So, you’re actively thinking of taking estrogen blockers to help with your bodybuilding efforts, right? Well, you’re in the right place because you’ll find out everything there is to know about estrogen blockers and how it can help you –or not- in your quest to pack on some muscle, shred the fat and become ripped.
Discussions in favor of estrogen blocker or against it are often polarized. People typically tend to pick a definite side. Some people believe that these are completely unnecessary, while there are those who believe that used judiciously, it can actually transform your workouts, accelerating your results and minimizing the “inhibitory” effects of estrogen blockers.
For the school of bodybuilders against its use, the thinking is that it does not actually block estrogen production in the body, and does nothing for your body building efforts. In fact, they argue that you actually need some estrogen to get aid your body building.
Estrogen blockers started making the rounds recently following the sudden explosion of testosterone boosting supplements into mainstream health and fitness. Testosterone boosters are known for their tendency to aid bodybuilding, melt fat and increase muscle recovery.
However, shortly after testosterone supplements became popular, some folks started talking about optimizing their testosterone supplement by lowering the estrogen level in their bodies. Naturally, this caught on, and thus, estrogen blockers which have been around forever by the way, became popular suddenly.
So, who do you believe? Which would be best for you? Estrogen block or not? You will find out everything you need to know in this guide. The ultimate goal of this guide is to provide you with adequate information so you can make an informed decision about either using estrogen blockers or avoiding them completely.
In this guide to estrogen blockers, you’ll learn the following:
- What estrogen and estrogen blockers are
- How the estrogen hormone works
- Why there’s so much outrage against estrogen aka what happens when you have high levels of estrogen in your body
- Should you block estrogen or not
- Possible benefits of estrogen blockers
- How they impact your workouts and muscle gains… or not
- Why you still need decent estrogen levels in your body
- How estrogen blockers work and types
- The super effective estrogen blockers and the crappy
- Where to buy estrogen blockers that work
- Potential and proven dangers of taking estrogen blockers
What are Estrogen and Estrogen Blockers?
You’re probably familiar with it, but for the sake of a quick introduction, estrogen is the single biggest hormone in women responsible for the development of secondary sexual characteristics. Men also have it in smaller quantities.
For men, testosterone is the hormone responsible for secondary sexual characteristics such as facial hair, deeper voice, bodily hair, and so on. Just as every man has some estrogen, women also have some testosterone in them.
These hormones play a crucial role in maintaining balance in the body as well as contributing to your overall sense of well-being. In men, estrogen plays a critical role in converting cholesterol into steroids to be used in the body, as well as the production of spermatozoa.
There are three major estrogen types: estradiol, estrone and estriol. Of the three, the most active and commonly produced is the estradiol. This is actually what many people refer to when they talk about estrogen. Unfortunately, it’s also the biggest cause of the “negative” estrogen effects that people want to get rid of when they take estrogen blockers.
What Does Estrogen Do in Men?
One of the side effects of excessive estrogen is man boobs, scientifically known as gynecomastia. This is usually caused by the activity of estrogen receptors in certain body parts biding to estrogen hormones in the body and triggering these effects.
Other common effects include type 2 diabetes, weight gain, particularly around the mid-section, muscle mass loss, lethargy and low libido. For most men, all these are a complete no-no.
This is why men, particularly those with bodybuilding goals abhor high estrogen levels. It is also why estrogen gets such a bad rap among men. Yet, estrogen in reasonable levels can have positive effects like promoting brain function and cognition, ensuring good bone health, aids sexual health and libido and contributes to the production of hormones such as the growth hormone (GH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).
Bottom line, you shouldn’t think of getting rid of your estrogen hormones. You need some of it to function optimally.
So, Why Might You Need Estrogen Blockers?
So, as great as estrogen is, the reality is that some bodybuilders suspect that it could impact your workout and bodybuilding results in a negative way. This is why estrogen blockers are sold as a bodybuilding aid and supplement.
These supplements are purportedly designed to help you build more muscle, accelerate your fat burning capabilities, enhance body features and improve your testosterone levels. The real question however is, is this true? Let’s quickly take a look at what estrogen blockers are and how they may play a role in your overall fitness.
Estrogen blockers are designed to supposedly reduce the amount of estrogen hormones in your body, so that your testosterone levels can kick in and you can maximize the effects of its “sudden abundance” and suffer from less negative side effects of estrogen in the body.
This is based on the thinking that estrogen levels interfere with the abundance of testosterone in the body, and this is not true. In fact, studies have shown that an increase in testosterone levels can be proportional to estrogen levels. But, more on that later.
Some of the more popular prescription estrogen blockers recommended often include Tamoxifen (Nolvadex), Letrozole (Femara), Clomiphene (Clomid), Exemestane (Armosin), and Anastrozole (Arimidex).
A quick perusal of these meds will show you that they are often prescribed for a wide variety of health conditions like the prevention and treatment of hormonally responsive breast cancer after surgery and infertility. These are very serious medical conditions that usually require conventional medical treatment.
Some of these drugs and so many more are often called aromatase inhibitors (more on that later), which is just another name for anti-estrogens. This is mostly because they inhibit the aromatase enzyme –which is crucial to the production of estrogens.
Now, these aren’t just the only estrogen inhibiting medications in the market. There’s an increasing number of estrogen blockers sold as supplements, most of which are derived from Nolvadex, which pioneered the product in 2001.
Thanks to the medication’s lapsed patent, many other estrogen blocking supplements providers are blatantly ripping off the same ingredients and producing them under different brand names.
Most newly produced estrogen blocking supplements are derive their chemical composition from Nolvadex because it’s still one of the most effective estrogen blockers in the market. As a result, they are mostly “copies” of Nolvadex, give or take a few ingredients.
How Do They Work?
Understanding how estrogen blockers work will give you a lot of insight into how they are able to limit or inhibit your production of estrogen. Depending on the make and composition of the estrogen blocker, there are two ways they can function:
As Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs)
The first is the introduction of molecules that share a very striking similarity to the estrogen hormone and mimics its characteristics. These then deceive the body’s estrogen receptors into utilizing and binding with them instead of the real estrogen hormones.
As a result, the estrogen hormones remain dormant because there’s no receptor to bind to. Molecules and compounds that create this estrogen-like effects are usually called Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs).
To help you understand how they work, imagine that the estrogen is a key and the receptors are the lock. The SERM is a master copy of the original, and can fit just right into the lock that it the estrogen receptor. As you can see, once the key is in, you won’t be able to use the original key. Hope that makes sense.
The most popular SERM estrogen blocking brand is Nolvadex. This is currently the world’s most successful estrogen blocking drug, and for good reason too. Another popular but slightly less powerful drug is Clomid.
As Aromatase Inhibitors (AIs)
Estrogen blockers can also function by limiting the production of the aromatase enzyme. This enzyme plays a very vital role in the conversion of the testosterone hormone into estrogen.
So, limiting or stopping its production is bound to keep your testosterone levels high and in their original formats, resulting in more muscles mass, growth and faster muscle recovery.
These compounds are officially called Aromatase Inhibitors. The most popular and potent aromatase inhibitor in the market goes by the name Arimidex. Other AI drugs include Femara and Aromasin.
As you can see, even though these two groups of estrogen blockers function differently, they both achieve the same goal of interrupting estrogen activity in the body. So, the type of estrogen blocker you choose will depend on your goals really.
Some bodybuilders recommend that you actually take both groups to further maximize the effects of your testosterone boosters. Whether this is medically advisable or not is a topic for another day.
However, the reason some bodybuilders recommend using both is that since SERMs only block the estrogen, it still leaves estrogen floating freely around in the body. This leaves you open to estrogen like symptoms like acne, bloating, gynecomastia and possible moodiness.
Combining both SERMs and AIs means that while SERMs block the estrogen from any activity, AIs, work to keep the amounts of free floating estrogens low, thus negating any side effects.
So far, no studies have been conducted on the possible long term effects –if any- of combining these two. So, if you’ll be combining these two, understand that there may be possible side effects in the future.
Remember, these drugs were initially developed to help with breast cancer treatment and/or prevention, and the treatment of infertility in women.
So, even if you’re using them for bodybuilding purposes, just understand that using it for those purposes were not the intention. Sure, they may work, but the unintended use may have possible effects down the road.
Why Do People Use Estrogen Blockers and Do They Work?
Many of those who use estrogen blockers do so to help improve the results from working out. Most of these people also use anabolic steroids, which can produce unintended side effects like increased estrogen levels. But before you start popping estrogen blocking pills you need to ask real questions like:
- Do these estrogen blockers work for the purposes of bodybuilding at all?
- Do they contribute to muscle gains and growth?
These are important questions you need to ask because research would suggest that they play no role in your bodybuilding efforts. What?! Yep, you read that correctly. So, just because its use is publicly accepted, doesn’t mean that it actually works… unless, you’re on steroids. Now, that’s an entirely different discussion.
This is because steroids, particularly those used to boost your testosterone levels, often have the unintended side effects of increasing your estrogen levels too. You see, the body is designed to intelligently maintain hormonal balance.
So, once your testosterone levels start rising, your body starts producing more estrogen to match the rising testosterone. Now, because your higher testosterone levels were artificially induced, and the estrogen levels were naturally raised, your estrogen levels will remain high when you stop taking your testosterone supplements.
This is why it is often recommended that you just don’t stop taking steroids. You need to cycle down, so that your body can gradually lower your estrogen levels. Unfortunately, this takes time, and most bodybuilding enthusiasts may not have the time to cycle down.
So, they stop taking those steroids, thus leaving their estrogen levels high, resulting in some of the earlier mentioned side effects.
It’s in situations like this that using estrogen blockers would be optimal. As a matter of fact, estrogen blockers are recommended as a crucial part of your post steroid cycle recovery.
Should You Estrogen Block When Building Muscle?
Most of the people who use estrogen blockers assume they help with muscle building. Yet, multiple studies including this one and this one have shown that they don’t directly impact muscle building.
The hormone primarily important for and relevant in muscle building is testosterone. This is why many bodybuilders are hopped up on testosterone steroids, and ingest copious amounts of testosterone supplements every day.
The quest for lean muscle and incredible muscle growth is real. But, assuming that blocking estrogen will help you achieve that is erroneous.
Instead, studies have shown that estrogen can actually help improve your muscle building, increase your gains and accelerate the rate of fat burning. It just has to be in the right amounts to be super effective.
Even more interesting is the fact that inhibiting estrogen levels really does nothing for elevating your testosterone levels. It only affects it very slightly. Shocker, eh!? One more thing you need to take note of is the role that the estrogen plays in keeping your bones healthy and strong.
You obviously know that if you’ll be doing a lot of weight lifting, you need your bones to be strong enough to withstand the amount of load you’ll be putting on it. Your estrogen levels have to be right to maximize your bodybuilding benefits.
In the final analysis, you need both hormones in the right amounts are crucial to your overall sense of health, and bodybuilding efforts.
Can Estrogen Blockers Help Melt Fat?
There’s the assumption among bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts that estrogen blockers can help with fat loss. This is predicated on the fact that it also aids muscle building.
The bone of contention usually is that high estrogen levels in the body can result in increased weight. Which means, if you do reduce your estrogen levels, you should lose weight.
Is this true? Well, studies such as this says lowering estrogen levels don’t do anything for melting your body fat. Yes, estrogen blockers can help get rid of some bloating, but it does nothing for fat burning. Instead, focus on upping your testosterone levels.
That has been proven to help with the fat burning process. Combine the testosterone supplement with the estrogen blocker and you may get even faster results courtesy of the estrogen blocker getting rid of the water weight and the testosterone supplement boosting your metabolism.
How About Estrogen Blocking Supplements?
Now that Nolvadex’s patent has expired, there’s been a sudden influx of both clinically recommended estrogen blockers and supplements with supposed estrogen blocking properties into the market.
The real bone of contention now is do these supposed estrogen supplements actually work? The answer is no. They don’t do anything to block estrogen. Many of them are only sold and marketed as estrogen blockers. Meanwhile, they do absolutely nothing for blocking estrogen when it comes to it.
So, if you really need to block estrogen, you’ll need to look elsewhere. These supplements may have certain weight loss and muscle building properties though. Some of the compounds that are commonly sold as estrogen blockers include grapeseed extracts, tongkat ali, and resveratrol.
Studies into grapeseed extract as an estrogen blocker have indicated that it is ineffective at blocking estrogen in people, regardless of the quantity in which it’s taken. Tongkat on the other hand, was shown to have possible estrogen blocking effects in female mice during studies, but hasn’t been shown to do the same in humans.
While resveratrol has been lauded for its fat burning properties, it’s still not enough for it to sell it as an estrogen blocker. Yet, many “all natural” estrogen blocking supplements supposedly sell it as a possible anti-estrogen compound. Yes, it has shown possible estrogen blocking properties in animal subjects. But, that’s all there is to it. There are no human studies proving this.
Promising Natural Estrogen Blocker Compounds
Recently, health researchers and scientists have been looking into natural compounds that can actually mimic the effects of anti-estrogen compounds. And some have been showing great potential as possibly alternative sources of estrogen blockers.
For now though, many are still at a stage where they are being tested on mice and rats. Once they have been proven capable of consistently delivering great results, the scientists will commence studies on humans in the form of clinical trials.
3’-Isoprenylgenisten
This plant based compound shares similar properties with SREMs, and produces similar results. This is why 3’-Isoprenylgenisten is called a phyto-SREM. Initial studies have shown it to be quite potent and capable of blocking estrogen.
In fact, it is so effective that its results are often at par with the same results as that of clinically prescribed SREMs like Nolvadex. For now though, studies on humans are either very limited or non-existent.
There are however, a few bodybuilding enthusiasts who are huge fans of using it to cycle off steroids, and claim that it does just as good as regular estrogen blockers. For now though, there’s nothing concrete about it in the scientific community.
So, until proven scientific studies have shown that it can be used an estrogen blocker, you might want to be very careful with it.
Androsta-3,5-diene,17-dione
Another naturally occurring compound, this is an effective DHEA metabolite that shares similarities in function to aromatase inhibitors (AIs), and has been proven to be miles ahead of the natural estrogen blocking supplements.
Studies of this compound has found to be just as powerful as some of the more popular prescription AIs. So, if people were to obtain this metabolite and sell as an estrogen blocking supplement, they would actually be selling a pretty powerful naturally occurring estrogen blocker.
As of the time of writing this guide, this is about the most powerful natural estrogen blocking compound.
At the end of the day, what matters most isn’t how many estrogen blockers you take or how much testosterone supplements you swallow. The key things to focus on include increasing your testosterone levels while keeping your estrogen levels normal. The only condition in which you should take estrogen blockers is when you’re taking steroids to increase your bulk and optimize your workouts.
