If you're curious about BPC-157 or any other peptides or supplements for injury recovery and you want the truth about what I learned using it for my shoulder , but , more importantly , if you've ever tried self-experimentation and struggled to figure out whether something is actually working or not , this episode is for you . I'm breaking down my real experiment using BPC-157 peptides for my shoulder what went right , what went wrong and the crucial lesson about confounding variables that will change how you evaluate any protocol or supplement . Welcome to Wits and Weights , the show that blends evidence and engineering to help you build smart , efficient systems to achieve your dream physique . I'm your host , philip Pape , and today I'm talking about my personal experience with BPC-157 . This is a peptide , and I did this for my left shoulder , where I had rotator cuff surgery last year , and I'm going to go through that process , but with an important twist . Instead of just telling you whether it worked or not , we're going to use this as a case study in confounding variables , those pesky factors that make it nearly impossible to determine what's actually causing our results . It nearly impossible to determine what's actually causing our results Because when I tried BPC-157 , I made some classic mistakes that created a messy data set . Understanding these mistakes will help you avoid them in your own experiments , whether with supplements , training protocols or changes to your nutrition .
Philip PapeAnd I do want to say that none of what I share today constitutes any sort of advice , medical or otherwise , for you . It is simply for educational purposes . And before we get into it , I do want to mention something a little bit new that I haven't talked about much lately , and that is a brand new podcast we launched called Nutrition Science Daily . This is a daily weekday morning five-minute podcast . I'm trying to get every single episode under five minutes . Some come in at five and a half or six , and this is an examination of a recent study , finding news article or happening in the world of nutrition , how to analyze it and how to apply it to your life in a nuanced , evidence-based way . So that's called Nutrition Science Daily , links in the show notes . I highly encourage you to check it out . If you like it , follow it and share , but just give it a shot and see if you like it .
Philip PapeLet's talk about my experiment with peptides , and I want to first explain what the heck these are . What is BPC-157 ? Because I've talked about peptides a couple times on the show , once long ago with Dr Rand M , another time with Christian Gem . I may have talked about it a few other times and you can go check those out , but peptides are well . Bpc-157 , specifically , is a synthetic peptide which is derived from a naturally occurring protein found in gastric juices . Research shows it can accelerate healing in muscles , tendons and ligaments by promoting blood vessel formation and collagen production . Studies , mostly in animals so that is a big caveat primarily in animals demonstrate it may have the potential to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress , particularly in tissue repair , which would then help with accelerating that tissue repair .
Philip PapeAnd the reason I decided to try these out is , first of all , I'm working with a qualified professional . Her name is Kristin Gemme here in Avon . She was on the show and she helped guide me through this process . I had rotator cuff surgery in 2023 . So this was last year , as I'm recording this episode and I recovered through that pretty nicely over about six to 12 months , got back into lifting , things started to feel well and then I got some bursitis , some really strong painful inflammation that just would not go away . I worked through various protocols to get that down naturally and then I decided to have a cortisone shot to just massively reduce the inflammation . It worked wonders to allow me to slowly build back in , reintroduce load , get back to shoulder pressing all the things that I love to do in the gym in a very reasonable , appropriate way . And now I'm training pretty hard and it's feeling good .
However , throughout that process I thought is there anything else I can do to support this ? And I had heard about peptides several times . I talked to a former coach of mine who said you know , I've used it . This was him talking . I've used it for my shoulder , others have used it for their knees , for their hips , used it after surgery , and there's all these anecdotal stories of people having faster recovery . And I looked into it I talked to Kristen and I talked to some other professionals . It seems to be the very not just efficacious for a lot of people , but safe as well , and so I considered taking it because it is a fairly natural product , although it is in its infancy with regards to the research .
Philip PapeAnd the protocol is very simple . You inject I think it's 500 micrograms Don't quote me , I don't have my notes here Uh , basically daily . For me , I did it five out of seven days for six weeks , so it's 30 doses . With a very tiny syringe , you put it into fatty tissue . Um , I did it five out of seven days for six weeks , so it's 30 doses . With a very tiny syringe you put it into fatty tissue , I did it into the fat near my triceps and so you hardly feel it . You probably need someone to help with that . And the recommendation was alternate my shoulders for each dose . If you were to put it in your hip or buttocks or stomach or wherever again , you could do it in the same spot every day . You can alternate . It's systemic , but it also is supposed to be local as well . And that's it . And the idea there was that I would track how I feel , how I perform , my mobility , my range of motion as I went forward . And I did but hold that thought , because now we're going to talk about the sticky situation you can get yourself in if you don't do it right .
Philip PapeLet's talk about controlled versus confounding variables . Now , this is a fundamental concept when you're designing any experiment , and what we do here on Wits and Weights and in my coaching practice , is we're always experimenting on ourselves . We start from a known base of knowledge . We start from best practices and our best guess . Like , we know how much protein we should be eating , but we don't know if it should be a little bit higher , a little lower for you . We know you should be training in a certain way generally , but we don't know if you need more or less volume , more or less intensity and more or fewer days per week . So we figure those out later on , but we start with a baseline and we identify these variables .
Philip PapeA controlled variable is something that we intentionally keep constant or we manipulate in a very specific way to understand its effects . So think about scientific studies where researchers control factors like diet , exercise and sleep and they want to isolate the impact of a supplement . So they are controlling these things . They are either manipulating them to keep them steady or they are not touching them , if you will , if they're expected to remain stable . So those are control variables .
Philip PapeConfounding variables are the wild cards . These are the factors that can influence our results but are not part of what we're trying to test , and they can mask or they can amplify the true effect of our intervention . And when it comes to health fitness , common confounding variables are all over the place , because we're human beings , we live messy lives , our stress levels change , our sleep quality changes , we have seasonal variations in our activity . We have life events that come along that affect everything recovery , everything else . We are constantly changing our supplements and medications , we're constantly modifying our training program and our intensity , and the list goes on and on . And the challenge of biological systems , especially our bodies , is that true control , variables , or I should say variable control is nearly impossible . We just have to acknowledge that Everything interacts with everything else . Hormones affect sleep , which affects recovery , which affects performance , which affects hormones . You get the idea . There's sometimes chicken and egg effects that go both directions .
Philip PapeSo when I apply this specifically to my situation , the timeline was such that , as I was starting the BPC-157 protocol , I just happened to be changing a few other very big variables at the same time . Now , those were more under my control , I will admit , and this is where I made the mistake . There are lots of things that happen to us , but there are things that we control , such as our diet . Well , at the time I was starting this , I also decided to come out of my fat loss phase into maintenance and then into a bulking phase . Now , part of that was intentional , so that I could get more out of the recovery , knowing that I was taking peptides , but it still introduced an extra major change to a variable that was no longer in control , although it became controlled in a new sense , in that now I was in a consistent bulk , but it was a change . Also , I switched from a bodybuilding style program to a more strength building style program , knowing again that I would be in a recovery phase , that I would also have more food coming in , and I'm like , well , heck , yeah , now I want to improve my strength base and go after PRs again . I've been wanting to do that ever since before my surgery . So now I'm in a more volume heavy training program at the same time , and all these things are changing while I'm taking the protocol . So now the question is how the heck do I know that if my shoulder starts feeling better or has better mobility , it's because of the peptides ? And how do I avoid the placebo effect here as well , where I start saying , oh , I'm feeling better , it's because of the peptides , because I want them to be .
Philip PapeAnd so when we modify several factors at once like this , we create what scientists call a multivariate problem . Right , each change introduces its own effects and potentially interacts with other changes in ways that we just cannot predict . For example , in my case , increasing calories improves recovery and provides more resources for tissue repair . I wanted that to support the peptides , but it also means I don't know if it's the peptides that's really doing the job . Modifying my training reduces stress on injured areas , even though I might be training more intensely and building strength . So it's like , eh , again , am I hitting myself harder and now the peptides are helping me feel better to counteract that , or I'm actually supporting that by reducing stress because I am getting stronger ? You see what I mean . Peptides themselves , of course , might accelerate the healing processes . That's really the ultimate thing I'm trying to figure out . Better nutrition might optimize hormones that affect all of this , and then my training volume could affect my recovery time . Now , to be honest , I increased my volume , so I technically have less potential recovery , but that's a whole separate topic because of the interaction between stress and fatigue and all that .
Philip PapeSo this is where understanding confounding variables becomes absolutely critical . So you don't make assumptions and don't make anecdotal claims , because when multiple factors change simultaneously , we have to have a more systematic approach , and we're all about systems , we're all about analysis and there are still ways that you can kind of tease out the data . So the first thing is to document everything you care about , even things that you might not think you should care about and seem unrelated but could be affected . So you want to care about those as well , all right . So documenting everything , looking for patterns in the timing between changes and improvements . So , for example , if you made a change and then something improved , look at everything that changed and were they all overlapping , in which case it's kind of hard to figure out what it is , or is there a distinct association , time-wise , between something changing and something improving ?
Philip PapeAnother thing is to compare to similar situations in the past . So , for my example , I've bulked in the past and I've done strength programs in the past and I know how my shoulder has felt . So if my shoulder actually feels a lot better this time under those same conditions , that could be a clue that , oh yes , it might be the peptides , and then consider the biological mechanisms going on and how everything might interact again . So you don't make any assumptions . So what did I actually observe ? You're like , okay , get to the point . What did you feel ? Well , I'm not really sure . I will say that my shoulder is feeling stronger , it hurts less and it cracks less , like there was a lot of cracking going on , but I had also had the cortisone shot . I had recovered from that . I had been training and stretching , working on mobility all of that as well . So is it the peptides ? I've been able to progress my bench press and my overhead press , which is phenomenal . I really missed doing those . But at the same time , I'm using smarter approaches and tools , like I use a slingshot for my standard bench , I use spotto presses which stop an inch above my chest , I support my overhead pressing , with days where I do seated overhead pressing , all of which can be supporting and improving the strength of my shoulder , independent of the peptides . And so at the end of the day , you're going to get a disappointing answer , but I'm not really sure Now .
Philip PapeI've had , I've heard of people who went through recovery from surgery , took the peptides and the recovery was super fast . The question is , would it have been slower or faster without them ? Like , would it have been slower without them or were they motivated Cause they're on the peptides , thinking this is going to recover faster and they push themselves more in a good way ? Right ? We just ? It's just so hard to say because of this idea of confounding variables . So if I did this next time , and I am going to do this next time , but I'm going to do it for my hip . So I've had a torn labrum in my right hip for quite a few years .
Philip PapeDon't know what caused it . It causes a little bit of stiffness . Sometimes in the morning it causes some clicking and it's just a little bit annoying . I do find that if I squat regularly and if I walk regularly , the pain goes away , which is another signal to always be moving and using your body . It tends to be better for your health and your joints than not doing that . When I sit around a lot , that's when it hurts . But I'm going to use peptides there because that part of my body seems to change not a lick . No matter what I do Like , no matter what I'm eating , no matter what I'm sleeping , no matter what , it's been super , super stable , no matter what Like , all these other things can change and my hip will still be a little bit problematic .
Philip PapeSo my reasoning , of course , is if I take the peptides and all these other things in my life are more or less as they've been and all of a sudden that starts to improve , ah , that might be an indicator that these things work . And if everything stays the same , I'll be like , okay , I tried the peptides and , honestly , for me they didn't have a big deal , like I'm getting much more out of just hitting the gym hard , working out , eating right , all those fun things A lot of what I tell my clients to do . I say , look , don't focus so much on these hacks , these supplements , these one percenters . Just focus on the big things and then , once you get there , you can focus on optimization and experimentation with the little things . So the fascinating thing about all of this , about this confounding variable thing , is , while they make clean data pretty much impossible , as a human , they actually mirror real life accurately .
Philip PapeRight , because in the real world , healing and recovery don't happen in isolation . Right , our bodies respond to the totality of our environment , not just single interventions . So we need to care about all of it and we need to just not make excuses and also not rely on one solution or another and just go after it . I , for one , am rather entertained by the messiness of life , and I talk often about how that messiness is what allows us to create resilience around it knowing that it's messy , like knowing that we can't be perfect and knowing that things are going to happen all the it , knowing that it's messy , like knowing that we can't be perfect and knowing that things are gonna happen all the time . It's liberating . It allows you to then set up your system , to assume that that's the case and to set up your environment rather than any single intervention .
Philip PapeAnd don't get hung up and don't overthink is this the best training program ? Is this the best diet ? Just think about your environment as a whole and start to nudge things in the direction you think . Work for you , Track it , measure it , see how you feel , see how you perform , and you'll get there . And if we understand this , then we understand self-experimentation . And now , instead of seeking perfect isolation , we focus on creating the environment conducive to our goals , while we still carefully document the things that change . We document our results , we track , we measure , of course , and carefully document the things that change . We document our results , we track , we measure , of course , and overall , we have a more nuanced approach . It's not going to give you clear-cut answers it never will but it's going to lead to better real-world outcomes and that's what matters .
Philip PapeAll right , if you want to learn more about the little corners and the nooks and crannies of nutrition science , follow my new podcast , nutrition Science Daily . It's wherever you get your podcasts . Check it out . It's five minutes every weekday morning by 6 am Eastern . It's only in the weekdays right now so you can catch up on the weekends if you miss a few during the week and you might love some . You might not Check it out . Follow and submit a five-star rating and review if you enjoy it , or reach out to me on Instagram at witsandweights five-star rating and review if you enjoy it , or reach out to me on Instagram at witsandweights . And until next time , keep using those wits , keep lifting those weights and remember sometimes the best data comes from understanding why your experiment was not perfect . I'll talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights Podcast .