned bodybuilders use with a fair amount of caution.
Side effects are a given with it, but if you are careful and informed about dosing protocols, you can minimize them while getting the results you desire.
Here’s a brief primer for first timers using Clenbuterol.
Chemical Structure
Clenbuterol Hydrochloride is a sympathomimetic drug, also known as a Beta-2 receptor agonist.(3)
The term agonist means stimulant, while antagonist means suppressant.
In this case, Clenbuterol stimulates the beta-2 receptors which are present in the sympathomimetic nervous system.
The therapeutic effect of stimulating these receptors is that it reverses blockages in the airway that occurs during upper respiratory disorders such as asthma.
But in a performance enhancement setting, the result is that your basal metabolic rate is enhanced, which allows your body to accelerate lipolysis.
Dosage and Administration
While the effects of Clenbuterol are fairly straightforward and easy to understand, it is the dosage that most users will find to be tricky, and rightly so.
As you take a steady dose of a beta-2 agonist, your beta-2 receptors get downregulated, which means you need a higher dose to produce the same effect.
As a result, you must titrate your dosage slowly to continue producing the stimulant, fat burning effect of the drug.
The irony though, is that the higher you dose, greater the risk of experiencing side effects.
In fact, that’s the reason why Clenbuterol is used in therapeutic applications only if other drugs are deemed ineffective.
Also, therapeutic doses are typically as low as 20mcg and will rarely increase to 40mcg that too for a short period of time. These doses are typically very effective in reducing breathing problems.(4)
As a thermogenic, there are different schools of thought about the appropriate dosage protocol.
Continuous use : This is hands down, the easiest way to use Clenbuterol. Start with a low dose, say 20mcg/day and hold that dose for two weeks. Once your body adapts to this dose, bump it up by 20mcg/day and hold it for another two weeks. Continue increasing the dose until you achieve the desired results, or the side effects become too bothersome. Since Clenbuterol is a slow-acting
chemical, you can experience the stimulant effects for up to 5-weeks after you take the last dose.
Rotational use : Another popular dosage protocol requires you to cycle Clenbuterol on and off every two weeks. You will start with a low dose of Clen and increase it every two to three days until 14-days. Then you come off the drug for the next 14-days. This prevents the body from adapting to Clen and the frequent dosage increase also makes it more effective. At least that’s what anecdotal reports suggest.
Irrespective of which dosage protocol you use, total usage should not increase 6-8-weeks at a time. Also, 100mcg/day is the max tolerable dose for most users.
Only seasoned, pro bodybuilders typically dose above 120mcg and you can expect severe side effects at this dose.
Brand Names
Since Clenbuterol is widely used in therapeutic settings, there’s no dearth of pharmaceutical-gradedrugs for purchase on the internet.
It is reasonably priced and rarely faked.
Some of the popular brands are Astralean from Alpha Pharma, Clenbuterol HCL from Meditech and Clenbuterol from LA pharma.
Effects
As we mentioned briefly, the effects of Clenbuterol are extremely easy to understand.
As it stimulates the CNS and the sympathomimetic nervous system, your heart rate gets elevated and your body temperature increases ever so slightly.
This leads to an increase in lipolysis even at a resting stage. So, even when you are just lying on your couch watching TV, Clenbuterol primes your body to burn fat.
Milligram by milligram, it is one of the most powerful fat burners in the world, second only to DNP.
A lot of bodybuilders also use Clen because of the potential anabolic effect that it has on muscle tissue. However, we wouldn’t read too much into it. The effects, if any, are too minute to make a real difference to your body composition.
Safety and Side Effects
A majority of the side effects of Clenbuterol are due to the powerful CNS stimulating nature of the compound.
Just like any other stimulant, it makes you alert, gives you a jittery feeling that can last all day and in some cases, cause tremors.
The tremors can become bothersome at higher doses and also interfere with your ability to perform certain tasks, such as driving.
Insomnia is another common side effect that can be mitigated to an extent by altering the dosage timing. If you are used to taking your dose of Clen late in the afternoon, switch it to first thing in the morning and you should be able to reduce your instances of sleeplessness.
However, it has a very long half-life of 34-hours, which makes it impossible to avoid the stimulant effects completely.
In extremely rare cases, Clenbuterol has been associated with severe side effects such as high blood pressure, severe palpitations, panic attacks and cardiac hypertrophy, which can potentially lead to death.(5)
All said and done, these side effects are typically experienced at very high doses and with prolonged dosage protocols. Neither is recommended. As long as you stick to a normal dose and a short cycle, it is possible to derive excellent results with Clen without risking these sides.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clenbuterol
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/ajpendo.1992.263.1.E50
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Clenbuterol
https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/32/6/717.full.pdf
https://academic.oup.com/cardiovascres/article/37/1/115/540017