A lot of big guys look good when they’re wearing a sweatshirt, but take off the top and you find that their muscles are hidden under a layer of lard!

Compare that to a guy who’s not as big but who’s shredded to the bone and I’ll bet that’s the guy you want to look like. It’s getting to that shredded condition that’s the problem for a lot of people – that’s where SARMs come in!

In this article, I’ll reveal the 3 best SARMs for cutting that won’t rob you of your hard-earned muscle mass, we’ll consider the best SARMs stack as well, and also look at the side effects you may or may not experience.

Key Takeaways

• Andarine S4 is the best overall SARM for cutting.
• Ostarine MK 2866 is the best SARM for beginners while cutting.
• Cardarine is the best SARM for women while cutting.

Comparison of the 3 Best SARMs for Cutting

#1 Best Overall – Andarine

Andarine S4 was originally considered to be a selective androgen receptor modulator for bulking, yet its cutting properties quickly became apparent. Anadarine was originally developed as a form of treatment for muscle-wasting diseases and it’s considered to have Anabolic activity that is similar to testosterone.

Andarine enhances fat loss by decreasing lipoprotein lipase (LPL) levels while also decreasing water retention. Thankfully, it does not convert into estrogen or dihydrotestosterone and you won’t experience any bloating with its use.

It’s important to know that Andarine may lead to vision problems at a dosage higher than 50 mg per day. Specifically, it can cause yellowing of vision, but this effect is temporary and goes away once a person goes off cycle. [1]

Andarine S 4 is also known for improving bone density, so, while it is actually also one of the best SARMs for bulking – granted your diet is in check.

Andarine Cutting/Fat Loss Dosage

The recommended dosage for Andarine for fat loss and cutting phases is 30-50 mg per day taken over an 8-12 week cycle.

S4 Summary

S4 Andarine

Andarine (developmental code names GTx-007, S-4) is an investigational selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) developed by GTX, Inc for the treatment of conditions such as muscle wasting, osteoporosis, and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). [7]

Its anabolic activity has been viewed to be comparable to testosterone, but unlike anabolic steroids, Andarine does not suppress luteinizing hormone (LH) or follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

As a result, Andarine is able to increase muscle and bone mass without affecting the prostate and does not result in many of the negative side effects that come with the use of anabolics. 

Andarine has become popular as a cutting agent since it accomplishes fat loss by decreasing lipoprotein lipase (LPL) levels and decreasing water retention. Andarine will also prevent you from losing your hard-earned muscle mass and it may even help you to put on lean muscle mass. 

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S4 Andarine Overview

⭐️ Top Benefits: Muscle growth, strength gain, fat loss
🧪 Form: Liquid, Powder
⌛️ Cycle Length: 6 – 8 weeks
💰 Average Cost: $59.99
❤️‍🩹 Side Effects: Vision issues, headaches, and liver toxicity
☢️ Dangers: Hepatotoxicity
📚 Best Stack: MK-677 / Cardarine / RAD 140
PCT Required: Yes
🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️Men/Women: Men
🔄 See Results
➡️ Go to the Full review

• Better recovery
• Improved fat loss
• Massive muscle gains

• Headaches
• Liver toxicity
• Vision issues

#2 Best for Beginners – Ostarine

Ostarine MK 2866 is considered to be the mildest selective androgen receptor modulator available on the market. As a result, it is usually recommended as an introductory compound for beginners and is excellent for fat loss during someone’s first cutting phase.

When cycled in conjunction with a caloric deficit, it will keep you feeling powerful and full of energy while also preserving muscle during the fat-loss process. Ostarine appears to speed up the oxidation of fatty tissue while also slowing down the accumulation of fatty acids.

Ostarine MK 2866 is great at muscle mass preservation, however, you need to take a look at the side effects before you make a choice about using this SARM. SARMs work, but they do have sides.

Ostarine Cutting Dosage

The generally accepted dosage for cutting for men is 25 mg per day over an 8-12 week cycle. Women should reduce the dosage to 10 mg per day. [2]

Ostarine Summary

Ostarine

Ostarine is an orally-active, non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM ).

It’s considered to be the best SARM for beginners and it is most commonly used during bulking and recomp phases.

In a 12-week double-blind placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial involving 120 healthy elderly men and postmenopausal women, ostarine was shown to significantly increase muscle issues, and improve physical function and insulin sensitivity. [4]

Ostarine selectively binds itself to proteins within the body that are called androgen receptors. When attached to the androgen protein, it communicates the message for it to get bigger.

Unlike anabolic steroids, Ostarine does not convert to estrogen or DHT. [5]

Ostarine is legal, but only for research purposes. It has not been approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and as a result, cannot be sold as a dietary supplement.

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Ostarine MK-2866 Overview

⭐️ Top Benefits: Muscle growth, strength gain, fat loss
🧪 Form: Liquid, Powder
⌛️ Cycle Length: 6 – 7 weeks
💰 Average Cost: $54.99
❤️‍🩹 Side Effects: Stomach pain, headaches, cholesterol increase, liver strain, and hypertension
☢️ Dangers: Hepatotoxicity
📚 Best Stack: MK-677 / Cardarine / RAD 140
PCT Required: Yes
🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️Men/Women: Men and Women (Lower dose)
🔄 See Results
➡️ Go to the Full review

• Better recovery
• Improved fat loss
• Massive muscle gains

• Stomach pain
• Headaches
• Liver toxicity
• Hypertension
• Cholesterol

#3 Best for Women – Cardarine

Cardarine GW 501516 is the best selective androgen receptor modulator on the market for women who are cutting. This SARM is a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonist (PPAR agonist) that will provide you with a massive energy boost to help you enhance fat loss. So, technically, it’s not even a SARM.

It selectively attaches to androgen receptors in your muscle cells, leading to enhanced uptake of glucose and amino acids. This results in increased protein synthesis and retention of muscle while cutting. An extra benefit of Cardarine is that it will increase your good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol while reducing your bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. [3]

The main side effect to worry about is a bit of liver toxicity, but there is no need for a post cycle therapy. It is also one of the best SARMs for women, seeing as it doesn’t really influence your endocrine system – much like MK 677 (which can also be used to increase muscle mass and cut fat)

Cardarine Cutting Dosage

While men generally take 20 mg of Cardarine per day over an 8-12 week cycle, I recommend that women cut that in half to 10 mg per day.

Cardarine Summary

Cardarine (GW-501516)

Cardarine is also known to be a PPAR (Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) agonist. These receptors are located at various sites in the body, one of which is on muscles. Cardarine binds with PPAR and carries out multiple effects such as reduction in glucose metabolism, promoting fat loss, and enhancing endurance.

Cardarine enhances Lipid metabolization, meaning that it speeds up the rate at which your body takes stored body fat and converts it into energy. Bodybuilders often use this supplement when they are prepping for a contest, as it fits very well into a cutting stack.

Cardarine has been found to lower harmful LDL cholesterol and boost healthy HDL cholesterol.

That means that the drug can potentially help people to avoid suffering from heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, strokes, blocked arteries, and much more besides. It’s rare that performance-enhancing drugs actually promote cardiovascular health and well-being, but that is precisely what Cardarine appears to do, making it very popular.

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Cardarine (GW-501516) Overview

⭐️ Top Benefits: Endurance and fat loss
🧪 Form: Liquid, Powder
⌛️ Cycle Length: 6 – 8 weeks
💰 Average Cost: $59.99
❤️‍🩹 Side Effects: Liver toxicity and stomach pain
☢️ Dangers: Hepatotoxicity
📚 Best Stack: MK-677 / Testolone / LGD 4033
PCT Required: No
🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️Men/Women: Men and Women
🔄 See Results
➡️ Go to the Full review

• Better recovery
• Improved fat loss

• Stomach cramps
• Liver toxicity

SARMs Stack for Cutting

Your goal for cutting should be to reduce your body fat percentage as much as possible while limiting the loss of lean body mass. This is not an easy process as there is usually some trade-off in terms of lean muscle mass when you get ripped.

The three SARMs that we have highlighted here, however, will make use of their anabolic properties to ensure that you keep your muscle as you are getting more defined. However, in order for SARMs to be effective while cutting, it is essential to train hard consistently and diet diligently.

Other SARMs for cutting you might want to consider are Ligandrol LGD 4033, MK 677, and (for the very elite) even YK 11. Keep in mind you should always use high-quality SARMs from reputable sources.

Mechanism of Action

SARMs are selective androgen receptor modulators. Unlike anabolic steroids, they are able to selectively attach to your cell’s androgen receptors making them extremely targeted in their mechanism of action. [4]

Different cutting SARMs have different specific mechanisms of action. Cardarine, for example, provides greater endurance and training energy to help you burn more calories while, at the same time, boosting amino acid and glucose uptake.

And before you ask, no, a SARM does not act the same as an Anabolic Steroid. The two are wildly different, and bodybuilders looking to achieve muscle growth and fat loss with fewer sides would consider SARMs.

Also, note that pretty much all the bodybuilders and athletes who have tried both (and the studies) say that steroids are stronger. The drawback is that they mess with your hormone levels.

SARMs Powder

SARMs are available in tablet, powder, and liquid form, with the powdered version, generally being the cheapest option. However, if you choose to buy your SARMs in powder form, you will have to do some extra work before you start your cycle.

You’ll have to dose them out into capsule form to ensure that you are getting the right daily dosage. That means you will need to purchase the following:

• Gelatin capsules
• A micro-measuring scale
• A micro-measuring scoop

Liquid SARMs

The liquid form of SARMs is the most popular because it is easier to measure out dosages. For example, if you were taking 25 mg per day, you can easily measure that in the syringe that comes with your bottle of the liquid compound.

However, if you’ve got 20 mg tablets, then you will have to chop one in half every day to get your 25 mg dosage.

SARMs Cycle

SARMs cycles should last between 8 and 12 weeks. If you are a new SARMs user, start with an 8-week cycle. If you tolerate this cycle with no problems, stretch it out to 10 weeks on your second cycle. On your third cycle, you can extend it out to 12 weeks.

Even though SARMs are much less suppressive than steroids, you should still generally follow a cycle with a 3-week PCT cycle. Other general tips to consider before your 8-week first cycle:

• Never use more than one new product at a time. Different SARMs have different sides, and if one is reacting badly with you, how do you know which is causing it?
• If you are going to stack SARMs, never stack SARMs that are known for causing similar side effects
• Keep the most potent SARMs for later on in your career
• Using SARMs usually means you should have a perfect diet and training program already
• Be realistic. Sure, you can build muscle using SARMs for bodybuilding, but you will not gain 50 pounds of pure muscle in 10 weeks

Best SARMs Cutting/Fat Loss Stack

To get the absolute best bang for your SARMs buck in terms of cutting, I suggest stacking the three compounds that I’ve highlighted in this article. You should only do so, however, if you have already completed a couple of cycles with stand-alone SARMs such as Ostarine or Cardarine.

Here’s an example of a SARMs stack for cutting over an 8 week cycle, this stack should allow you to lose 12-14 pounds and get super shredded.

• Andarine – 30 mg per day – split into four equally spaced doses
• Cardarine – 20 mg per day 30 minutes before working out
• Ostarine – 25 mg per day

You should follow this stack with a 3 week PCT using 10 mg of Clomid per day.

SARMs vs Prohormones

A lot of people are confused about the difference between SARMs and prohormones. SARMs are selective androgen receptor modulators that work by selectively sending signals to muscle cells in the body to stimulate muscle growth and fat loss.

Prohormones are precursors to anabolic hormones in the body. When taken into the body, they convert into that hormone. Many of the original prohormones that were very effective at building muscle have now been banned. The new generation of prohormones is, as a result, far milder.

Prohormones are toxic to the liver and cause a far greater degree of testosterone suppression than SARMs. [5]

Sure, both Prohormones and SARMs can be used to increase muscle mass, however, the latter seems to offer more bang for your buck and isn’t so bad for you. Before you use either, make sure you understand the mechanism of action and exactly what could go wrong.

SARMs vs Steroids

Steroids are synthetic copies of the male hormone testosterone. Unlike SARMs, they will invade all areas of the body and this is the main reason that they carry far greater safety risks than SARMs. [6]

Anabolic steroids are also illegal, whereas SARMs can be sold for research purposes. Steroids carry risks even when they are administered by doctors at clinical dosages.

However, the bodybuilding community generally injects themselves with steroids at much greater dosages than what is clinically recommended. Unlike certain SARMs for cutting, there are no real steroids for cutting. Some are better for a cutting phase, sure, but only marginally.

SARMs Side Effects

Though they are much safer than both SARMs and prohormones, there are some side effects with the usage of SARMs. They are an artificial chemical compound and putting any artificial chemical into your body carries some risk, regardless of what anyone tells you.

With that being said, you are not likely to experience any serious side effects with SARMs so long as you stick to the recommended dosages.

The only major side effect with SARMs that has come to light is the vision problems that occur when you take Andarine S4 at a dosage of more than 50 mg per day. People experience a yellow tinge to their sight and difficulty adjusting to light and darkness, however, this effect goes away when you go off cycle.

The other obvious side effect of SARMs is that they may cause suppression of the body’s natural production of testosterone. It should be noted that this effect is far less pronounced than if you were to use either prohormones or anabolic steroids.

When looking at SARMs for sale, make sure you learn about everything you need to know – Testing, reviews, prices, shipping time, etc. This is especially important for your post cycle therapy, seeing as this is the best thing you can do to ensure your muscle mass retention.

SARMs PCT (Post Cycle Therapy)

Post-cycle therapy is used after a cycle of steroids, prohormones or SARMs in order to bring the body’s natural levels of testosterone back to normal after suppression. Due to SARMs suppression being nowhere near as pronounced as with steroids or prohormones, you do not have to do PCT for as long or with as strong a dosage.

Generally, a 3 week PCT with Nolvadex will be sufficient to bring your testosterone levels back to normal. Female PCTs are less easy to just ‘give advice for’, so, best to see a coach about that.

If you are going to use SARMs, make sure you always have a post cycle therapy planned. If you fail to do this, you could experience muscle loss, fat gain, and wonky testosterone levels.

SARMs Results

Though they are not as pronounced as steroids, the results that you will get from a SARMs cycle are still pretty amazing. It is not unknown for a person to drop as much as 4-5 % body fat over a 12-week cycle. Let’s look at a Reddit review of a SARMs stack for cutting:

“8 week cut with 6 weeks 25mg Ostarine

Here is my 8 week cut results while use of Ostarine at 25mg for 6 weeks.

This was my first cycle of sarms ever. Bought my Ostarine through Chemyo.

Testosterone precycle was 650. Not getting bloods down post due to no signs of suppression.

Weight training: No less than 3x/week. Some weeks I trained up to 6x/wk. average was 4-5 days per week.

Cardio: 2 1hr kickboxing sessions per week

Macros/cal deficit: started my cut at 2300cals and while progressing through the weeks I reduced calories to end up at 2050 by the 8th week. 170g protein, 100g fat, and the rest would be carbohydrates. Never really any more than 200g of carbs.

Dosing: week 1 was 12.5mg, week 2-6 was 25mg

Side effects: none.

The only thing I’ve noticed was more gym endurance. Less need for longer rest times. I could always push out a bit more reps. I had NO suppression issues/NO libido issues. My McNuggets didn’t get smaller, no decrease in morning wood. No hair loss, no gyno, no headaches, no acne. After reading all these threads about Ostarine and sides I was pretty apprehensive.. this product is so mild half the time I forgot I was even on it. It’s supposed to retain muscle while in a calorie deficit and that’s exactly what it did. Considering I was cutting I could not attribute my increased vascularity to Ostarine, it could have been.. but I was losing fat so there’s no way to know if it increase vascularity or not. I will say I never got flat during the cycle. My muscles stayed full of glycogen the whole 6 weeks. I did not gain muscle mass nor did I increase in strength. My 1rm max stayed the exact same during the whole 8 weeks which I was happy about. My bench 1rm was 285 the whole way through. My squat 1rm was 305atg all the way through.

My body weight started at 187.7lbs Jan 1st and currently at 8 weeks I am 174.4lbs March 5th.

The first photo was Jan 1st 2nd photo was after my 8 week cut on March 5th 3rd photo was flexing at the end of my cut”

SARMs Forum

The best thing that a person considering the use of SARMs can do is to get as educated as possible about their use. There is no better way to do that than to interact with people who are using them and there are a number of SARMs forums online to allow you to do just that.

The biggest and most popular SARMS forum is isarms. It features a steroids and SARMs information forum, a SARMs expert podcast, underground source talk, and a SARMs buyer review forum.

Where to Buy SARMs (Bodybuilding)

SARMs can be legally sold, but only for research purposes. There are a number of places to buy SARMs online but you should keep in mind, however, that this is an entirely unregulated market.

The best SARMs website that you should buy your product from is Sports Technology Labs. They are one of the leading brands on the planet, have a wide range of the best SARMs for bodybuilding, and each batch produced will be tested for purity.

Take-Home Message

SARMs will get you cut faster and more safely than any other legal compound that’s out there. However, you should only consider taking them for fat loss if you have completed puberty, are training intensely and consistently, and are on a healthy, calorie-reduced diet.

I recommended that you start with Ostarine for an 8-week cycle and then switch to Anadarine for another 8 weeks. On your third cycle, give our ultimate cutting stack a try.

At the end of it, you’ll be ripped to the bone and preserve your hard-earned muscle!