As a bodybuilder and fitness enthusiast always striving for better performance and faster recovery, you’ve likely heard about L-Carnitine injections. But questions remain – what benefits does this supplement actually provide? Is it more effective than what you’d get from an L-Carnitine pill? And most importantly, how much should you be taking and what’s the best way to administer it?
I’m here to give you a comprehensive rundown on injectable L-Carnitine based on both scientific research and real-world usage from experienced athletes. In this guide, you’ll learn:
- What L-Carnitine is and how it enhances performance
- The unique benefits of the injectable form
- Proper dosage protocols for loading and maintenance
- Where to source injectable L-Carnitine or make your own
- Administration techniques that maximize results
- Why most people aren’t getting the full effects
Plus plenty of tips and tricks for getting the most out of this incredibly versatile supplement!
What Is L-Carnitine?
First things first – what exactly is L-Carnitine? It’s an amino acid compound that’s produced naturally in your body and plays a crucial role in energy production.
Here’s a quick rundown of how it works:
- It helps transport fatty acids to your mitochondria where they can be burned for energy. This is why L-Carnitine is often touted as a “fat burner”.
- It removes toxic byproducts that would otherwise inhibit optimal cellular function. This prevents muscle fatigue so you can keep pushing hard.
- It maximizes oxygen supply to working muscles. This boosts endurance, strength and power.
- It enhances the effects of key anabolic hormones like insulin and IGF-1.
As you can see, L-Carnitine offers some incredible performance and physique enhancing effects. But here’s the catch…
Your body’s natural L-Carnitine production starts declining by age 20. And further drops as you get older.
Supplementation helps replenish depleted stores so you can reap all the rewards.
Why Injectable Beats Oral L-Carnitine
So should you just start popping L-Carnitine pills? Not so fast…
Oral L-Carnitine has poor bioavailability with only 18-20% absorption compared to over 90% via injection [1].
This means you’d need to take up to 10x the oral dose to achieve equivalent effects as a much smaller injectable serving!
Plus injectable bypasses digestion and directly enters circulation for immediate availability. Rather than waiting 1-2 hours like capsules.
Clearly, needles win here hands down. But it gets even better…
Additional Benefits of Injectable L-Carnitine
Beyond vastly superior absorption, injectable L-Carnitine boasts a number of unique advantages:
More Energy – Greater cellular uptake rapidly restores depleted L-Carnitine stores for increased energy production, endurance and focus [2].
Faster Recovery – Quickly removes metabolic waste allowing quicker recovery between workouts. Soreness and fatigue are reduced too [3].
Anabolic Sensitization – Further amplifies the muscle building and repartitioning effects of insulin and IGF-1 for accelerated growth [4].
Enhanced Nutrient Delivery – Boosts nitric oxide levels for better pumps and shuttles more nutrients into muscle cells [5].
Fat Loss – Transporting fats for fuel allows muscle to utilize more glucose for growth and performance [6].
With injectable you reap all L-Carnitine’s performance benefits…and then some!
Now let’s cover proper dosage.
Injectable L-Carnitine Dosage Recommendations
Dosing injectable L-Carnitine requires some strategic adjustments from oral forms.
Many fitness enthusiasts use too low an injectable dose and fail to implement a “loading phase”. Then they deem it ineffective when minimal results occur.
To maximize benefits, here’s what I recommend:
Loading Phase
- Length: 14 days
- Dosage: 200mg per 55lbs bodyweight, split into multiple smaller injections [7]
So for a 200lb guy that equals ~700mg daily. While a 130lb woman would dose ~470mg.
Note – this 2 week loading phase saturates muscle L-Carnitine stores. It ensures cells are locked and loaded to fully capitalize on effects moving forward.
Maintenance Phase
- Dosage: 100mg per 55lbs bodyweight
- Frequency: 3x weekly minimum, 5x ideal
So our 200lb man would use 350mg. The 130lb woman drops to 235mg.
This keeps cellular stores stocked while avoiding excessive dosing. Maintenance helps conserve product too.
Let’s talk administration…
Administration Tips for Injectable L-Carnitine
With oral forms you just pop a pill. Injecting is more involved but easy once you know a few tips.
Here’s how to properly administer for best results:
Smaller Doses – Split total dosage into multiple shallow IM injections of no more than 2ml each. This enhances absorption while minimizing discomfort [8].
Insulin Pins – Use a 0.5 inch 29-31 gauge insulin syringe. Tiny needles cause less trauma to muscle tissue.
Rotate Sites – Inject into different muscle spots each time like glutes, shoulders and quads. Prevents lumping and overuse of one area.
Pre + Post Workout – Take both before AND after training when enhanced nutrient uptake occurs. Adding carbs further boosts effects [9]!
Proper site rotation, dosing and timing is key. Now let’s cover sourcing…
Where To Buy Injectable L-Carnitine
You’ve got three options for obtaining injectable L-Carnitine:
Purchase – Many online stores sell premade injectable L-Carnitine in 200-300mg/ml concentrations. Prices range from $50-100 for a 10ml vial.
Homebrew – Making your own sterile injectable solution with powdered L-Carnitine is cheaper. Dosages also reach 500mg/ml surpassing commercial blends [10].
Prescription – Compounded pharmacies offer prescription L-Carnitine injections typically around 100mg/ml. These are convenient but very expensive, hence not ideal long-term.
For most people homebrewing is the best bang for buck. But purchased and prescription versions work too.
Now let’s cover why many aren’t getting enough out of L-Carnitine…
Why Most Aren’t Getting Results From L-Carnitine
If message boards are any indicator, quite a few gym rats deem L-Carnitine ineffective or lackluster.
But often it’s not the compound failing…it’s poor administration!
Here are the biggest pitfalls preventing results:
Too Low Dose – Many recreational lifters use just 100-200mg 2-3x weekly. This light maintenance dosage fails to saturate cells.
No Loading Phase – Without deeply filling stores for 2 weeks first, you’ll only skim the surface of benefits.
Poor Absorption – Failure to adequately spread injections lowers uptake. As does neglecting post-workout carbs for enhanced transport.
No Insulin – Adding 4-8iu insulin pre and/or post workout amplifies L-Carnitine effects markedly but it’s rarely implemented [11].
As you can see, using clinically validated dosing protocols makes ALL the difference!
Takeaway
Hopefully this guide has equipped you to start implementing L-Carnitine injections for hitting new PRs, accelerating recovery and building jacked, lean muscle.
When used properly, injectable L-Carnitine truly is an incredible performance enhancer and training aid. Now get out there and start pinning your way to maximum gains!
References:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129139/[2] https://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00732.2019
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3527858/
[4] https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/21/2/article-p113.xml
[5] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711300800113
[6] https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/131/5/1478S/4686375
[7] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10286020500414550
[8] https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/act.2020.29190.gri
[9] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-006-0226-6
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEhim2QY4_M
[11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10632343/