IGF-1 LR3 for Body Recomposition and Longevity

0:09 Hey everybody, this is Hunter Williams. I hope you're doing amazing wherever you might be in the world. Today's video is going to be all about IGF-1LR3. However, I figured it was time to do an update on this because it's really a peptide that I love to use.

0:39 And just not a lot of people know about it. Not a lotta people understand it, and I think there is some misunderstandings around it because this was a peptide, that came from the bodybuilding world, as far as I know. It came from the bodybuilding world and that's where it was popularized, at least in the research community. And there was this lure or mythos around IGF-LR3. It was like the holy grail of body building. and it's separate from another product called Incralax, which is like bio-identical IG-F1.

1:13 But anyway, it had this mytho and lore around it. There was all of these rumors or legends, I guess, that you would get huge and turn yourself into a stage Winning bodybuilder if you took IGF-1LR3. And I want to tell you that's not the case. That's also not a use case that I'm going to be talking about it for today. But the reason I bring that up is because a lot of people that tried IG-F with that in mind didn't get the results that they wanted,

1:44 right? They didn' become the 300-pound body builder because it won't do that for you. However, it can be very helpful for putting on muscle for someone that is focused on just being healthy and focus on longevity and focusing on optimization. There's a very good use case a few times a year for IGF-1 LR-3 in that context. So is it going to turn you into a pro bodybuilder? No, it could help. It's definitely not going to do it on its own. But I do think for people in our world, which is kind of the peptide, the hormone optimization, and the TRT world.

2:20 There's a good use case for IGF-LR3 for body recomposition. And that's what we're going go over today. I'm going give you some more updates. on it. We don't have a ton of human data on this one, but there is enough out there that I could put it into a video and bring to you guys how to use it and obviously too, this is one of the ones that you don' hear a lot of other influencers talking about. Now, whether that's just because they don''t want to, because there are slightly more, I wouldn't say there's more risk around it,

2:50 there's more that you have to put into using it than just injecting it. And the reason is because it's insulin-like growth factor, meaning that it is similar to insulin, which means that in some rare cases people can go hypoglycemic. So you do want to be very aware and very conscious of what you're doing and how you are doing it, and I'm going to talk about that today. so that's what we'll get into as always make sure you're on the email list the link will be down in the description you can check out all the links down there i will say checkout the axion collective i just thought launched that group on december 1st it's now january of 2026 this is my first video of the

3:23 new year actually But January of 2026, and that's going to be one of my main focuses this year is just growing that community. And again, that to the best place for people to come to get ego-free, judgment- free advice and education on the topics that we talk about, but more importantly, community with like-minded individuals that are focused on their growth and positivity of bringing a community vibe to this space. That's my mission with that. So check that out. Without further ado, I'm going share my screen and today we're going talk IGF-1 LR3.

3:53 All right, I'm Hunter Williams and today we're going to talk about IGF-1LR3 for longevity optimization purposes. Like I said, not bodybuilding purposes, but longevity optimisation purposes which is more or less going exist around muscle. But there's some other use cases that I think will be very interesting that you may not have heard of even if you're familiar with this compound and have used it before. Now, what is it? Insulin-like growth factor one long R3 is a synthetic analog of IGF-1. It's engineered with a 13 amino acid extension and arginine substitution at position 3, and these modifications dramatically reduce binding to IG-F binding

4:28 proteins and extend half-life from around 12 hours to around 20 to 30 hours. Basically the peptide originated in research settings and remains experimental, not FDA approved. It has gained attention in anti-aging communities for purportive, regenerative and muscle building benefits. So again, IGF1LR3 compared to regular IGDF has a two to three X extended half-life and that for most people ends up being around 20 to 30 hours. Now, why is it relevant to healthspan and aging, right?

4:58 We know this is not for bodybuilding, so why's it relative to the health span and anti-aging? Natural decline of IGF-1 levels gradually decrease with age. This is linked to sarcopenia, which is muscle wasting, slower recovery, and cognitive decline. I think that's one of the things that most people don't realize is that lower IG-F1 level are correlated with cognitive And we optimize them, not maximize them or not change them to supraphysiological levels, but optimize that is good for our brain. Obviously, there's an anabolic effect, which is just going to make us healthier in general.

5:30 It promotes protein synthesis, cell growth and tissue repair throughout adulthood. And when we look at longevity, the enhanced potency and duration may restore youthful signaling for tissue regeneration in older adults. And so it's emerging as a potential longevity optimization tool, though it straddles the line between cutting-edge therapy and experimental biohacking. And the goal is to improve healthspan, the period of life spent in good health by preserving muscle, bone, and cognitive function. Now let's look at some of the mechanisms of action. One, we have cellular signaling pathways. We have IGF-1R binding.

6:01 What it does is when we inject it, it activates tyrosine kinase receptor on nearly every cell. It also increases protein synthesis via mTOR, which promotes cell survival, and that's via the PI3K-AKT pathway, if you were curious. And then we have the MAPK slash ERK cascade, but basically it stimulates cell proliferation and differentiation. But basically IGF1-LR3 delivers a persistent grow and repair instruction to cells which is more sustained than natural IGF-1 due to prolonged butchering presence.

6:34 Also different than IG-F1 DES, which has very fast acting that you would want to inject. post-workout, you're gonna wanna inject IGF-1-LR3, in my opinion, post workout as well, but that is the difference between those in case you were wondering. Let's look at the cell proliferation and survival. IG-F1 LR3 actually has anti-apoptotic effects. Now what that means is that it upregulates survival proteins, prevents programmed cell death under stressful conditions in the body, which can be helpful. We also have mitogenic action, so it promotes cell division while maintaining mitochondrial integrity and membrane potential.

7:09 few people realize that IGF-1-LR3 actually has a mitochondrial health benefit. Obviously it's not going to be similar to SS-31 or MOC or any of those things, but it does help. And then we have cellular regeneration and rejuvenation. So it reduces senescence and prevents telomere shortening, which are markers of biological aging. Again, most people, they hear IGF-1, and they just think about the muscle building or the anabolic effects, but we're seeing all these things, again, reducing cellular senescence. I get asked all the time, what's the best peptide for cellular Senescent? Obviously, FOX04, DRI, is one that people think of, But they don't think It also works to prevent the shortening of telomeres.

7:47 Everyone thinks of epitalin for that, but again, we have IGF-1-LR3 that's doing that as well. We look at the metabolic and mitochondrial effects. IG-F1 signaling boost mitochondria biogenesis through PGC-I alpha and PG-C1 beta activation. What else does that sound like? SLU-PP332? Anybody? if you're keeping up and paying attention in class, but it also drives production of new mitochondria and enhances energy capacity. And again, when we look at this, even versus something like an SLU, we have much more data around IGF-1 use in the body and we're getting a similar effect.

8:22 Now, is it as strong and potent? I don't know. They've never been studied together. but we're getting similar results from something that is more studied. And I think obviously identical to something the body already makes, and we were using it at the right dose and the rate ratios. It could be good. It also induces mitophagy via BNIP3, which removes damaged mitochondria and improves overall cellular health, Which translates to more energy efficiency, energy production, reduced oxidative stress, and vital support for healthy aging.

8:53 And so what we see is that it enhances glucose uptake in the muscle, improves insulin sensitivity, if used properly, again, And then also too, it improves lipolysis, the breakdown of fat. Then we look at the systemic effects across the body where we're going to actually see more of the cosmetic benefit. Obviously, we have muscle growth. It stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which leads to hypertrophy, the growth of existing muscle cells, and potentially hyperplasia,

9:24 new muscle fiber formation. There's this whole debate of hypertrophy versus hyperplasia. And again, hypertrophy is when we grow the muscle that's already there. We grow it in size. Hyperplasia is the formation of new muscle fiber, which to most people, we would think that that would be permanent, would would permanent muscle. Whereas if we grew existing muscle, that muscle can eventually shrink. That's where you see some people with steroid cycles. They grow and then they go back to where they were.

9:55 But anyway, potentially could induce hyperplasia, which if taken to the extreme might not be a good thing because maybe we could get organ growth. But at the doses we're talking about, that's not something that I have seen and practice. We also see bone strength. It activates osteoblasts, increases bone matrix production and mineral density. Again, when we look at aging and causes of aging related death, falls and fractures are a very big risk for people once they get to a certain age. IGF-1 is going to help with bone density Also, it's going to help with tissue repair, supports connective tissues, tendons and skin through increased college information.

10:32 Everyone promotes and talks about BPC, TB 500 and GHK, which are great, but there's a lot of other peptides out there that help tissue that one would allow us not to have to use those other peptides all the time. But two, actually, in a lot of cases, I think work just as good, if not better, to achieve some of the same goals. And then lastly, we have neuro protection. It does cross the blood brain barrier, supports neuron survival, and it also enhances synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. Again, that's one of things that Probably in the longevity movement, you would think, or you see a lot of people that think that it would be good to suppress

11:09 IGF because it enhances lifespan to an extent. However, we're also going to see cognitive decline when we have lower and lower IGP levels. And again, it works to remodel us into a youthful metabolic state and broadcast system wide signals for efficient nutrient use, cellular appraisal and damage repair. But this potent growth signaling requires careful management, which we will talk about. Now we look at benefits for aging. Obviously we have muscle mass, strength and sarcopenia. IGF-1 is critical for muscle development and regeneration in the body in general.

11:40 And so when we use it exogenously, it promotes satellite cell differentiation and fusion into muscle fibers, which again can result in hypertrophy, the size increase of muscles and potentially hyperplasia which is the increase in number of muscle fiber in body. Animal studies show that IGF-1 administration prevents age-related muscle wasting. In humans, IG-F1 levels correlate with muscle mass and low levels associate with poor function in elderly populations. And that's when we look at human data. Limited clinical data suggests IG F1 therapy increases lean body mass.

12:13 One trial showed four months of treatment increased muscle protein synthesis and reduced body fat at the same time. So it is possible to increase muscle and lose fat the at same. especially when we're doing everything right from a lifestyle standpoint. We look at tissue repair and recovery. Obviously we have injury healing, accelerates recovery from tendon, ligament, and muscle injuries through enhanced regeneration. I wouldn't use it as the only one, but I definitely would use in a stack to heal an injury. Skin rejuvenation increases dermal thickness and collagen content, potentially reducing signs of aging.

12:44 And then we've joint health that supports cartilage cell survival and joint matrix synthesis with anecdotal pain relief. And again, it offers systemic regenerative support, users report better healing of tissues, whether muscles after exercise, joints after wear and tear, or potentially internal organs under stress. When we look at the metabolic and cognitive benefits, and again, I pair those together because they're kind of one and the same. Cognitive benefits or cognitive decline is always downstream from metabolic health. And a lot of times everyone knows now dementia is type three diabetes.

13:18 So I like to talk about these together, at least in instances like this where I'm presenting with the opportunity to run the conversation with IGF. But we have glucose control. It's insulin-like effects improve glucose uptake, lower blood sugar, and reduce insulin resistance. You know, I'm not on this train or bandwagon, but I have heard very smart people and doctors talk about microdoses of insulin potentially being a longevity tool. Now, am I all the way there yet of making the full endorsement? No. And I think we are things like GLPs that kind of replace that without any of the downside of Insulin.

13:48 But the argument could be made nonetheless. When we look at body composition, it increases our base metabolism, promotes fat loss and shifts us towards a leaner physique, which is obviously going to be good for metabolic health and cognitive health. We have bone density, again, activates osteoblasts, helps with bone strength and reduces fracture risk. And we have brain health, so the neurotrophic effects support neuron survival, enhance memory and protect against cognitive decline. And again, we look at the cognitive enhancement. It crosses the blood-brain barrier, so it supports neuron growth and synaptic plasticity.

14:18 Studies show higher IGF-1 correlates with better memory and learning in older adults. Again, when we looked at older adult with higher IgF1 levels, they have better learning, better memories, and better cognitive function. Also, animal models demonstrate improved cognitive and motor function with increased Igf-I signaling. Let's look some of the clinical evidence because we do have at least a little bit. Now, the IGF-1 paradox, right? I was mentioning this lower IGf-I versus higher IG-F1. Long live mutant mice have dramatically low IG f1, yet live significantly longer.

14:50 Okay, so maybe we don't want IG F1 IGF-1R, HPO, if I'm saying that right, or haploid-sufficient mice live around 30% longer. Again, just IGf-I deficient mice. Human scenarios often show IG-F1 resistance patterns. Okay, so there's some human correlative data there. And then low IG f1 reduces cancer incident and oxidative stress. Can't argue with that, right? If we feed a tumor a growth factor like IG F1, probably going to grow, right?

15:23 However, does IGF-1 being optimized equal better health span? Very low IG-F1 can cause frailty and reduce muscle strength. Later on, syndrome patients, which are patients that are IG F1 deficient rarely get cancer, but what do they face? Obesity and weakness. So it's one of those things. Yes, you could try to make the argument that if your IGF-1 levels were too high, that could predispose you to cancer. And in which case we wouldn't say that using IG-F1-LR3 cyclically throughout the year would put our levels too higher chronically,

15:55 at least in my opinion. But what are we going to be more predisposed to now? frailty, obesity, and sarcopenia. Late-life IGF-1 blocking in mice extended median lifespan by around 9% in females. The timing matters. IG-F1 in youth for strength, moderate in later years to avoid disease. But if it's optimized, we do notice benefits. Now to talk about some of the side effects, we have hypoglycemia. This is the most immediate risk of blood sugar can drop dangerously low without adequate carbohydrate intake.

16:27 Take with meals, chronic exposure may paradoxically cause insulin resistance. And again, that's what we're going to cycle off for four to six weeks. But when we look at hypoglycemias, I would just say for every microgram, you would at least want half to one gram of carbohydrates. So if I do 50 micro grams of IGF-1, I'd like at like least 25 to 50 grams carbs. I'll do a hundred micro-grams of IGF1. At least 50 to 100 grams or carbs, somewhere in that range, to make sure that I don't go hypoglycemic.

16:58 Obviously, if we overdo it, could lead to it de-med joint pain, water retention causes swelling in the fingers, face and ankles, which can lead a carpal tunnel. Again, that's similar if you're doing too much HEH or even too many of an HE-H peptide. Again cancer promotion, if there are tumors that already exist, it could potentially feed those tumors, but we don't see that happening in people with optimized IGF-1 levels. And then receptor desensitization, constant stimulation causes IGF-1 receptor downregulate, which leads to diminishing returns over time.

17:28 Again, that's why I'm a big fan of cycling. And we have acromalgy-like effects, excessive tissue growth in unwanted areas like the heart, jaws, hands, feet, and facial features. This is used in context for what we are trying to achieve. So as long as we manage the dose and we managed cycling it, that is something that I don't see happening. However, if you are using it too aggressively, I do think it's a possibility for that. Now let's talk about dosing. I'll explain my dosage parameters.

18:00 Like to start conservative. If you've never done this before, start very low, which is like 20 to 30 micrograms per day. And then if are someone that's like more experienced with this, would start at 50 micro grams per 50, micro-gram per-day. And then a lot of clinical protocols suggest only 10 to 20 micrograms. I think that's too low. However, you could go up to 100 micro grams and even some bodybuilders will go to like 250 or 500 micro-gram. So I would highly advise and recommend you do not start that high. Work your way up that point. Start really low, 20 to 30, even 50, and then you can work your up 100. And if you want to be like very aggressive and pushing it,

18:36 get like to 250 to 500. But again, that is where we talk about some of the side effects. We bring more of those side effects into the conversation when we're doing higher doses versus we talking about 5,100 micrograms. For me, that's enough to see a positive benefit in my life, but then also not so much that my face, my nose gets really big, and my ears get really bad. I get swelling. You know, insulin resistant issues or something like that. Look at timing. I like injecting once daily. You could do this fasted. It would be similar to taking insulin fast.

19:08 So I've done it before. it's not the best thing, to be honest, but less dangerous than taking Insulin itself. i prefer to do it post workout. so again, if I'm working out in the gym training with weights three to four times per week, I would just do. This immediately post-workout. Again, the potential for hypoglycemia exists, so if you're not timing your carbs right or you not having intra-workout carbs, then you could kind of mess yourself up, which I've done before. So I recommend doing, again, in the dose that you are doing whatever you starting with and working your way up to immediately post- workout and that way

19:40 you can have your carbohydrates with it. I don't recommend taking fat with those carbohydrates. Again you just do a carbohydrate powder like Metargo with some whey protein immediately after workout, and you'd be totally fine. You don' have anything to worry about. Cycle length wise, I like four to eight weeks on, then equal or longer off period. So at least four or eight week off. You know, the typical is four, to six weeks at 50 micrograms per day, than six to 8 weeks off maximum of two or three cycles per year. I personally don't do this more than two, or 3 times per, year, but when I do, really like it because it helps me push through muscle building phase.

20:13 Gives me some more definition, especially in the muscles that I want to grow. The muscles are good for aesthetic purposes, which is the shoulders and arms on men and for women, it's usually the glutes. Now I would do this, you can do it one or two things. You can it subcutaneously, get a systemic effect. I like injecting it, I am into the muscle that I just trained. So for instance, if I trained legs I will do my glute, If I train arms I'll do in my delts. And again, that's pretty easy to do. you could use a 28 gauge half-inch needle.

20:43 You could do it sub-Q though, I know people do sub Q and do just fine. The thing is, if you do an intramuscularly, it's gonna go to work a little bit faster, so just be much more conscious of the carbohydrates that you're eating with it to make sure that your getting those because it will work faster if your doing it intromuscally. Versus sub q absorption is a bit slower so you don't have to worry about the fast onset that could cause hypoglycemia. Now, when compare it with some of GH secretagogues, IGF-1-LR3 is direct downstream action and bypasses regulation. It has more potent muscle effects, faster results.

21:14 Although the risk profile is higher in acquired cycling, we cannot use it continuously. You can combine it with other peptides. So like if you wanted to do CJC and IPA together, or Ipa and Tessa together or Tess by itself or CJ C and IPA or IPa by self or C J C by its self, whatever combination you want to I would just use the IGF post-workout and then do your peptides at night. If you wanted to use this alongside HGH, I do that myself. I just do my HH at nights and I'd do IGP post workout. So pretty easy to do.

21:45 Just do the IGF, post work out and the normal timing of whenever you would do, your GH peptide or your HTH. And again, We wanna track our fasting glucose, make sure just we're not running into any insulin resistance issues. Again, that's why we cycle off. So again, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that this is not something that you can just willy nilly inject like BPC and not have to track anything or do it. This is something you have pay more attention to. And that why not a lot of people talk about this one because there is kind of that risk around it, but hey, That's what we do here as we talk it about

22:16 it but just in conclusion, IGF represents a double edged sword. at the right dose, it's amazing. However, when we do it too much or if we too often, I wouldn't say dangerous, but have some deleterious effects that we want to go to. So this is more of like the peptide 200 level or 300 level. This is not a peptid for newbies. It's something that you should really have experience under the belt of using peptides, having a good relationship with understanding your body, understanding how your blood sugar works and understand what's going on inside the body.

22:48 And then when we're ready and we want to put on some muscle and gotten used to peptides and optimizing our hormones and how our hormone work and everything, then we can move into this. So again, just for people that are a little bit more experienced. That is it for the slides. and that is my overview of IGF-1. Again, don't see a lot of data on this, I can give you my personal experience and the experience I have with working with people. I think as long as you follow those guidelines that I outlaid in the in slides and in presentation, you'll be totally fine. it's just something you know I wouldn't do it more than four to six weeks or four eight weeks two to three times per year and you should be fine if that's

23:22 the case and honestly too I didn't mention this the slides typically when you get to that four six or eight week mark you're going to notice not so much of the benefit that you notice in the first few weeks to me this is a peptide that pretty resistant to after a few weeks to where you just don't notice the benefits that you did in the first two weeks. Honestly, when you take it for the time, it's like, wow, this is amazing. And then weeks after use, you notice it kind of subsides, even though you still get good benefit in terms of muscular fullness,

23:54 muscle growth and all those things. But It's just something to be conscious of. And I think when we look at the whole entire growth hormone picture, this is just one piece of the puzzle. So I still would use my growth, hormone peptides. I would still use HDH. That I do from a metabolic health standpoint with GLPs and eating carbohydrates properly and timing and all those things. But this was just a puzzle and I like using it. There is a performance enhancement benefit. You notice more pumps in the gym. It feels good. You know, for women that want to grow their glutes, Taylor has talked about it before, it's really good at kind of helping those areas and bringing up

24:28 those lacking body part areas, particularly if you're injecting into them after training. So I love it. But again, just be smart about how you use it, this does take a little bit more critical thinking skills when it comes to how we use, you get more conscious. You can't just completely slack on your diet or completely not paying attention to the food you eat because there are some stipulations around this that I would say are required for use. That's it for this one, just in closing. And kicking off the new year, I'm so, so thankful for you guys that are out there and whatever shape or form or fashion that you support me,

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