creatine?

There was a piece in this month's Triathlete Magazine about this and from what I read it would seem that they recommend you follow the normal pattern given on the product - i.e. loading phase followed by daily supplementation.

There are some people on the forums who have used creatine so they may be able to help you more specifically than this.

Shane

what is the "loading phase?" or sould i just roll up to my local GNC and ask the muscle head (and get the your too puny for this stuff look).

Edited by tyrant 2005-10-28 6:53 PM

DO NOT ASK GNC PEOPLE FOR HELP!!!! They will just tell you crap to get you to buy the most expensive product on the shelf. There is a ton of info on creatine on the web, try bodybuilding.com. If you're taking creatine you have to workout harder, otherwise you're just wasting money. You also have to be careful with your diet. Drink lots of water.

thanks lots of info.

thanks lots of info. i have been reading up.

Typical loading dose is 20 grams per day for 5 days, followed by 3-5 grams per day. Re-load every 30 days or so. This is probably more than you need. Personally, I would do 10 grams per day for 7 days and then 3 grams per day. Stick with name brands. I prefer EAS. Don't mess with capsules or liquid stuff. Stick with the powder, with no additives (i.e., carbohydrates).

Mike

Are you planning on using this to boost your off season weight training? Or your tri training?

bts

This is a good question as Creatine does not next to nothing for endurance training. It was made for those that are weight training and doing so with the serious intention of adding size. I beat my head against that bodybuilding wall for a long time and read all the article and tried a lot of CRAP. Creatine doesn't even work for everyone....yeah I tried it and nothing. So READ and THINK a LOT before wasting money. Hell I still have some unopened Creatine if you want it. Pay the shipping and handling and it's yours.

Edited by tupuppy 2005-10-30 8:30 AM

i am looking to use it to boost my weight training. With the intention of that adding tri speed, not endurance.

Just making sure, as Tupuppy already covered the warnings that I would have passed along. And like any supplement, make sure you cycle (although I doubt that you'd be using it long enough for long term effects to be a concern).

bts

I was a long time strength athlete (189 lbs 325 max bench) and creatine worked great for me. I made huge gains (mental or not I dunno) lifting weights while using the product , but while taking it I drank nearly 2s gallon of water per day and still felt dehydrated. Also, the minute I stopped taking it the benefits ceased as well. Since becomming an endurance athlete, I have found that cardio gains net more results than strength traiing.

Agree with Mike above - stick with the name brand powders. I used Creatine Surge and Cell-Tech. The syrup and capsules never worked for me.

The call for creatine is that it is supposed to help your body covert energy + with the stores of energy supply. I used creatine on a regular cycle basis for ~2 years while doing moderate weight training. For me, I found it to be helpful + whose effects (increased muscle mass) lasted beyond the end of the cycle.

I was pretty dang scrawny when I started going to the gym, weighing in at 145lbs dripping wet on a 5'9" frame. I had just quit smoking and after 3-4 months at the gym, I weighed 173lbs with body fat with roughly the same amount of body fat.

I wasn't Mr. Body-Builder and didn't rush out to buy tight black t-shirts to roll the sleeves up ... but I was fit.

As for starting, I took two doses of creatine a day (one in the morning/one on the afternoon) for 1 week - and then once a day. I also made sure to take the creatine (along with ~15 grams of protien) within 15 minutes of completing a work out as this is apparently the post-work out 'window of opportunity' for your body to more readily absorb and apply the creatine + protien.

Go ahead a buy it at a reputable store ... this will give you the opportunity to talk to someone about it as well as read the labels, etc. - and get started. After picking the one you like, then Google the product on-line ... you will quickly find that you can save 25-40% by comparasion shopping on the web.

As another poster said, results may vary ... but, all-in-all, it worked for me.

I would recommend staying away from creatine if you are doing endurance exercise. Specifically aerobic. Creatine dehydrates you and you risk many side affects. It is fine for lifting. It helps with anaerobic exercise, but can lead to severe dehydration and cramping and injury for aerobic exercise. Remember all the deaths over the last few years in football. There has not been any definitive link, but aerobic exercise in hot weather while using creatine is suspected as a possible link.

i am not planning on all season, since i KNOW streagth is a weakness for me; and i am entering the winter months (cold) i figured it would be a good boost to my off-season streagth training.

As has been previously stated, creatine is for "explosive" strength gains...ie, for very short duration activities. It has its benefits, but adding endurance will not be one of them. If you want to increase your endurance, bike, run or swim more. The kind of strength that will benefit you for tri training will be lighter weights and more reps, not more weight and less reps (that will build muscle mass).
I used it to increase my benching and squat max's when I use to lift and yes it does work for that. But also, the benefits of creatine are very short in duration and you can literally feel when it stops working. I would take the creatine as the directions stated, as would get a couple of really good sets out of it and than be able to feel the effect fade away.
Creatine, at least the quality stuff, is fairly expensive. You will have side effects, bloating, GI "distress", dehydration, cramping etc. Its different for each person. I tried both the powder and the liquid and found them very similar in effect. The powder gave me more GI problems though than the liquid. Each person is different though so experiment and find what works best for you. Good luck and happy lifting.

As a certified athletic trainer, all I can say is ..... HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!!! I have had more problems with muscle cramping towards the end of practices and games. The water in your system is sucked up by the cells leaving the interstitial spaces lacking in proper fluid levels. Make sure the weight and mass you are gaining is muscle and not water. You may look puffy as a result. I have also had a lot of muscle strains at the attachments of the muscle to the bone under loading. I feel this is the result of a muscle mass and strength increase that exceeds that of the tendon attachment point. One of the other things to point out is that long term studies looking at the effects of pro-longed creatine use or the side effects are anecdotal because the studies were not well controlled.

Edited by Dr Hammer 2005-10-30 10:19 PM

actually most GNC peopel are very helpful... i know, i used to be one... and we only direct you to products if they have a high PM (promo money)

there are newer better forms of creatine... look for a ethyl esther or an AKG delivery system (CE2 and anavol are very good).. these new forms of creatine do not sit outside the cells like monohydrate did... therefore they do not create the waste by product "CREATININE", which caused the bloating, cramping, shits... etc... i have used most forms of creatine since i was a old school bodybuilder and found the new forms waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better

I just got back from my neighborhood health food store and got the same info on the new types of Creatine ethyl esther... they also said that a good glutemine () would be good for endurance sports for performance and recovery.

I am just guessing but if one ups the dose there is probably a lot more of an issue with the dehydration than if you take it as recommended,,,,, and well creatine or not,,,,, most people don't come close to drinking as much water as they should on a daily basis.....

Regarding the sports related deaths,,,,, imho is that it is usually a combination of things not just one item or one error... usually they have occurred early in the trainig camps, so maybe not hydrating enough, maybe overloading on the supplements, going from a few months off and trying to go at last years 100% fitness level, competing to hard for the current fitness level to keep from losing your job to a younger athlete who kept in shape in the off season.... like Clint said,,,,,, Ya gotta knowyour limits

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