On Creatine
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So a buddy of mine bought some creatine and didn't react well to it, so he gave me the whole tub.
It says to do a loading period (fuck that, marketing) which I'm ignoring, but does anyone have recommendations about how often to take it, and how much?
I've heard an hour before a workout is best, but it says to take it 2-3 times a day. When should I take a second spoonful (if at all)? Should I take it on off days?
None of this is concrete obviously, but any opinions would be good. I know all the stuff about drinking water and stuff.
It says to do a loading period (fuck that, marketing) which I'm ignoring, but does anyone have recommendations about how often to take it, and how much?
I've heard an hour before a workout is best, but it says to take it 2-3 times a day. When should I take a second spoonful (if at all)? Should I take it on off days?
None of this is concrete obviously, but any opinions would be good. I know all the stuff about drinking water and stuff.
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Just take a Tsp. on an off day with your protein shake.
Its worked for me and I am pretty solid guy who is extremely active a majority of the week.
you must be drinking lots of water as well
and yes load for one day 5g for four times that day after that 5g only after training.
Also having trouble getting over this 138 marker and I eat more Tuna and chicken than I would care to. Any other good foods out there that help bulk up?
What does creatine do?
Satans..... hints.....
Kind of hard to say as far as I know. It helps add mass and increases muscle performance/efficiency.
I know that this isn't accurate but I like to think of it as a form of steroid, without all of the ridiculous crap associated with actual steroids.
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It draws a lot of water while doing this, so if you take a shitload of creatine, sit in a sauna, and then got for a 10mile jog, you might actually pass out and maybe even die. The key is to continue drinking water, water before and after meals. From what I have heard though it seems Creatine is just another one of those marketting schemes to try and hook people into buying something. Sort of like when they advertise something as 'Herbal'.
B vitamins, protien shakes, and drinking plenty of water is what I do and prefer it over Creatine.
Generally people take it while they're working out to increase recovery and healing. I'd just throw it away.
Work out regularly and increase your calorie intake to about 5000 or 6000 calories a day.
Avoid it if you're not already working out hard and eating clean. Then for trying to find a shortcut smack yourself hard in the face.
Otherwise it works as advertised. Most of the "personal trainers" I have talked to hardly know anything.
Creatine is used in the production of ATP. ATP is what gives your muscles the energy to keep moving. The more reps and heavier the weight the more ATP is used up. More ATP means you can lift heavier weights longer which in turn means bigger and stronger muscles in less time (in theory, creatine doesn't seem to work for everyone).
When you go off creatine I would imagine you do lose a little of the strength you thought you had. Here's what I would have to guess happens based on what I know of creatine. You still will be, in theory, stronger than you would have been at this point without the creatine. So for example (these are completely made up numbers) without creatine you would have increased your bench press by 15 lbs over the last 2 months but instead you increased your bench press by 30 lbs while on creatine and 25 lbs once you go off creatine.
Based on the diets I hear from most people your size who are having trouble gaining weight I have to say eat more. Record everything you eat so you can actually see how many calories you are taking in. If you want I've got a spreadsheet that I used to use for tracking this info... calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, etc. I've also got a website I created that I use now for doing this and a local client for it, I would be happy to pm you with info on these or just link them here (or in the fitness thread) if enough people are interested. There are also a lot of other websites out there that let you track this same information.
Also, post your work out (possibly in the fitness thread). Both poor work outs in terms of what exercises you are doing or just working too hard can cause the problem you are having. If you've been doing the same exercises for more than a couple months, try changing to new exercises that work the same muscles, too, or even doing them in a different order. Your muscles adapt very easily and you need to change things up on them to see continuous change.
You've heard wrong. Creatine has been tested over and over and over. It works. It's not necessary, but it can help out. It's not some froofy herbal shit.
After you stop taking creatine, you'll probably lose some weight and some strength, but not much really, unless you transition into a low cal cycle or something. Generally, when you hear people say that creatine helped them get their bench from 290 to 325, and when they stopped their bench max dropped to 310-315, then they cry that creatine is a crock (I was like this a few years ago), well ok, but your bench still improved, duh.
It's a resource, like any other resource and one that unlike so many other weightlifting supps on the market, isn't a total crock of shit.
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You'll need to take about 20-30g of creatine a day for about a month to reach peak levels and then you can decrease to as little as 3g if you like.
Personally, I hit a plateau and then started taking "Green Bulge". I love the stuff. I can work out longer and harder. I have never heard a thing about it causing depression like Fellhand was saying, that makes no sense given that creatine isn't anything more than a modified amino acid.
If you quit, you will be better off than you were had you not used creatine at all. You will probably not be able to lift for as long or hard as you could when you were on creatine and that could cause you to slip.
For example, do these supplement packages come with a "Drug Facts" label, or just a "Supplement Facts" label?
It sounds like it might be worth a $25 copay to talk to your doctor about creatine. FDA-approved-as-a-drug or not, your doctor has probably heard about it and can share some advice.
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If you do take it, don't take it with juice and stay away from caffeine, alcohol, and anything else that will dehydrate you (especially hydroxycut). It is counter productive to itse effect, hard on your system, and makes it even harder on your kidneys than it already is. I used it on and off over a few years (my first time was a decade ago this month), and I never had the same jump as that first time. I think part of it was my body was just ready for that growth spurt.
The biggest scare with these things is not the actual supplement, but the other stuff that the companies throw into them. Make sure you are buying American and not stuff you'd find in a wal-mart. Mercury in some brands of multi-vitamins? You bet.
Alternatively he could open up a free account at www.fitday.com
Great site for tracking calories and excercise, amongst other things.
Also, drink lots and lots of water while on creatine can cause you to gain weight, but a lot of this weight at times is water weight. People don't know the side effects to this stuff yet because it hasn't been on store shelves that long. I think just eating right and more is good enough really. Even protein shakes aren't needed.
Everybody can absorb outside sources of creatine, there is no reason why you wouldn't be able to metabolize it. You might not have taken it long enough, had some shitty creatine (most likely, since its not FDA regulated you in reality could have something with no creatine in it), or just not worked out right. It has been used as a supplement since the 1920s.
I'm not trying to push it on everybody, health is the most important thing you have but there is a lot of flat out wrong information coming from people.
edited to add quote
Yea, no... some people just can't absorb outside sources of creatine because they are already producing more than what they need. Also, a lot of this creatine you intake your body just dumps right out.
Everyone is built differently. Things don't work exactly the same on everyone.
EVERYONE can absorb creatine from outside sources. Your body is set up to get a large amount of creatine from your diet, this is why vegetarians have lower levels. If you're trying to say that supplemental creatine doesn't always raise these levels you may be right. However these studies suggest you are not
R. J. Snow, M. J. McKenna, S. E. Selig, J. Kemp, C. G. Stathis, and S. Zhao
Effect of creatine supplementation on sprint exercise performance and muscle metabolism
J Appl Physiol, May 1998; 84: 1667 - 1673.
-8/8 had elevated creatine levels
E. Hultman, K. Soderlund, J. A. Timmons, G. Cederblad, and P. L. Greenhaff
Muscle creatine loading in men
J Appl Physiol, Jul 1996; 81: 232 - 237.
-I can't get the complete article because I'm not at school right now but an increase of 20% in creatine levels for 31 subjects is pretty significant. I will look at it tommorow and if the article mentions that any of them did not show any signs of cr increase I WILL post it and admit I'm wrong.
I don't like the idea of supplements and looked into creatine very heavily before starting it. Thats why I'm so into this discussion. Out of all the journal articles I have read I can't recall anything about people not seeing elevated levels with supplemental creatine.
If you don't know anything about creatine why would you post in the creatine advice thread?
Tube that single tub is basically worthless to you if you stop taking it or do not continue purchasing more. Yes it will benefit you but you have to continue taking it to get the results. A portion of the mass you gain will be water weight and if you stop taking it you'll lose some of that mass. You also need increase your water uptake while on creatine.
But really without more that free tub might as well be corn starch.
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