Muscle and strength
How do I build muscle, and how do I keep it?
Muscle is the tissue most tightly linked to how the second half of life goes. This covers building it, keeping it through weight loss, and the sarcopenia literature on losing it with age.
27 compounds studied for this · 3 with three or more human studies cited · 9 with none
Three or more human studies cited 3
The deepest human evidence on this site for this goal. That is a statement about how much has been measured, not about whether it will work for you.
MK-677
3 citedA non-peptide, orally active ghrelin receptor agonist that raises growth hormone and IGF-1. Completed but did not pass P...
Growth HormoneUrolithin A
3 citedA gut-derived compound that triggers mitophagy and has improved muscle function in older adults in human trials, one of...
Muscle & PerformanceEnobosarm
3 citedThe selective androgen receptor modulator known on the gray market as ostarine, now in formal trials where 3 mg cut lean...
Muscle & PerformanceOne or two human studies cited 15
Something has been run in people, and it is a thin base. The count is on each card so you can see exactly how thin.
CJC-1295
2 citedA modified GHRH analogue engineered for an extended half-life, promoting sustained growth hormone and IGF-1 release.
Growth HormoneFollistatin
2 citedA natural protein that blocks myostatin and activin, studied largely through gene therapy for muscle growth and muscular...
Muscle & PerformanceACE-031
2 citedA myostatin/activin decoy studied for muscular dystrophy whose trials were halted over vascular safety signals.
Muscle & PerformanceSomatropin
2 citedFDA-approved recombinant human growth hormone used for growth hormone deficiency and several other approved indications.
Growth HormoneBimagrumab
2 citedA muscle-preserving antibody that blocks activin receptors to reduce fat while increasing lean mass, being studied along...
MetabolicGlyNAC
2 citedA combination of glycine and NAC studied in older adults for restoring glutathione and improving multiple markers of agi...
AntioxidantApitegromab
2 citedAn antibody against latent myostatin, under FDA review for spinal muscular atrophy (decision due September 30, 2026) and...
Muscle & PerformanceTrevogrumab
2 citedRegeneron's anti-myostatin antibody, alone or with the anti-activin antibody garetosmab, preserved 51% to 81% of lean ma...
Muscle & PerformanceTaldefgrobep alfa
2 citedBiohaven's anti-myostatin/activin fusion protein being tested as a standalone weight-loss drug, with a Phase 2 obesity r...
Muscle & PerformanceIpamorelin
1 citedA selective growth hormone secretagogue and ghrelin receptor agonist that stimulates pulsatile GH release with minimal e...
Growth HormonePEG-MGF
1 citedA pegylated version of an IGF-1 splice variant studied in animals for muscle repair and satellite cell activation after...
Muscle & PerformanceL-Carnitine
1 citedAn amino-acid-derived compound essential for fat metabolism, FDA-approved for genuine deficiency and widely used for ene...
Muscle & PerformanceFisetin
1 citedA plant flavonoid and leading natural senolytic. One mouse study reported extended lifespan; the multi-site programme bu...
LongevityFLGR-242
1 citedA gray-market recombinant follistatin fragment marketed since late 2025 as a myostatin trap that builds muscle; there ar...
Muscle & PerformanceAICAR
1 citedThe original 'exercise in a pill' from a 2008 Cell paper, an AMPK activator banned by WADA since 2009; human programs in...
Muscle & PerformanceNo human study cited here 9
Studied in other species or in cell culture, or studied in people for something else entirely. Listed rather than hidden, because knowing a thing has not been tested in a person is the useful part.
IGF-1 LR3
none citedA long-acting analogue of IGF-1 studied in animal models for muscle growth and tissue repair.
Growth HormoneFOXO4-DRI
none citedAn experimental senolytic peptide that selectively triggers death of senescent cells in animal studies.
Anti-agingGDF-11
none citedA circulating TGF-beta family factor at the center of young-blood rejuvenation research, with contested and preliminary...
Longevity5-Amino-1MQ
none citedAn experimental small-molecule enzyme inhibitor studied in animals for fat metabolism and muscle, popular on longevity r...
MetabolicSLU-PP-332
none citedAn experimental 'exercise mimetic' that activates energy-metabolism pathways in animals, with no human data yet.
Muscle & PerformanceSRK-439
none citedScholar Rock's follow-on to apitegromab, engineered for self-injection alongside GLP-1 drugs; Phase 1 readout expected i...
Muscle & PerformanceMGF
none citedA 24 amino acid fragment of a load-induced IGF-1 splice variant, sold for local muscle repair. The published record is c...
Muscle & PerformanceIGF-1 DES
none citedIGF-1 missing its first three amino acids, which stops binding proteins from holding it and makes it roughly ten times m...
Muscle & PerformanceTrigonelline
none citedA natural NAD+ precursor found in coffee and fenugreek that improved muscle function in aged mice and worms and is lower...
LongevityFasting worth reading alongside this
Protein-Forward Fasting
A compressed eating window run deliberately at a high protein intake with resistance training. The central finding is that the lean-mass failure mode in this literature is low protein plus a compressed window plus time, not the window itself.
16:8 Time-Restricted Eating
All food inside an 8-hour window, most often noon to 8pm, with no calories for the other 16 hours. It is the most heavily trialled fasting pattern, and the trials disagree about whether the window itself does anything once calories are accounted for.
What the number counts, exactly
The figure on each card is the number of citations on that compound’s page whose study type is Human. It is counted the same mechanical way for all 192 compounds and you can check any of it by opening the profile and reading the citation list, which is the whole point of publishing a number at all.
It is a count of what we cite, not a claim about how much research exists. A compound with three human studies here may have thirty in the literature, and the honest thing to say is that we have read and listed three. It is also not a quality score: three small open-label studies count the same as three randomised trials, so the tiers tell you how much was measured in people and the page itself tells you how well.