The spry age of 20 may seem young for a Cialis prescription, but that hasn’t stopped Jared from taking 15 milligrams of the erectile dysfunction medication daily. He’s not using Cialis for sex. He’s using the drug to make his muscles look more pumped up and vascular.
“I started taking pre-workout a few years ago and wanted more enhancements,” he tells me. Jared researched more performance-enhancing drugs online and eventually purchased Cialis through an underground lab, or UGL. “I was not using it for its intended purpose,” he says, “but the erection quality improvement was definitely a nice bonus.”
Sweatpants plus Cialis might seem like an equation for complaints at Planet Fitness, but Jared is not far from the only guy walking this line. From Reddit posts dating back over a decade to TikTok videos with hundreds of comments, many men who want to build more muscle say Cialis makes them look and feel stronger in the gym. It makes scientific sense because Viagra and Cialis are vasodilators and PDE-5 inhibitors, meaning that they block an enzyme that prevents the breakdown of nitric oxide. This causes blood vessels to relax and dilate, increasing blood flow and making muscles appear larger. Men like Jared prefer Cialis because it lasts significantly longer, with over a 17-hour half-life, compared to Viagra, which only lasts about 4 hours. That way, Cialis guys don’t have to choose between using it in the gym or bedroom if they schedule it right.
Using Cialis as a light performance-enhancing drug is something that fitness coach Kodi Hudson encountered while writing a book on fitness and penis performance aptly titled “How To Train Your Third Leg.” Throughout Hudson’s research, he found that Cialis use is very common in the gym, particularly among bodybuilders who experience erectile dysfunction as a side effect of steroids or “gear” use. “The fitness community abuses the hell out of it the same way that porn stars do, just for a different reason,” Hudson says, adding that women bodybuilders have been known to take Cialis as well. Although some men experience dick shrinkage when they work out, because blood is going to the muscles and joints instead of other places, that won’t protect you from the surprise boners. In fact, that is one of the downsides of using Cialis as a pre-workout. “It doesn’t take much, and you could be fully erect in the gym completely unintentionally,” Hudson warns.
Research shows that daily tadalafil use, the off-brand name for Cialis, improves lean body mass and vascular function. One study found that a single dose of 20 milligrams of tadalafil reduced blood pressure in both men and women with hypertension. Another study reveals that 40 milligrams daily improved the exercise capacity in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Research published in the American Journal of Medicine also shows that Cialis and Viagra use is associated with notable reductions of cardiovascular disease and dementia in middle-aged men, as well as lower death rates overall.
Much of these health upsides makes sense, given that early iterations of Viagra and Cialis were developed to treat cardiovascular conditions, when scientists discovered that their subjects kept getting hard. According to urologist and surgeon, Dr. Judson Brandeis, MD, erectile dysfunction medications are generally safe to use, with some exceptions. Viagra and Cialis can result in side effects like headaches, facial flushing, gastrointestinal reflux, nasal congestion and blurred vision. While Cialis and Viagra are approved for men 18 and older, many medical professionals like Brandeis won’t prescribe them for young men without addressing other lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, alcohol consumption, and underlying mental health issues first. “For men older than 40, it would be acceptable to use Cialis for both weightlifting and erectile dysfunction,” Brandeis confirms.
While some young men are reporting ED symptoms, the condition is a common consequence of aging. About 40% of men in their 40s experience ED, and this rate increases by 10% with each additional decade of life. The danger is when young men like Jared are not prescribed Cialis by a doctor and buy it online from illegal, unregulated labs that manufacture steroids and offer a sort of one-stop shop for performance-enhancing drugs. Chase takes 5 milligrams of Cialis twice a week, obtained online and labelled as a research chemical, and he’s only 19.
“It definitely provides more pump than any supplement for the gym,” he says. “I have never had ED or any problems of that sort.” Interestingly, Chase describes his use as only as needed, but the need is to perform in the gym, not the bedroom. “I don’t want to develop a tolerance for it or have it affect my blood pressure regularly.”
The selective caution of microdosing medication from unregulated labs is troubling to doctors, who strongly advise against it. “Getting medications online is a crapshoot,” Brandeis warns. “Many online pharmacies are profit-motivated and shady.” Beyond ensuring the drug is safe, it’s essential to see a doctor to rule out underlying cardiovascular conditions. Cialis can have cardiovascular benefits, but for men with low blood pressure or a history of stroke or heart attack, lowering their blood pressure further can be dangerous. Doctors also inform guys about potentially harmful drug interactions, such as combining Cialis with certain pre-workout products that boost nitric oxide, like L-citrulline or stimulants like DMAA.
“Combining Cialis with pre-workout supplements carries risks, mainly due to additive effects on blood pressure and blood flow,” Brandeis notes. The combination can lead to, again, low blood pressure, as well as vision and hearing problems, chest pain, rapid heart rate, and other health issues. Bodybuilders have been rumoured to end up in cardiac arrest from the combination.
Gamal fell more appropriately into Cialis’s target demo at the age of 42, but he wasn’t initially prescribed it by a doctor. “A friend of mine gave me a quarter of a bottle of like 10 milligrams,” he admits. After finding success with the weight-loss medication Terzepatide, also known by the brand name Zepound, Gamal began exploring other ways to build muscle. His gym buddies tried to talk him into performance-enhancing drugs like Equipoise, an anabolic steroid for horses. As someone who started prioritizing his health after becoming a dad, steroids seemed too dangerous. Cialis, on the other hand, seemed like a relatively harmless compromise. He eventually told his doctor, who prescribed him 5 milligrams of Cialis, which he takes every two to three days.
“You can work out longer and harder. There are other benefits, like what the drug is intended for, naturally,” Gamal says. “That really wasn’t a main goal because I never really had a problem with that. My main thing was focusing more on heart health.”
With quarterly blood panels to monitor the effects of this and other medications, Gamal’s Cialis use seems to be more of a net positive for his health. He reports sleeping better and is generally more relaxed after going on the medication. He doesn’t get headaches or blurred vision, but the only annoying side effect is a result of the medication widening blood vessels in the nasal passageways. “It makes your nose run like a sieve, it’s crazy,” he says.
If a runny nose and inconvenient erections are not worth the pumped-up muscles, there are alternative ways to increase nitric oxide. Brandeis recommends a combination of beets and citrulline, an amino acid found in watermelon and available as a supplement, for a healthier way to boost blood flow and appear more vascular.
That said, you’re interested in the dual effects of Cialis as you get older, as long as you consult a doctor and avert eye contact at the gym, there’s nothing wrong with observing third leg day.