11/21/12

Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts

Home

Products

Nutrition

Training

BioJacked Radio

Publications

Forums

Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts
WARNING: This article isnt for the general public. Its definitely, unequivocally not. I wouldnt tell you to run your daily driver on pure ethanol formulated for Grand Prix racing, so if youre already happy riding around in that Honda Civic body of yours, more power to you. This post, however, is for fire-breathing monstersnot necessarily race cars, but the Lamborghinis and Bugattis of the world seeking a balance between ultraperformance, aesthetics, and longevity. Proceed with caution here. Treacherous Turns Ahead. Dont tell me you just train to be strong, because Ill know youre lying. As people who train our asses off, were all constantly looking to accelerate the fat burning process while we add muscle. Nobody wants to spend hours in the gym, benching 315 for reps, before hitting the nightclub in a muumuu. Trouble is, all the so-called good stuff that physique competitors use and abuse is kept hidden away from the public as a result of an unspoken code of silence. Theyre also illegal. The law says you cant take fat-burners like clenbuterol, albuterol and ephedrine anymore. This, however, may not be a bad thing, because research has shown that theyre not quite as effective as the bodybuilding world makes them out to be. These fat-burners all target fat cells in the same way. Adrenaline uses particular receptors on fat cells to make them dump their fat load and empty out. The three I mentioned above target fat cells either by causing a release of adrenaline, or by using the same receptors as adrenaline. Theyll stop working if you use them long enough. Thats because after a while, your cells become immune to catecholamines in generalwhich means they become immune to the effects of adrenaline. You develop a sort of adrenaline diabetes, where these fat burners stop doing what theyre supposed to do[1-4]. There is, however, a surprisingand highly controversial solution: nic otine.

sign up for the dh newsletter

Name:

Email:

Subscribe
Our strict privacy policy keeps your email address 100% safe & secure.

Way Outsid e T he Bo x
Okay, before you write me off as an attention whore and tell me to go fuck myself in utter disgust, hear me out, because theres plenty of research indicating that nicotine can be a very effective replacement for even the most reputed fat burners, illegal or otherwise. It shares some of their properties without suffering from their failings. Nicotine, like other stimulants, raises lipoprotein lipase in muscle tissue but lowers it in fat cells[5]. Translation: your muscles can absorb and burn triglycerides easily, but your fat cells cant store it. In short, nicotine makes it harder to get fat. Right, but dont all the beta-adrenergic agonists do that? Sure, thats the reason contest-prep

dangerouslyhardcore.com/2521/can-nicotine-safely-burn-fat-and-build-muscle-the-surprising-facts/

1/6

11/21/12

Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts
coaches recommend them in such copious amounts, because they need to fix the problems their shitty old-school diets cause. Nicotine, however, comes with a little bit of magic. It actually stimulates the release of fat from fat cells and prevents storage by stimulating a different set of receptors[6]. These are the receptors targeted by the cholinomitics that reside in coffee. Ive discussed these previously, but nicotine is far more intense. As a result, even if you go into that adrenaline diabetes I mentioned earlier, nicotine will still stimulate your fat cells to keep dumping fat.
Most people have a hard time finding their way out of

recent comments
the box.

Avo13 on Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts Aaron Anderson on Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts Aaron Anderson on Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts Kenneth Yim on Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts mrjiggyfly21 on Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts

But Wait T he re s Mo re

Yours absolutely free, at no additional charge, is nicotines ability to potentiate muscle growth. Thats right: youll lean out and build muscle at the same time. What makes nicotine so effective for cutting and general fat loss is the fact that its also an effective stimulator of the mTOR pathway[7]or simply TOR, as its now conventionally known. TOR is your anabolic primer. If you want to grow more muscle tissueor any tissue, for that matterit has to be turned on. When youre cutting, youre in a state of calorie deprivation, which automatically decreases TOR. Nicotine, however, turns it back oneven when youre going through a rigorous cutting process. This also gives us a non-nutrient way to turn TOR back on after an overnight fast, which if taken too long depresses TOR activation. Nicotine can also increase nitrous oxide (NO) production during training, and it activates the AMPK pathway[8]. This carries a twofold advantage. First, free-radical accumulation during training can ignite muscle growth, but its a hermetic response. Elevating it for a while is good, but elevating it for too long is bad. Theres evidence that nicotine causes a short-lived burst. AMPK activation also prevents fat cellsonce againfrom storing fat. Im still not done. Recent studies elucidate several previously unknown pathways that downregulate myostatin, the protein that prevents muscles from getting big. Nicotine stimulates one of these myostatin-bashing pathways[9].

Training Nutrition Myth Debunking Product Reviews Rants Training Logs

Sto p Be ing Stup id e r

Nicotine also has nootropic effects, which means it can improve cognitive function, particularly working memory[10-11]. And no, working memory isnt your recollection of the horrors inflicted on you over the years by your asshole boss while you sat in a biomechanically disadvantageous position in your cubicle and got fatter on a daily basis. Rather, working memory is
Nicotine will turn doing calculus into a joke.

blogroll
Brian Carroll on EliteFTS Jason Pegg's No BS Strength Training Juggernaut Training Systems Julia Ladewski (powerlifter) Mac on a Mission Monster in Training The Carb Nite Solution

your ability to reason correctly, succinctly, and efficiently[12]. So, yes, nicotine can make you

smarter. Maybe not Einstein smart, but youll be able to figure out what Im talking about at least 90 percent of the timeand during that other 10 percent, chances are Im not even sure what the hell Im talking about, so youre good.

Slo w Do wn Kille r
Smarter? Stronger? Impervious to adrenaline diabetes? I bet youre not even reading anymore because youre checking Nicorette prices on Amazon. As exciting as all this research is, however, its all still very new, and only through continued work will we discover exactly how powerful these effects are and how we can best utilize them for our performance and aesthetic goals. Whats not newand whats established factis that nicotine burns fat. Nicotine accelerates fat burning in two major ways. In order to burn fat, youve got to get it out of

dangerouslyhardcore.com/2521/can-nicotine-safely-burn-fat-and-build-muscle-the-surprising-facts/

2/6

fat cells. Nicotine, because of its unique receptor stimulation on fat cells, causes them to dump fat like a drunk sorority girl puking her guts out after a party[6, 13-14]. Because of this, nicotine is not appropriate for a carb-based diet because the simultaneous increase of triglyceride levels, insulin, and blood sugar can cause all the problems associated with diabetesand fat cells exposed to nicotine and insulin simultaneously can actually increase the rate of fat storage in fat cells[15]. The fat-dumping potential of nicotine also increases with physical activity, so the more you moveor the more intense your movement isthe more fat youll burn[16]. Your resting energy output also goes up with nicotine ingestion. This appears to happen primarily through an upregulation of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). The uncoupling proteins, when present in high amounts, disrupt the bodys ability to create ATP, and the excess energy gets wasted as body heat. This is how mammals regulate body temperature, and its also why starving yourself for fat loss decreases energy output. Calorie deprivation downregulates UCP1[17]. Nicotine re-stimulates UCP1[18-19], so you keep burning fat even if you drop calories. And speaking of calorie deprivation, nicotine can help there, too. Its an excellent appetite suppressor[20-22].

T he C o ntro ve rsy
Nicotine hasnt been linked to bodybuilding until now, obviously, because the question thats on everyones mind is whether its cancerous. As it turns out, its not. It wont trigger cancer development because its neither mutagenic nor clastogenic, but that doesnt mean were out of the woods just yet. Nicotine is a prime regulator of TOR, and every cell in your body has a TOR pathway to grow. So, since nicotine can continuously stimulate growth, its a very bad idea to put it in your body if you already have cancer. This is analogous to taking growth hormone. If you take growth hormone when you have cancer, youll accelerate the growth of the cancer. Circumin supplementation, however, has been shown to negate this effect[23]. Also keep in mind that the dosage of nicotine that smokers get is around 40-60 mg per day. As youll see below, the nicotine dosage necessary to get these positive effects is only 1-4 mg per day.

T he P ro to co l
If youre thinking a few moves ahead, youve probably figured out by now that you should take your nicotine first thing upon waking. This is how you can re-ignite mTOR activity without eating, thus allowing you to push your meals back a little further if youve found that works better with your lifestyle. All it can possibly do is increase fat burning and mental awareness. You only need 1 mg, although Id highly recommend cutting this dosage in half to see how you react[25]. If youve never been exposed to nicotinelike me, before I started this regimenit can leave you seriously mangled in the form of light-headedness and dizziness. Avoid operating heavy machinery or lifting heavy weights over your head, at least for the first few minutes. After this, take another 1 mg in the afternoon, a few hours before training. This is the protocol Id suggest when using either Carb Nite or Carb Back-Loading. For Carb Nite, the morning dose ensures quick clearance. Nicotine clears the system in roughly 24 hours, but this takes longer in the evening[24], and its hard to sleep with the elevated body temperature this causes. The same is true for Carb Back-Loading, but in that case, you dont want to ingest nicotine with carbs because of the adverse effects discussed earlier. Also, ingesting nicotine earlier in the day can cause transient insulin resistance[26], which means that if youre ingesting nicotine while on Carb Back-Loading, you absolutely must resistance train. I recommend chewing gum twice per day on training days, and only once per day on non-training daysor not at all. You should also make sure that you train on your actual Carb Nites if youre going to implement nicotine usage while on The Carb Nite Solutionor abstain from nicotine for 24 hours before you feast.

Stack It

11/21/12

Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts
Dont be afraid to stack your nicotine and caffeine. I would lower your caffeine dosage from the maximum recommended training amount (800 mg) to 200 mg at most, an amount research shows to be an effective adjunct to the nicotine for fat loss and mobilization during training[25].

P o we r Is Kno wle d g e
Yes, I know. Ive got it backwards here, but in this case, its appropriate. Power is knowing how to use these cutting-edge techniques without affecting your health. The best time to use nicotineand the only time I use it with clients is during the last 4-6 weeks of contest preparation, or to help a powerlifter who has a lot of body fat to lose. Personally, I like to chew a 2 mg piece first thing in the morning, every other
I dont know about you, but Id rather cruise around in a Bugatti than a Honda Civic.

day. Even when doing this, Ill never chew nicotine gum for more than eight weeks at a time without taking a break of four weeks or longer.

You should adopt this protocol if youre thinking about incorporating nicotine.

Wrap p ing It Up
So, there it is. Weve discussed all the good things nicotine can do for you, while addressing the bad, too. Im here to provide cutting-edge knowledge to help you reach your goals faster and more efficiently without jeopardizing your health. This protocol is ideal for competitors who are leaning out, because it accelerates their fat loss while keeping them anabolicwhich means far less muscle loss in most cases, and muscle gain during the lean-down phase. This can work for you, too. Lets be perfectly clear, though. Im not recommending that everyone go out and try this. This is bleeding-edge science, and the consequences of such low-dose administration are unknown. From animal studies that use quantities in the range of micrograms-per-kilogram, the effects seem to be all positive, but these studies havent been done with humans. Its safe enough, however, that researchers have considered using it as a treatment for Alzheimers. As I said in my introduction, proceed with caution. Until theres significantly more research done on the subject, the use of nicotine will remain controversial. Research on fat loss conclusively shows its benefit in that regardand when compared to the illegal branch of the fat-burner family, it may actually be worth a try. My purpose here is to relay to you whats in the research, and to figure out how it can help you reach your goals. Thats what I do. And Id never talk about something I wouldnt doand havent donemyself.

References

Featured Image By: Stienf9

Like

98

Tw eet

33

Re late d p o sts:

dangerouslyhardcore.com/2521/can-nicotine-safely-burn-fat-and-build-muscle-the-surprising-facts/

4/6

11/21/12 The Secret of Leucine

Can Nicotine Safely Burn Fat and Build Muscle? The Surprising Facts Gary Taubes' "Why We Carb Nite: How Mark Get Fat" Bell Lost 50 Pounds of Fat

DH Kie fe r
Kiefer graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors in Mathematics and a Bachelors in Physics in three years then became a Ph.D. candidate in physics at the University of Florida in only a year. Yes, hes smart as f*ck, but he doesnt use his credentials as a gimmick to trick people into believing what he says. Hes been researching, testing and verifying what hard science proves as fact for over two decades. The results hes achieved for himself and others led him to start calling his clients S.H.I.T.sSuper Heroes In Training.

Today, 9:50 am
ampk activation

1 0 Comments
albuterol

Short URL
adrenaline diabetes adrenaline accelerated fat burning

burning tridglycerides build muscle blood sguar circumin supplementation cholinomitics catecholamines

downregulating myostatin diabetes controversial nicotine lipoprotein lipase insulin hermetic response free-radicals nicotine myostatin-bashing pathways nootropic effects nitrous oxide

atp anabolic primer ampk pathway cancerous cancer calorie deprivation coffee fat cells clenbuterol fat burners clastogenic ephedrine

resting energy

uncoupling protein 1

receptors raising lipoprotein lipase tor activation tor stimulator ucp1 triglycerides

myostatin mutagenic muscle tissue mtor pathway nicotine use nicotine ingestion nicotine and caffeine

triglyceride levels

potentiate muscle growth overnight fast stimulating the release of fat stimulants transient insulin resistance 0 Stars

11 comments
Leave a message...

Discussion

Com m unity

Aa ro n An d e rs o n

2 hours ago

Is there any chance of forming some sort of addiction? I've never had any sort of Nicotine in my life.
1

Reply

Share

D H Ki e fe r M o d

> Aaron Anderson

an hour ago

Addiction, if you follow the prescription will not be a problem. Realize that most people who form heavy addictions ingest between 20 to 60 mg per day. I would never recommend such high doses for therapeutic use.
0

Reply

Share

D a vi d Sch ro e r

> Aaron Anderson

an hour ago

Kiefer mentions that Smokers can take anywhere from 40-60mg of Nictoine per day, that is where the whole Nicotine is addictive mind-frame comes into play. Though Nicotine IS addictive (Caffeine is too) developing an addiction at these low amounts is possible but not likely and as someone who has been using Nicotine as a 'nootropic' for sometime now have not experienced any sort of 'withdrawal' symptoms or woke up saying 'damn wheres my gum'. Hope this tidys you over till Kiefer or anyone 'basically anyone is more qualified than I' can speak further on this. -Dave S
0

Reply

Share

Ma rc D a vi d

> Aaron Anderson

Share

an hour ago

I thought the same. Nicotine and Caffeine are both addicting no? Same chance as getting addicted to that as drinking coffee for the caffeine.
0

Reply

Aa ro n An d e rs o n

> Marc David

Share

15 minutes ago

I don't think it's fair to say "same chance" - they are not the same thing.

Reply

D a ryl

2 minutes ago

dangerouslyhardcore.com/2521/can-nicotine-safely-burn-fat-and-build-muscle-the-surprising-facts/

5/6

D a ryl

2 minutes ago

Just to be clear, is coffee with MCT/coconut oil still okay? Or should we just drink the coffee black and chew the gum?
0

Reply

Share

Avo 1 3
0

5 minutes ago Reply Share

Does it have to be gum or can be like a mint?

Ke n n e th Yi m
0

an hour ago Share

you do just cut up a 2 mg gum in half to get the 1mg dose?

Reply

Aa ro n An d e rs o n

> Kenneth Yim

Share

15 minutes ago

I was wondering the same thing. I did a search on Amazon for gum and the smallest dose was 2mg
0

Reply

m rj i g g yfl y2 1

an hour ago

Fantastic article/protocol! The only question I'm left with now is whether chewing a piece of nicotine gum in the morning is enough to keep mTOR stimulated sufficiently if you're daily routine typically consists of a 16 hour "fast". The way that my routine has been (mostly due to work) is that I finish my last meal of the day around 11pm, chew a piece of nicotine gum around 7am, have some coffee with a tbsp of MCT oil at ~11am the next morning, and then have my first actual meal at ~3pm. So far, I haven't noticed any muscle loss of any sort with my current routine. That being said (and don't hate me for this, please), I don't particularly enjoy coffee and pretty much have to choke down coconut/MCT oil however I decide to have it. So my question is: would chewing a piece of nicotine gum in the morning provide enough stimulation to mTOR to allow me to cut the coffee/MCT while still maintaining the 16 hour fast?
0

Reply

Share

Bre n n a n

an hour ago

Fantastic article and information like always Kiefer. I have tried experimenting with nicotine about 3-4 months ago after you mentioned it in the forums but did not get great results likely because I took it in the morning and also with my night backloads. That was likely my problem, and I also was taking 2mg doses 4 times a day.
0

Reply

Share

ALSO ON DANGEROUSLY HARDCORE

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

What's this?

6 Reasons Why Vegans (and Doctors) Are Wrong About Animal Protein 60 comments Listen Up Guys: Women Now Come With Higher Standards 16 comments Birth Control and Fat Loss
16 comments 13 comments

U.S. Job Market Continues to Heat Up

KellyOCG

10 Fantastic Photographers to Follow on 500px.com My Life Scoop What IT Professionals Want

KellyOCG KellyOCG

How To Cook Brussel Sprouts DH Style The DH Workout Playlist

14 comments

6 Ways to Turn Diversity 'Theory' Into 'Action' $700,000 iPad Mini Case Encrusted with Sapphires and Diamonds Just Luxe

About

Privacy

Disclaimer

Articles

Nutrition

Training

Forums

Contact

2012 Dangerously Hardcore