Ephedrine

(Ephedrine Hydrochloride)

When I started bodybuilding, ephedrine was one of my favorite legal stimulants/fatburners. Ephedrine (Ephedra, actually) became one of my favorite outlawed fatburners; now its my favorite legal one again. Who knows what it will be by the time you read this? Tiki Barber, running back for the NY Giants once speculated that while it was legal, 80% of the players in the NFL used ephedrine. For my part, I'll speculate that the number using it will pick right back up now that its legal again, and that this time, NFL players will be stocking up just in case it goes off the market again.

Ephedrine is a stimulant that belongs to the sympathomimetics family. Its both an alpha and beta adrenergenic, as opposed to Clen, which only works on your beta receptors. Ephedrine releases norepinephrine, which is basically very similar to adrenaline, your fight or flight hormone, which is an endogenous alpha agonist. First, when you take ephedrine, your body temperature will rise. This is a good thing, as it indicates more fuel being burned for energy. That'll help you shed some of your subcutaneous body fat stores, and this is basically ephedrines main use in athletics.

Its other use is for its stimulant properties. The stimulant effect of ephedrine will increase the contractile strength of skeletal muscle; for this reason ephedrine is commonly used by powerlifters and Olympic lifters. It also helps many people focus, similar to caffeine, with which many choose to take their ephedrine. The touted stack of ephedrine (25-50mg), caffeine (200-300mg) and aspirin (100mg) is shown to be extremely synergistic for fat loss. In this combination, the ephedrine and caffeine both act as notable thermogenic stimulants, while the added aspirin helps to inhibit lipogenesis by extending the duration of their effect and blocking the incorporation of acetate into fatty acids. The best synergy is when the ephedrine/caffeine ratio is actually 1:10.

Finally, Ephedrine also seems to slow gastric emptying, which is why it is very popular as an appetite suppressant, and was included in many diet pill preparations until it was pulled from the market.