The Morning Dose #13: Tesamorelin, Creatine and Long COVID, and GQ on Peptides

In this week’s edition of The Morning Dose:

Reader Q&A

 Peptide Spotlight: Tesamorelin

Research Spotlight: Creatine and Long COVID

In the News: GQ Magazine on Peptides

Let’s inject this.

First time reading? I’m Matt, and this is The Morning Dose. Every week, our team scours hundreds of sources to bring you need-to-know news and insights you won’t find elsewhere. All in 5 minutes.

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 Reader Q&A

Want us to answer your questions? Hit reply, ask us your training, nutrition, or peptide questions, and we’ll choose one to answer in each edition of The Morning Dose.

We can’t guarantee an answer, but we’ll pick an interesting question each week to share. And if you want to speak with us directly about your burning questions, our coaching team is available for consultations.

Here are this week’s questions.

“I’m a 25-year-old man, and my main goal is to hit 180kgs on the bench press. My max is 130kg, and that was 6 years ago. I have been out of training for about 3 months and would like to get back into some workout routines. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?”

-N.

Great question, and returning to training after a layoff is something many of us have dealt with over the years. We’ve been there, and we can help.

The most important thing is to start slowly and ease back into training for the first few weeks.

Building your bench press up to 130kg is impressive, and if you were able to do so, you were certainly training pretty hard… which means you’re probably tempted to jump right back into your old workouts.

If you’re not careful, this can dramatically increase the risk of injury.

For the first week or two, make sure you aren’t training to failure, and I’d only do 2-3 working sets of each exercise, with plenty of warm-ups.

You need to get your body used to strength training before you ramp up the intensity again.

We can’t provide a detailed plan for you without knowing a lot more about your training history, equipment access, injury history, and more.

That said, our coaches would love to help you increase your bench press and work with you, so you can check out our coaching page if you’d like a custom workout plan.

“Can you speak to whether GHRP peptides are beneficial for post-menopausal women who have a hormonal imbalance? Can they still be effective? Or would it be advisable to get the hormones balanced and then decide whether peptides would be beneficial?”

-V.G.

Whenever your hormones are out of balance, you want to figure out why things are out of balance and address the root cause before using any peptides.

If your growth hormone (GH) levels are low, you need to first figure out what’s causing the low GH in the first place, which could be any number of reasons. Low GH is a symptom of a bigger problem, and we need to find the cause.

Peptides can certainly be effective at increasing GH levels, but you need to make sure that’s addressing the root cause, which needs to be determined by your physician.

“What are the best peptides for hypertrophy and lean bulking? Some say CJC-1265 and Ipamorelin. Others say GHRP-6 and Hexarelin?”

–K.T.

All of those peptides do different things, and first and foremost, you need to make sure that you’re training, eating, and recovering correctly.

As far as hypertrophy, peptides really don’t make as much of a difference as you might expect, especially compared to steroids.

That said, if you are looking for hypertrophy, the best option is to look to increase growth hormone (GH) levels.

Of the two combinations you’ve listed, the first two will be your best option for helping raise GH levels. The second pair will have a bigger impact on hunger, not GH itself, but could be useful if you struggle with appetite.

“What are the recommended dosages for research myostatin inhibitors like GDF8 for people trying to build more muscle?

And is GDF8 a better alternative to Follistatin 314 or Ace 30?”

-M.S.

We don’t really know the best doses, as they haven’t been studied enough in humans yet.

It’s very individualized based on your own needs and goals, so we really can’t recommend any specific dosing protocols for your individual situation.

Free Peptide Mixing and Dosage Calculator

We have a free peptide dosing and reconstitution calculator for your next peptide haul, bookmark it!

 Peptide Spotlight: Tesamorelin

We’ve been getting a lot of requests to share information about specific peptides, so each week, we’re going to feature one lesser-known peptide that you may not be familiar with.

This week, we’re looking at Tesamorelin.

Tesamorelin is a peptide that triggers the secretion of growth hormone (GH) and is often prescribed to people with a deficiency of growth hormone (GH), particularly HIV patients.

The FDA-approved version is sold under the name Egrifta, and it’s prescribed to reduce excess abdominal fat in adult patients living with HIV and lipodystrophy, which is an abnormal distribution of body fat.

Of course, anything that increases GH is going to make its way into bodybuilding circles, as GH improves muscle growth and recovery.

Many celebrities often turn to GH injections for anti-aging benefits… but everything comes with a health risk. GH can stimulate the growth of all cells, including tumors within the body.

Not to mention, while injecting GH is one way to increase your levels and receive the benefits, pharmaceutical-grade GH can be quite expensive.

As an affordable alternative, Tesamorelin sends signals that tell your body to increase its own natural production.

It works by binding to the growth hormone-releasing hormone receptors (GHRHr) located in the anterior pituitary gland. This binding stimulates the somatotrophic cells in the pituitary gland to synthesize and secrete growth hormone (GH).

As with all peptides, Tesamorelin can have unpleasant side effects, so it’s best to speak with your physician, who can help you decide if Tesamorelin is right for you, and find the appropriate dosing for your goals.

To learn more, check out our complete guide to Tesamorelin.

Last Week’s Results

Last we asked: Do you take health supplements on a regular basis?

Here are the results:

I take a few essentials. 22%
I have a whole stack of supplements I use. 70%
I prefer to focus on a balanced diet. 3%

Interesting! Of course, we’re not surprised, as anyone interested in peptides is probably already using OTC supplements for their health. As long as what you’re taking is shown to be useful and effective, keep it up!

Speaking of supplements, up next we have some fascinating research…

 Research Spotlight: Creatine and Long COVID

Most people interested in health and fitness have heard about creatine by now.

It’s one of the most researched and safest supplements, and it’s been shown countless times to improve strength and power output. If you’re doing any kind of exercise, creatine is a must-have for optimal performance.

Over the last few years, more and more research has been looking into potential cognitive benefits, as creatine appears to reduce mental fatigue, provide neuroprotective benefits, and has even been associated with a reduced risk of depression.

As if that’s not enough reason to add this effective, safe, and affordable supplement to your daily routine, a new study published in Food Science & Nutrition showed that creatine may improve some of the symptoms of long COVID.

Long COVID refers to the symptoms that can linger for months, or even years, after the initial infection. Symptoms can include chronic fatigue, loss of taste or smell, headaches, and even difficulty breathing.

This study, although small, gave participants 4g of creatine monohydrate per day, which is just shy of the standard recommendation of 5g/daily.

After 6 months of daily supplementation, symptoms of long COVID significantly improved in creatine users compared to those who received a placebo.

Of course, the study was small, with only 12 participants, and it was funded by a company that manufactures creatine monohydrate, so there could be some potential bias.

However, given that decades of research show that creatine is very safe and effective, we’re not surprised that it may help with some of these lingering symptoms, and there’s certainly no harm in taking creatine every day.

In the News: GQ Magazine on Peptides

We’re always interested to see peptides go mainstream, and two days ago, GQ Magazine published a very in-depth story on the rising popularity of peptides, called How Unregulated Peptides Became the Hottest Thing on the Fringes of Fitness and Anti-Aging.

Lover or hate it, GQ is primarily known for covering men’s fashion and lifestyle, not anti-aging and science, so we were a bit surprised to see them covering peptides not named semaglutide.

That said, the author did an impressive job researching the current state of peptides and spoke to a variety of experts when writing this piece.

If you’d like to read the full article, we’ve linked it above, but their conclusions aren’t that surprising to those of us who’ve been keeping up with peptide news.

The article claims that while peptides are very promising, and may have powerful medical implications, there simply aren’t enough human studies yet on many of the popular peptides.

While we’re a bit more pro-peptide than the experts quoted in the article, we’re on the same page…

All peptides carry some degree of risk, so do your own research and speak to your doctor first.

And if you haven’t visited our website in a while, be sure to check out our peptide section, which is packed with in-depth user guides to every common peptide in use, if we’re missing one just let us know and we’ll add it!