So, recently, and when I say recently, I think sometime in September of 2018, an interesting study started making its way around the Internet, generating a lot of hype about the potential of Viagra to increase muscle mass.. by a lot. Yeah, you read that right.
Even though it’s only now, when the interest in this study has skyrocketed, that we’re finding out about the significance of sildenafil for muscle growth, the study was published back in 2013 in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. It’s an open access study that you can take a closer look at here.
Basically, the study showed that sildenafil, the medical term for the active ingredient in Viagra, increases muscle protein synthesis and reduces muscle fatigue. In fact, the results shown were so impressive that they lead the researchers to note that the doubling of the skeletal muscle protein synthesis made possible by sildenafil ingestion was similar to that of 200mg/week testosterone injection.
Now, whenever I see a study with such big claims like this one, with no other additional studies to double check its claims, it gets me very skeptical, making me literally hunt for the potential obvious issues in the study, and there were few that caught my eye here.
And the first thing was the small scope and size of the study, meaning the number of study subjects. Only eleven men participated in the study. Five of them were in the Viagra group, and the other six were in the placebo group. Another thing that got me concerned was that, while these test subjects were described as healthy males, when you take a look at their body composition data, they were quite overweight, with average body fat percentages sitting between 27% and 35%.
Still, such a crazy spike in Viagra-driven muscle protein synthesis seemed just too impressive to ignore, so I decided to dive right in and do my research in order to make you guys better understand the results of this study.
One of the main questions that concerned me is how long did the protein synthesis made possible by sildenafil last, because powdered protein on its own is able of stimulating muscle protein synthesis as well, on an almost identical level as Viagra did in this study, where protein stimulated synthesis lasts between 2-4 hours, after which it gets back to basal again.
For testosterone itself, the elevated muscle protein synthesis levels stay sky high for almost the entire week. So the question that study failed to give an answer to was, did Viagra elevate synthesis for an hour, a few hours, or the entire day, because we know that its half-life is measured in terms of hours, definitely not days.
Of course, the fact that the effects of protein synthesis measured, just for popping a pill, is pretty darn amazing, especially if it synergizes with protein and exercise.
Now back to the small sample size problem. While the study group was, in fact, small, the statistical difference it terms of results between the Viagra group and the Placebo group was extremely big, so even if I wanted to, I cannot lightly discredit the study. The results are pretty darn convincing. Viagra muscle growth is really the thing!
Another possible issue that I found with the study is that it measured the rates of MIXED skeletal muscle protein synthesis, which might not be as applicable to bodybuilders as much as we’d like to think. Because, when it comes to bodybuilding, the protein synthesis that we care about the most is the myofibrillar protein synthesis.
While myofibrillar synthesis, when it comes to strength training athletes, is of the biggest importance, the authors of this study weren’t necessarily interested in it. Mixed synthesis has a far greater level of importance when metabolic health is concerned, which was probably the authors’ main overall sphere of interest. So yeah, for guys like you and me, it’s pretty disappointing that they didn’t pay closer attention to the myofibrillar protein synthesis.
Another thing that I found interesting is that they said that the study was randomized, double-blind, which basically means that the subjects didn’t really know that they were on Viagra when their protein synthesis was measured, which I don’t really know exactly how you could blind the fact that you’re giving your subjects Viagra, the pill that you would very much notice to work because of it’s primary effects on male erection.
As someone who’s got experience with Viagra and responds well to it, muscle pump would definitely not be the only kind of pump I’d be getting while lifting. But hey, maybe their subjects don’t take the very act of lifting as arousing as I do. Lol
The paper also showed reduced muscle fatigue, where their reps on a set of leg extensions would go up by a whopping 150%, which again seems impressive since volume, as we know, is a primary driver of muscle hypertrophy. So if Viagra was able to increase the volume of total reps, it definitely means that it directly leads to greater muscle gains.
Of course, before you decide to add the famous blue pill to the stack, you have to remember that like with many things, good effects can be coupled with bad effects, and just by simply looking at the Viagra website, there’s a pretty big list of side effects, including headache, flushing, upset stomach dizziness and the thing that I myself experienced while using it a few times – blue to purple color visual tinge, so you want to be careful.
Remember that while this study does show some promise, I think that until additional studies are done and some more research on it comes out, I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.
This would pretty much wrap this article up.
