I’m on the sauce!
Well, not exactly
On December 31st I administered my first dose of BPC-157.
Let’s start at the beginning
What is it and what does it do?
BPC-157 stands for Body Protective Compound. It is a peptide. A peptide is a chain of amino acids that signal certain actions in the body. BPC-157 signals wound healing, tissue repair and gut health things (not the area I am particularly versed or interested). It can be taken orally or subcutaneously.
What is the science saying?
The data on rodents is…nothing short of amazing. The data on humans basically doesn’t exist. There are ample anecdotal statements from a surprisingly wide variety of fitness influencer types. Searching the compound on YouTube will give you a lot to review.
What are the risks?
In a direct sense, not a whole lot. You have your ordinary risk of infection and site reactions. But the compound itself is native to your body, it would be somewhat similar to Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) or using stem cells.
Indirectly, because of its action for growth, it could also grow…cancer. This is not the same as *causing* cancer, it would be more of an accelerant for it. So discretion is advised for anyone with cancer history or increased cancer risk.
Why did I start doing this?
I sustained an acute injury to my elbow in October of 2024. Realizing very few options existed to get this thing back to 100%, I opted to explore. I postponed surgery as I didn’t think that would be an outcome that would prove beneficial to my long-term health and fitness, with specific concerns about use of my elbow after a surgical intervention.
I am frankly interested in this kind of stuff as well. If the therapy has the delivery of its promise, it is a game changer. If that were to occur, there would be a fairly liberal recommendation for its use to my clients. As I am taking a highly medically supervised route, I am operating at the highest standard possible in execution.
What has been my experience so far?
Aside from the completely unexpected and downright comical aversion I display to needles, it has been fine. Administering the drug is pretty straight forward. I administer two injections (one in the abdomen and one in the elbow) daily for 6 weeks. All of the supplies came to me in a nice complete package to administer for the whole 6 weeks.
The effects are not 100% crystal clear, but they are initially very promising. I very obviously have more access to pain free range in other areas that were bugging me. In fact, by the time I actually started treatment, my elbow had subsided in its sensations to almost zero anyway. I have been using other stubborn tweaks and aches as a proxy for progress.
My left Achilles has little to no sensation walking down the stairs in the morning. Whereas it used to burn enough to alter my gait. Once I got moving, it was fine – which is part of the problem. It simply never got bad enough to really focus on.
My groin eases into length much more quickly. I sustained a pretty significant tweak pursuing some ranges I wasn’t ready for buy my ego was eager to explore. I paid the price and several months later my groin is stiff and reluctant to warm up.
My shoulders have more access more quickly to sensitive ranges. Despite having made miles of amazing progress on my shoulders, they still fall short of “ordinary effortless shoulder movement” that you can see in just about every kid before they play sports. My goals remain that lofty as I rely on my shoulder heavily for my activity and enjoyment.
I am a mere week into this process and every single one is the best it’s been in months.
Accompanying this, I will also be pressure testing these tissues to “drive demand” to sites of irritation. Since the thrust of the drug is healing, I want to strategically create damage by way of exercises that will cause blood flow and some adaptation on their own.
My sense is this combination can give me the level up in adaptation that will allow me to clear these hurdles long term and not face them again after the treatment “wears off.”
Is this “cheating?”
I have no idea – you be the judge! But let me frame it to you like this, I have contemplated using TRT and steroids in the past. My thought process was simple, those compounds can actually increase your native sites of muscle growth. A single cycle could create a higher ceiling for long term muscle growth even if not using the compounds long term. That is tantalizing as I get into the second half of my life.
However, the stigma attached to them would make it unlikely I would ever recommend them for a client to use. And if my clients are unlikely to use them, then the results I pose will be incongruent with what is reasonably attainable. My body is a walking billboard for what is possible.
On the other hand, I will likely recommend this compound readily in the future. My clients could expect to get the same benefit I have (or will have gotten). As such, it merely becomes an extended part of my tool kit no different than getting adjusted at the chiropractor or getting cupping therapy – and recommending those services as a result. Those things alone are still items that some people are hesitant to get, so I’m not particularly concerned if some stigma lingers on an intervention.
I know plenty of folks who recreationally take steroids for their own personal journey at the gym. They aren’t MLB sluggers or Olympic hopefuls. They are just folks evaluating the risks as it contributes to their fitness goals. I don’t have any objection to this.
As a fitness professional, I drew a personal line in the sand because I would be displaying unreachable benefits to my client that they couldn’t hope to achieve on their own. The stigma of steroids (and the very real consequences that one could endure) does make it a very unappealing intervention for almost all people.
Would I recommend BPC-157 to someone else?
For all of the reasons above: yes.
In Summary
– The risks are low, or at least calculated to your personal circumstances for cancer
– The benefits are high and appear to be relatively immediate
– It does NOT mess with your endocrine system (the primary downside of steroids)
– It is pretty cheap all things considered. I went super high end medically supervised, compounding pharmacy purity and I’ll be out maybe $800 for the whole thing (including blood work, review, meds, needles, everything)
– Are you indifferent to needles? Great, you can barely feel it
– Are you scared of needles? So was I, I got over it.
– Do you have a nagging persistent joint or connective tissue problem that won’t subside despite best efforts? Worth a shot (pun intended)!
What do you think on the matter?