Drinking Albuterol new trend for body builders

Just like any other medicine, albuterol can be abused.  Surely you have the asthmatic or COPD patient who uses it too much.  But I'm referring to the body builder who ingests vials of albuterol to help burn fat and build muscle.

metamorphosis.com describes how Albuterol is used by body builders as a fat burner. It is a stimulant much like "Benadryl with Clenbuterol" but without the shakes.

The author explains how it works:

But in my own personal experience, Albuterol produces a much "cleaner" type of stimulant effect than Clenbuterol. I don’t know how to really describe this other than to say that the "Clen-shakes" just aren’t as bad with Albuterol…in addition, I’m able to focus better on my work when I use Albuterol, while with Clen I’m stimulated but not really focused."

Like short acting anabolic steroids, the author said, albuterol is a shorter acting version of Clen, and thus burns fat quicker.

You'd think if albuterol helped with weight loss I would stick thin, considering I've been inhaling the stuff since 1985.  Apparently I haven't been taking enough.

According to the author, it works this way:

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has used Clenbuterol as well as Albuterol is that when you stimulate your beta receptors, it causes something called vasodilatation (increased blood flow). Stimulation of these receptors also stimulates the break down of fatty acids into the blood stream for use as fuel, which causes a reduction in stored fat. Of course, this increased blood flow also comes with an increased heart rate.

This explains how Beta-2 adrenergic stimulation can also increase your body temperature a bit…however this isn’t something that’s too noticeable on a hermometer…most people will feel a bit hotter, and some will even break a sweat

(I fall into the latter category). Beta-agonists work to do this by increasing heat production in the cell’s powerhouse, the mitochondria, which will also increase your basal metabolic rate, and decrease your appetite. Not too many people feel hungry after a whopping dose of stimulants.

These guys even have a dose down pat. He (or she) said it's 4-8 mg three times a day. He recommends, for those who can get their hands on it, drinking it.

Other sites I've Googled give similar advice, with a similar dosing.

There have even been some studies done to prove this.

One post I found described how some people are faking asthma just so they can get a prescription to Albuterol just for this reason. Yet the author explained that Albuterol has no bronchodilator effect on non-asthmatics, thus "technically, albuterol is not a performance-enhancing drug in a non-asthmatic."

A study published in the European Journal of Applied Physical and Occupational Physiology proved that Albuterol has no effect on performance. The study followed 15 highly trained cyclists, and some of them were given 4 puffs (400 micrograms) of Albuterol 20 minutes prior to exercise, and this had no effect on performance.

However, this dosing was way less than the 4-8 mg recommended by some bodybuilders.

Albuterol, I suppose, is a lot safer than other body building drugs, such as anabolic steroids.  Still, such an abuse of a medicine could potentially result in undesirable side effects. So abuse at your own risk.

This post was originally published on August 29, 2008; it has since been edited.

Further reading:

• What happens when you drink albuterol?
• thinksteroids.com: albuterol
• Neurology.org.  Randomized, double bind, placebo controlled trial, of albuterol in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, J.T. Kissel, et al, Oct. 23, 2001, 
• European Journal of Applied Physical and Occupatoinal Physiology: "The effect of salbutamol on performance in endurance cyclists, 1996, Norris, et al