Ostarine for Women: The Ultimate Guide

Ostarine, or MK-2866, is a SARM taken by men and women in bodybuilding to enhance muscle building and fat burning. Athletes may also use Ostarine to increase muscular strength and power without causing excessive weight gain or extracellular water retention.

What Are the Advantages of Ostarine for Women?

1. Muscle Gain

The benefits of Ostarine for women are essentially the same as the benefits for men. However, certain effects are more amplified and promising in women, such as the level of muscle gain.

We have found that women can gain significant amounts of muscle on Ostarine, compared to only modest increases in men.

One female user gained approximately 25 pounds from an Ostarine-only cycle, with a dosage starting at 7 mg/day and ending at 15 mg/day (1). She also reported retaining all of her results post-cycle. In contrast, men commonly report gaining only 5–10 pounds of lean muscle.

This anabolic effect may be more pronounced in women due to their having only 5% of the testosterone of men (2). Thus, when Ostarine binds to the androgen receptor with tissue selectivity, enabling significant increases in free testosterone, women are more susceptible to higher spikes in protein synthesis and positive nitrogen retention within the muscle cells.

Therefore, as men already have roughly 20 times more endogenous testosterone than women, their potential for muscle hypertrophy is less from SARMs.

2. Strength Results

The strength results from Ostarine are notable for both men and women, with increases of 30 pounds on main compound lifts being common during the first cycle.

Women may also be able to exercise for an extended duration with increased intensity. Furthermore, muscle recovery can vastly improve, with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) being a less frequent occurrence.

3. Fat Loss

In our experience, Ostarine’s muscle-building effects are superior to its lipolytic effects in both men and women. However, Ostarine’s ability to reduce subcutaneous and visceral fat mass has resulted in it being utilized in cutting cycles in addition to bulking cycles.

Our tests indicate that Ostarine has a positive effect on insulin sensitivity, which is contrary to other PEDs. Ostarine thus causes notable improvements in muscle definition in the abdominals for women who are currently lean.

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4. Energy

Some women struggle with low energy, fatigue, and a lack of motivation, particularly when they have estrogen dominance.

Ostarine significantly reduces estrogen, improving overall well-being due to the stimulation of dopamine receptors.

Researchers can view one of our female patient’s estradiol blood tests below, pre-and post-Ostarine cycle.

Estradiol before	Estradiol after
725 pmol/L	141 pmol/L

We find a woman’s results on Ostarine can be determined by her past experience, or lack thereof, on PEDs. For example, a natural woman who administers Ostarine for the first time commonly experiences superior results compared to a woman who has cycled SARMs or Anavar previously.

Several benefits can be experienced with each Ostarine cycle, such as increased:

• Energy
• Motivation
• Mood

Can Ostarine Cause Issues in Women?

Some women take Ostarine and notice no side effects from their cycle. This is the common outcome for females who utilize conservative dosages and adhere to standard cycle protocols.

Other women on Ostarine can experience:

1. Hair thinning
2. Acne vulgaris
3. Clitoral hypertrophy

However, these women often consume excessively high dosages or take prolonged cycles.

A woman visited our clinic reporting clitoral enlargement and increased body hair following a high-dose Ostarine cycle (illustrated below).

Week	Ostarine dosage
Week 1	12.5 mg
Week 2-12	25 mg

Her side effects normalized after several weeks post-cycle.

1. Sex Drive

Fluctuations in sex drive are typically the main side effects women experience on Ostarine.

Thus, on-cycle, a woman’s libido can be amplified, which may be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the user. If this becomes an issue, women can reduce their dosage, which will reduce sex drive.

Women are likely to experience sensitivity from Ostarine, particularly in their breast and vaginal areas. Such alterations in libido and sensitivity will normalize post-cycle. A transient effect may occur post-cycle, where a woman experiences a low libido until her endogenous testosterone levels normalize. This process commonly takes 1–2 weeks.

Dr. Nicholas Downey states that he was “surprised” after observing “minimal suppression” from Ostarine in rodent research, with luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels largely remaining stable. In comparison, “RAD 140, LGD 4033, and S23 have demonstrated suppression in rats,” says Dr. Downey.

Anecdotally, in humans, we have observed notable reductions in LH and testosterone from ostarine, with FSH levels remaining stable. Below are before and after readings of LH and testosterone from a female patient who cycled Ostarine for 7 weeks.

LH before	LH after	Testosterone before	Testosterone after
14 U/L	5 U/L	2.5 nmol/L	1.3 nmol/L

Her cycle, including dosages and duration, is detailed below.

Week	Ostarine dosage
Week 1-7	12.5 mg/day

2. Cholesterol Increase

One woman had blood tests taken pre- and post-Ostarine cycles, and although her overall health remained excellent, she experienced a modest increase in cholesterol (3). Despite being an insignificant elevation, women suffering from hypertension should use caution.

3. ALT and AST Enzymes

Based on our LFTs (liver function tests), liver enzymes will temporarily rise on Ostarine, causing slight hepatic inflammation (4). However, this is unlikely to be troublesome, considering Ostarine’s mild nature and the resilience of the liver organ.

A typical scenario is that a woman’s ALT and AST enzymes rise modestly on-cycle and promptly fall back within a normal range post-cycle.

Cycle Information

Week	Ostarine dosage
Week 1-2	7 mg/day
Week 3-10	10 mg/day

The above Ostarine cycle is common among female beginners who have not cycled Ostarine previously.

Some women increase the dosage to 12 or 15 mg/day and extend the cycle to 12 weeks. However, we find the risk of side effects to increase with higher doses.

The decision to increase the dose can be determined by a woman’s tolerance. In an instance where a female is tolerating Ostarine acceptably, high dosages should not be implemented at the beginning of a cycle but preferably after a few weeks, enabling the body sufficient time to transition.

Typically, dosages exceeding 10 mg/day will yield minimal additional results. Therefore, 10 mg/day is a generous dose, especially for women who purchase SARMs from companies that formulate their products at over 98% purity. Such high-quality sources often provide third-party certificates of analysis to authenticate the purity level.

“SARMs (including Ostarine) will decrease the body’s production of endogenous testosterone,” says Dr. Rand McClain. Furthermore, Dr. McClain states that testosterone levels are likely to recover post-cycle, particularly in reasonably aged and healthy individuals.

Following Ostarine supplementation, women may experience a few symptoms indicative of lower testosterone, including:

1. Decreased mood
2. Lower libido
3. Reduced energy levels

However, the extent of these side effects is typically mild and, in most cases, unnoticeable. Therefore, most women do not utilize PCT (post-cycle therapy) following an Ostarine-only cycle, as this SARM causes insignificant suppression.

What is the Optimal Dose Frequency?

Ostarine has a half-life of 24 hours (5), so only 1 dose per day is required for optimal results. This should be taken at approximately the same time each day.

Ostarine can be taken 1 hour or less before a workout for enhanced strength, energy, and motivation. Anecdotally, its effects are almost immediate, with women often feeling more aggressive and energetic just minutes after a dose.

Is it Advisable to Consume Ostarine With Meals?

SARMs, including Ostarine, can occasionally cause dyspepsia. Thus, taking SARMs with food may preserve the stomach lining.

What is the Impact of Ostarine on Women?

The following Ostarine reports were posted in our Facebook group.

I’ve done Ostarine and Cardarine, both at 10 mg each day. No sides, no toxicity, etc. All good.

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My wife stacks Ostarine and Cardarine; she usually does 10 mg a day for an 8-week cycle. She hasn’t experienced any sides.

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Yes, Ostarine is a safe SARM for women. My thing with Ostarine is that I had amazing strength gains during my cycle, but post-cycle, I lost most of it.

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Conclusion

Ostarine demonstrates potent anabolic properties in women, combined with a mild side effect profile. Therefore, we consider Ostarine to be among the most efficacious SARMs for improving body composition in females.

However, Ostarine remains a research chemical, and thus we do not know its side effects long-term.

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