How DADA Enhances Performance My Comprehensive Breakdown
DADA is a supplement I came across recently that's been doing some pretty cool things in my training. I've been running it for about two or three weeks now, and I want to share my framework for how I'm using it. There aren't really any solid videos out there breaking this down, so let's fix that.
What DADA Actually Is
DADA stands for diisopropylamine dichloroacetate. That's a mouthful, which is why we call it DADA.
This molecule is a modified derivative of dichloroacetate (DCA), which was originally investigated for its ability to target abnormal cellular metabolism in cancer research. DCA became notable for inhibiting pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), which shifts cellular energy production from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation.
The addition of the diisopropylamine group in DADA improves stability and may reduce the neuropathic side effects associated with DCA. It's still experimental, but it's being explored for energy, athletic performance, recovery, and metabolic health.
How It Works in the Body
DADA shifts the body into oxidative phosphorylation. That promotes mitochondrial energy production and increases ATP output.
It also reduces lactic acid buildup, which lowers lactate levels and helps delay muscle fatigue. This is where I found the most profound effect personally.
It enhances mitochondrial function, reduces oxidative stress, and improves cellular health. The mechanism is different from SLU-PP-332, but some of the downstream benefits overlap.
Benefits I Noticed
Energy and endurance. When I used DADA before my workout, I could go longer on my sets. Training to failure, where I'd normally hit 15 reps with a given weight, I was hitting 18 or 19. Same weight, same lift, more reps. That was powerful.
Better pumps. Not "stronger" in the sense of moving more weight. Stronger in how long I could perform a set with the same weight.
Faster recovery, less soreness. It lowers inflammation and minimizes DOMS. I've been noticeably less sore.
Reduced neurological fatigue. When I train to positive muscle failure, usually two-thirds of the way through a workout, my mind starts to break down. With DADA, I could go further before that mental wall hit.
Sustained high-intensity output. Useful if you're in a glycolytic sport like football or any endurance work.
Possible metabolic health support. It may help with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome by promoting efficient energy use, which sounds familiar if you've been following the SLU-PP-332 conversation.
Side Effects to Know About
DADA is better tolerated than DCA, but there are a few things to watch.
Peripheral neuropathy. I learned this one personally. I was using 200mg because the formulation I had was 200mg per milliliter. Later in the day, my hands would tingle or feel like they were falling asleep. Very dose-dependent. Drop the dose and it goes away.
GI discomfort or nausea. Didn't experience this myself.
Liver enzyme elevation. My theory here is that DADA takes the governor off your training. You train harder, and harder training tends to bump liver enzymes. Whether DADA does it directly, I can't say. A chemist smarter than me could probably answer that.
Electrolyte imbalances. This one I felt. I got depleted faster, and in the first couple of days I had cramping in my biceps and pecs. Electrolytes are crucial if you're using this.
Fatigue or dizziness. Didn't notice it, but it's possible at higher doses.
Dosing Protocol
Start at 50mg per day, injected intramuscularly. I inject it into the muscle I'm training. Delts on upper body days, glutes on lower body days.
If you're getting it from a 200mg/ml formulation, that's 25 units. From a 100mg/ml formulation, half a milliliter.
The upper limit I'd give is 200mg per day, and at that dose I'd split it into two injections.
There are oral formulations out there. I tried both. The oral didn't do much for me even at 150 to 200mg. The injection is significantly stronger.
I'm running it in 4 to 6 week cycles followed by 2 to 4 weeks off to prevent peripheral neuropathy. Start low, see how you respond, increase only if needed.
Stacking DADA
L-carnitine. I was injecting L-carnitine before workouts on a few-days-on, few-days-off pattern. Better response in the gym. It facilitates fatty acid transport into mitochondria. 500 to 1000mg daily, intramuscular.
SLU-PP-332. Mitochondrial support, recovery, fat loss. For athletes, 200 to 600mcg per day.
5-amino-1MQ. Inhibits NNMT, supports fat loss and energy expenditure. 250 to 500mcg subcutaneous daily injected, or 50 to 150mg per day if you're using oral capsules.
BPC-157 / TB-500 blend. Because you're training harder, you want recovery and joint protection on board. 250mcg of each per day. If you're on my email list, I sent out a write-up on how to mix a blended version yourself.
Who This Is For
DADA can benefit anyone, but I think the impact is biggest for experienced trainees who know what they're doing in the gym.
Here's the warning. DADA takes the governor off. You're going to be able to do more reps and more sets than your body is used to. People who don't know their limits will hurt themselves. I've been lifting almost 20 years and I still have to be careful with how far I push it.
My Take
DADA is a strong pre-workout with very few side effects when you dose it right. I'm leaning toward cycling SLU-PP-332 on and off, and DADA looks like a great performance tool to run during the off phases. I'm still figuring out what that cycle looks like long term. For now, 50mg pre-workout intramuscular has been the sweet spot, and the gym performance has been worth it.
Full transcript click any paragraph to jump video
Hey everybody. This is Hunter Williams. I hope you're doing amazing wherever you at in the world. Today's video is about Dada. So DADA is a supplement that I came across recently that you can find at AA and it has some pretty, pretty cool things it's doing, um, with the body for performance enhancement purposes. Uh, I've been using this for probably like two or three weeks now. for your own research, if this is something you are interested in. So I'll say, you know, sloop is what's really big right now.
And a lot of people are using sloop to great effect. and I think this a little bit different, but it's probably going to have some pretty cool effects that are similar to ssloop from a performance enhancement perspective. I don't know that directly it is going do anything for body composition the way that s s loop will, But I do really, really like this as a pre-workout agent and a precardio agent. Actually found it to be more effective as pre workout as in resistance training. agent. So that's where we're going to go in today. I don't know that there's any public videos that I've come across that give like a good framework for using this and operating with it inside the confines
of your research. That's what we are going do today and I'm pumped to bring it to you and just share my personal experience. Before I share the screen, thank you so much to everyone coming to the channel. Getting a ton of feedback lately. Thank you guys so you really make this channel you know what it is and just continues to get better. So thank you guys. All the feedback that I get really, really helps drive and steer this in the right direction to make this the best for you. Guys as always, you can check out the peptide cheat sheet down below and sign up for the email list. We'll send you over there. Although really cool stuff happens on the e-mail list and then lastly, if you want the.
Best group for biohacking peptides hormones, all that stuff, check it out fully up to myself. Without further ado, I'm going to share my screen and today we're going All right. I am Hunter Williams. This is my comprehensive breakdown on dada, otherwise known as di isopropylamine dichloroacetate. So that's why we call it dara because that is a mouthful. Um, this molecule data is modified derivative of di chloro acetate, which was originally invested for its ability to target abnormal cellular metabolism
in cancer research. So DCA became notable for its potential to inhibit pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, otherwise known as PDK, which shifts cellular energy production from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation. The addition of the diisopropylene group in DADA improves its stability and potentially its reduces the neuropathic side effects associated with DCA. So while still considered an experimental compound is being explored for all applications in energy optimization, athletic performance, recovery, and metabolic health.
How does this work inside the body? If you haven't seen the video Jay and I did with Alex Kickle, you can go to the live section of my channel and watch that. We talked a little bit about this Um, and he was actually one of the first people to bring it to the world that I know of, or, um, that's what he said, the show. So, uh, definitely check out his info on that, but basically it shifts the body into oxidative phosphorylation. This promotes mitochondrial energy production, which increases ATP output. Um. It also reduces lactic acid buildup,which lowers lactate levels and helps to lay muscle fatigue.
I will say from my own personal experiences is where I found it, to be the most profound. And I'll get to that a little bit later, but it also enhances mitochondrial function. So of course, efficient energy metabolism, although in a very, very different manner than SLUPE does, it reduces oxidative stress and improves cellular health. And then also too, we have the normalization of cancer cell metabolism. It may reprogram abnormal metabolic pathways in cancer cells inhibiting their growth. I will kind of let you take that and run with it. Don't want to go too much into that there.
So when we look at the benefits, one's going to improve energy and endurance. So, when, we enhance ATP production, the oxidative metabolism is going delay fatigue by reducing reliance on anaerobic glycolysis and lactic acid buildup. For instance, in the gym, I noticed that when I was using Dada before my workout that I definitely could go longer in terms of the amount of sets. And when you're training to failure, be trained to 15 reps. Normally I noticed that could train to like 18 or 19 reps normally on the same lift with the weight.
So that was pretty powerful. Um, and in doing so, I'd definitely like enhance the pump I had. But I just felt like stronger, but not like, super, super stronger in terms of the way that can move, but how long I could perform a set with same amount of weight I would normally use. It also leads to faster recovery and reduce soreness, so it lowers inflammation and accelerates post-exercise recovery. It's also minimizes delayed onset muscle sores, otherwise known as DOMS. I definitely noticed I was much less sore or have been much more sore because I'm currently using it.
We also have athletic performances. we can sustain high intensity output for longer periods, which, especially if you're in a sport or an endurance sport, or a glycolytic sport like football or something like this, that could be huge. Supports both endurance and strength-based activities. We always have the cancer therapy adjunct. So it alters the tumor microenvironment by disrupting the warburg effect. Um, then we have to cognitive and neurological benefits. Of course, brain energy metabolism, enhancing focus and reducing cognitive fatigue. And I will say in my workouts, I definitely didn't feel neurologically fatigued.
Typically when you're doing a weight training set, the manner that I do, which would be training to failure or positive muscle failure, um, usually like two thirds to three quarters of the way through the workout. There definitely is a neurological fatigue onset effect to where it's just your body, your mind starts to break down and becomes much harder to perform sets because you're just mentally exhausted. I definitely noticed that I was able to go further in that regard. And then we have metabolic health improvements. So it may assist in conditions like insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome by promoting efficient energy utilization,
which much like sloop kind of sounds familiar there, right? So side effects. I did notice some of these, so I want to talk about this a little bit for a second. It's better tolerated than its counterpart DCA, but some the potential side-effects include peripheral neuropathy. So prolonged use or too high of a dosage may lead to tingling or numbness. And I actually found this out from Alex. I was using 200 milligrams because the formulation I had was 200 mg per milliliter. and I'm like, okay, well, you know, let me go up to one millilitre injected.
Not during the workout, but I trained in the morning and later throughout the day, I kind of like would feel my hands like tingle or feeling like they were falling asleep. I'm like, huh, that's weird. Or I was like driving later in the day and I felt that. Um, so that was very much a dose related thing. I came to find out. So I'll talk a little bit more about that in a dosing. Some people experienced GI discomfort or nausea. Uh, I didn't experience that whatsoever. Then we have liver enzyme elevation now. My thought on this because there's a lot of other compounds that can cause liver enzymes to be elevated.
But I think what's probably happening here is it kind of like takes the governor off of your training, so to speak. And when you do so, you're training a little harder, which can result in higher liver enzyme. Is it doing it directly? I don't know. Someone a lot smarter than me that's a chemist would be able to know, but I noticed like when I train harder, my liver enzymes tend to go up. And I think a lotta performance enhancing drugs have that effect. So I dunno if it's doing that directly, maybe if I wasn't training, it would still do that. Um, fatigue or dizziness. I didn't notice this, but you know, as you get into higher doses, I'm sure that's something come along.
It's fatigue and diziness and then I did notice electrolyte imbalances. So I just noticed I got depleted, uh, from an electrolytes standpoint much faster. Electrolytes are crucial if you're using this. Cause I noticed like, especially in the first couple of days, obviously I was doing a higher dose than I probably should have. Um I kind of had like cramping in my biceps and my like pec muscles. Ironically enough, of course, that was because I had trained those muscles, so they were probably much more depleted because had taken them to fatigue. So those are some of the side effects to just be conscious of. But I think if you understand the dosing, you're going to mitigate or eliminate a lot of these.
What I would start at is 50 milligrams per day and inject it intramuscularly. I recommend injecting this. There's actually oral formulations of this and injected ones. The oral ones tend to not be as strong. I tried both and I think the oral one I didn't really notice that much of an effect. And I was trying like 150 milligrams, the 200 milligrams of the oral, and I didn't really notice that much effect, but the injected one was pretty strong. So what I would do is start with 50 milligrams per day injected intramuscularly.
Now, if you were getting this from a place called AA, theirs comes in 200mg per milliliter, so I'd inject 25 units of that intromuscally. If you get it from another place, that formulates at a hundred milligrams per milliliter, I would do half a millilitre of that for 50 milligrams. And you inject that intramuscularly. I just inject into the muscles I'm training. So my delts or my glutes, if I do a lower body, delt's if doing my upper body. And then I would say 200 milligrams per day is the upper limit. And, and then yeah, I wouldn't even say like split that into two doses if you're going to go to the higher end.
So, um, right now I'm just going off a cycle of four to six weeks for this followed by like a two to four week break just to prevent any peripheral side effects like peripheral neuropathy. Um, then obviously dosage can always be adjusted on individual tolerance goals and response to a compound, but begin with the lower end and gradually increase as needed. I think most people starting at 50 milligrams injected. You're going to have a really good response. Again, you're gonna do that intramuscularly. So you can use the oral one, see what you think. I don't really have like a guideline on the dosing for the world.
Probably start at the same, which is 50mg and then you kind of go up as needed. But obviously I the the oil you go higher because obviously you have it being broken down by the digestive system liver. What are some synergistic compounds that I would use alongside Dada? So first one is L-carnitine. I actually was injecting L carnitene before my workout. And I do think that enhanced the effects. So I did a couple of days on and a few days off with L carnetine, and I think I got just a better response out of that for the workout,
but if it's the L, carnetine facilitates fatty acid transport into mitochondria for energy production. It also synergizes with data for optimized fat metabolism and endurance. And I prefer 500 to 1000 milligrams daily injected intramuscularly with carnitine. Obviously we have SLU PP332. This is a selective estrogen receptor modulator and metabolic enhancer. Supports mitochondrial functioning, enhances recovery and fat loss. And I would say for an athlete, you're going to want to be 200 to 600 micrograms per day.
I also put alongside this because I was injecting this alongside five amino 1MQ. So this inhibits NNMT, which promotes fat-loss and energy expenditure. It also enhances mitochondria efficiency and muscle recovery. And I like 250 to 500 micrograms injected subcutaneous daily. Or if you're doing the oral, those things, a lot different. You'd want to do like 50 to 150 milligrams per day of the world capsules. And then lastly, BPC, 177 TB 500 blend. The reason I put this on there is because I noticed that I trained a little harder.
So even though like I was probably less sore, I just use this for kind of like protection and also to like enhance the recovery because of what's training harder, always pushing more weight. and more reps. So the PPC promotes tissue repair and reduces inflammation, and obviously TB 500 supports healing and flexibility. It enhances recovery from intense physical activity and it reduces the injury risk. I like 250 micrograms each per day, which if you are on my email list, you would have seen a comprehensive write-up I did of how to basically mix a blended
version of those. If you could buy a blend of PBC and TB500 in a vial, A lot of people ask me about that, so I wrote an email about it. Probably should do a video about this as well. So that is it for the slides. That is my comprehensive guide to Dada. Hopefully it was helpful to you. It's pretty straightforward. As far as who this is for, I would say obviously it's going to benefit more athletes. I think if you're a sedentary person or someone trying to lose weight, this would probably benefit you, but I'd think to me, just based on my own response, and I can't speak for anyone else, more potent or more impactful for someone that's like an experienced trainee that really
knows what they're doing. I do know just from talking to Alex that one thing you have to be conscious of is basically knowing what your limits are because this is kind of like taking the governor off. So you want to careful because it is going to allow you to perform more reps and sets. And what can tend to happen with people is when they do that, they don't know when to stop, and then they get hurt. So just be careful with that. I've been lifting weights for almost 20 years now. And I'm very conscious of where I know to go. Even still then, I have to be really careful of how far I push it.
Just be carefully with the word to the wise. But yeah, it's a great compound. I'm probably coming to the determination that sloop should be cycled on and cyled off mildly. And I think Dada will be a great performance enhancer while I am not on sloop. I don't know what I m doing with that yet in terms of the cycle length. But just while I'm not taking sloop, because I will use s loop well into the future, it could be something while i'm off of that.
And also too, It's just a great pre-workout with relatively no side effects as long as you know what you're doing and you are listening to frameworks like this that are created. So that's it for this one guys. Thank you so much. My heart goes out to everyone out there that likes, supports the channel. Like, comment, subscribe, all that good stuff. Be on the email list, everything. I am just excited every day to get to do what I do. Thank you guys so much and I will see you in the next one. Peace.
