Over the past year, the supplement turkesterone (scientific name: ajuga turkestanica) has absolutely exploded in popularity among bodybuilders and athletes as a potential game-changer for gaining strength, setting new records, and gaining muscle. Some have even compared it to steroid gains, with all the drawbacks.
What is Turkesterone?
Turkesterone is a kind of ecdysteroid, a hormone produced by plants to aid in the growth of insects or plants. This substance propels the growth of the plant or insect and accelerates its development. Since it is not an actual steroid and is not anabolic, it does not have any of the negative androgenic side effects that you would typically experience during a steroid cycle, including hair loss and the need for post-cycle therapy. As a result, it has become extremely popular in the bodybuilding community. Because of this, some people think that staying natural while still gaining a slight performance bump is a "hack."
Possible benefits of Turkesterone?
Turkesterone advantages appear to include:
changing the body's overall composition
developing lean muscle
better ratio of total fat to muscle
longer recovery times
an increase in muscular endurance
Potentially reduced anxiety symptoms
Possibilities for better sleep
Although the veracity and reproducibility of each of these claims differs, customers do appear to be happy with the product (although it could possibly be placebo and vary greatly based on the brand involved).
Some users claim to have had increases comparable to those they experienced when using anabolic steroids, without the need for the post-cycle therapy that is typical of anabolic steroids due to their androgenic effects.