GeorgeBMac

Would you take this pill if it helped you go faster, further or higher?
From the Wall Street Journal:

Drugs Aim to Help Elderly Rebuild Muscle
A Half Dozen Companies Work on Treatments That Block the Protein Myostatin

In 1997, scientist Se-Jin Lee genetically engineered "Mighty Mice" with twice as much muscle as regular rodents. Now, pharmaceutical companies are using his discovery to make drugs that could help elderly patients walk again and rebuild muscle in a range of diseases ... They are all in clinical or earlier-stage testing; the first could be approved in 2016.

Drugs Aim to Help Elderly Rebuild Muscle - WSJ.com

bmontgomery87

After some studies are done, if it turned out fairly safe, it would definitely be tempting.

Carbonfiberboy 

I doubt I would consider it. Most natural processes are there for a reason, even if we aren't sure what that is. My 81 y.o. aunt started going to the gym 3 times a week maybe 6 months ago. Now she says, "I feel my thigh, and it's hard! I have a bicep and it's hard! I can walk all the way around the gym carrying 20 lb. dumbells!" Before she started going, she couldn't walk enough to go shopping in a mall. So the important thing is to do the work. The other thing is that we don't need more muscle to climb. We need less fat. Less weight is better. Track sprinters are another game, but I don't play that one.

sprince

For track, it might be tempting. For the road or to "help you climb", twice as much muscle means you will get dropped by anyone and everyone. For climbing you'll need a pill to double the size of your heart and lungs while eliminating all body fat and reducing your muscle mass by two thirds.

bmontgomery87

^^Ephedra, EPO, and Clen should do the trick

BigAura

100 to 1 says the drug will have side effects, known and unknown.

GeorgeBMac

That would be a suckers bet even at a 1,000 to 1...
... But it won't stop the drug pushers from marketing it nor will it stop people from taking it

GeorgeBMac

Ooops! My mistake -- it's not a pill, it GDF11!

Transfused Blood Rejuvenates Old Mice - WSJ.com

sprince

Here's the instant climber pill...

sprince

kind of like Countess Bathory bathing in the blood of virgins

RISKDR1

yes I would if proven safe. I am 69 and gaining muscle is very difficult. having more muscle mass has benefits other than just strength. It increases metabolism and makes it easier to burn fat. I would welcome having some suppliment that would take me back to my age 40 muscle mass if it proved not to have side effects that I could not tolerate.

caloso

Is it on the USADA banned substances list?

GravelMN

No drug is 100% safe, there is always a risk vs. benefit balance that must be considered. Personally, I like to reserve drug therapy for the treatment of disease states that don't respond adequately to changes in nutrition and lifestyle. I can see where pros, whose careers and livelihoods depend on 1/10ths of a second against the best in the world, would be tempted, but I'd be hard pressed to take any significant risk to use a drug for the vanity of dropping somebody on a local group ride or getting a couple more KOMs on Strava. It would be especially lame if you were using it as a shortcut so you didn't have to stick to good training and nutrition.

I've been around long enough to see a lot of wonder drugs come and go. Remember Fen-Phen? The miracle weight loss pill that promised everyone could be slim and trim just by popping a pill a day. It worked wonders and I watched many of my peers dropping weight rapidly and without any effort or change in lifestyle. I was significantly overweight and was very tempted but couldn't overcome that "too good to be true" voice in the back of my head. It didn't take long and the drug combo was pulled from the market as users began coming down with primary pulumonary hypertension (PPH) a potentially fatal or lifelong debilitating illness linked directly to Fen-Phen.

There is always a downside, every silver lining has a cloud.

late

You have to manage risk. And I hate diet pills. So I mostly agree with you, I have turned down
a lot of stuff.

At the same time, things change. One day they might come up with an effective, safe treatment.