💪 Category
Muscle Growth & Performance Peptides
Growth-hormone secretagogues and IGF-pathway compounds studied for lean mass, recovery, and body composition.
Growth-hormone secretagogues and IGF-pathway compounds studied for lean mass, recovery, and body composition.
Muscle-growth and performance peptides mostly work through one of two systems: the growth-hormone (GH) axis or the IGF-1 / myostatin pathways. GH secretagogues — the GHRPs (ipamorelin, GHRP-6, GHRP-2, hexarelin) and GHRH analogs (CJC-1295, sermorelin) — prompt the pituitary to release the body's own growth hormone, rather than injecting GH directly.
The IGF-pathway compounds (IGF-1 LR3, MGF, PEG-MGF) and myostatin-pathway agents (follistatin, ACE-031) aim to drive muscle growth more directly. Important context: with the partial exception of sermorelin's history, none of these is an approved therapeutic for muscle building, they are sold as research chemicals, and all are prohibited in sport by WADA. Human outcome data for physique or performance are limited to absent.
A synthetic peptide related to Thymosin Beta-4, an actin-binding protein involved in cell migration and tissue repair.
Read the guide →A selective growth-hormone secretagogue (a ghrelin-receptor agonist) studied for stimulating the body's own GH release with relatively few off-target effects.
Read the guide →A growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog engineered for a longer half-life, studied for sustained elevation of GH and IGF-1.
Read the guide →A growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog and FDA-approved drug (Egrifta) for reducing excess abdominal fat in people with HIV-associated lipodystrophy.
Read the guide →A GHRH analog (the first 29 amino acids of GHRH) historically FDA-approved for assessing growth-hormone secretion, now commonly compounded for “anti-aging” use.
Read the guide →An early growth-hormone-releasing peptide (ghrelin mimetic) notable for strongly stimulating appetite alongside GH release.
Read the guide →A long-acting analog of insulin-like growth factor 1, sold primarily as a cell-culture lab reagent and used illicitly in bodybuilding despite serious safety concerns.
Read the guide →A naturally occurring protein that binds and inhibits myostatin — a brake on muscle growth — making it a major target in muscle-wasting research, mostly via gene therapy.
Read the guide →A potent growth-hormone-releasing peptide (ghrelin mimetic) that also shows direct cardiovascular activity in research, but tends to cause receptor desensitization with continued use.
Read the guide →A growth-hormone-releasing peptide (as “pralmorelin”) used in some countries as a diagnostic agent for growth-hormone deficiency, and studied for GH release and appetite.
Read the guide →A splice variant of IGF-1 (IGF-1Ec) produced by muscle in response to mechanical stress, studied for activating muscle stem cells and repair.
Read the guide →A soluble activin receptor (ActRIIB-Fc) that acts as a “trap” for myostatin and related factors to build muscle — but whose clinical development was halted over vascular safety signals.
Read the guide →A pegylated (longer-lasting) version of Mechano Growth Factor (MGF), intended to extend MGF's muscle-repair signaling in the bloodstream.
Read the guide →A dipeptide concentrated in muscle and brain, studied for buffering exercise fatigue, anti-glycation, and antioxidant effects — though muscle levels are usually raised through its precursor, beta-alanine.
Read the guide →One of the original synthetic growth-hormone-releasing peptides (a ghrelin-receptor agonist), studied since the early 1990s for stimulating the body's own GH but now overshadowed by newer GHRPs.
Read the guide →They can raise growth hormone and IGF-1 levels, but robust human trials showing meaningful muscle or strength gains in healthy people are lacking. Popular use far outpaces the evidence, and effects, dosing and long-term safety are not established.
GHRPs (like ipamorelin and GHRP-6) act on the ghrelin receptor, while GHRH analogs (like CJC-1295 and sermorelin) act on the GHRH receptor. Because they hit complementary pathways, the two types are often discussed together for a larger GH response.
Most are unapproved research chemicals rather than legal medicines, and all growth-hormone secretagogues, IGF-1 analogs and myostatin inhibitors are banned at all times under the World Anti-Doping Agency code.
Long-term human safety is largely unknown. Driving the GH/IGF-1 axis carries theoretical risks, some myostatin-pathway drugs (ACE-031) were halted for vascular safety, and unregulated products have purity and sterility concerns.