How many of you guys take creatine?

[hashpuppet]

I have a doctor friend who used to be a bodybuilder and is extremely strong. He advised me not to take creatine because if you take it and then you don't work out for a week your muscles will deflate and you lose months of lifting. When he was a lifter he just worked out hard, concentrated on his muscles, didn't diet, didn't gain that much weight but over a year or 2 he gained like 20-30 pounds and was as strong as those guys who weighed 230 and took steroids and right now he is like 50 and although he's smaller he's still twice as big as a normal guy. He almost never works out now and is still muscular. He told me that's the way to do it if you want muscles that will stay with you your whole life. It seems better because he had the same strength as the guys on the hardcore supplements and was smaller and obviously faster because he didn't have those slow bulky muscles.

[decypheredbeats]

creatine is an excellent supplement that has been proven to work with little to no negative side effects. I take 5 grams of creatine a day and once every couple of months I stop for a week then load on 20 g a day for 4 days and continue to take the 5g a day for maintence.
your body has 2 main fuel systems ATP and creatine, Creatine naturally occurs abunduntly in red meats and others, but when you cook it it degrates it. SO supplemention is the key. now your muscles can only store so much creatine, basically when you take it it is storing the creatine along with waterwieght to hold it into your muscles. this is the reason so many people are dissillusioned into thinking it only stores excess water.
creatine supplementation will allow you to lift longer and be stronger, most likely within the first couple weeks you will notice a signifigant strength and muscle mass increase.

and I am a pretty muscular guy (5'11" 205lbs 10%BF ) and I can assure you Im not slow, cause personally I think that "slow bulky muscles" are bullshit. If you learn to harness your muscle strength you can be fast as hell, large muscles are built in many high inensity anaerobic session. And if you can pull out a quick powerfull burst of energy there is no reason you cant take out a quick skilled opponet quickly.
train heavy & explosively on your enncentric portion of the lift and let the wieght back down slowy. This is by far the best method of training to train your fast twitch muscles to have power.

[Sean Dempsey]

Originally posted by decypheredbeats
creatine is an excellent supplement that has been proven to work with little to no negative side effects

That is completley utterly false. Nothing about creatine's side effects has been "proven". There hasn't been any evidence either way.

There have been little to no longitudinal studies of the effects of creatine, and little to no studies of the effects 10-15-20 years down the road, since it hasn't been around long enough.

For every sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist that says it is great, there is one that says they sure wouldn't risk it and it could have potential negative side effects long term.

Fact is, we just don't know what creatine does to you 15 years down the road.

[decypheredbeats]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne13.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/catcrea.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne22.htm

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23272

GET STARTED....
creatine is in fact the most studied and documented supplement on the market.

im just saying find all the sources you can, read all the studies you can, shit learn some biochemistry and find out for yourself

[hybone]

All I know is that when I took creatine, my "package" became "soft" so I immediately stop using it. The same thing happened to a friend of mine that didn't believe me at first till it happened to him. Good luck though.

[Sean Dempsey]

/shrug take all the creatine you want. As a personal trainer and nearing a degree in exercise physiology, from a scientific standpoint, "8 year" studies don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. How many years was cocaine used as a tonic and for medicinal purposes back around the end of the 19th century?

Do whatever you want. Creatine gives me horrible stomach aches and makes me feel like I am gonna vomit. I don't take it.

learn some biochemistry and find out for yourself

I have, and that is why I commented in the first place. Part of my degree project is on the creatine-phosphate cycle, myoglobin, and atp usage in the first 30 seconds of explosive movement.

[decypheredbeats]

Originally posted by Sean Dempsey


Do whatever you want. Creatine gives me horrible stomach aches and makes me feel like I am gonna vomit. I don't take it.

yeah It does the same to me if I take it pre workout or with food.

so I usually take it in my post workout shake or midday.

as a biochem student, then I know you can atleast admit that creatine is a supplement that works though, regardless of long term effects.

[Sean Dempsey]

I know you can atleast admit that creatine is a supplement that works

Actually, I've known people that it does wonders for, and other people that it does next to nothing. Creatine is effective mainly on how the individual reacts to it. It's no miracle supplement, and it doesn't work for everyone. "Individual results may vary".

[allswoledup]

What the ........?

My guess is

He advised me not to take creatine because if you take it and then you don't work out for a week your muscles will deflate and you lose months of lifting.

What is your doc friend a doctor of......BS would be my guess.

Creatine works,point blank. What are the side effects down the road...who knows.

It is also one of the most exstensively researched sports supplements of our time,and has been shown to have next to nothing in side effects ofr the short term except for the ususal.(cramp,bloat, "the runs" et cetera)

It works so well for me I can't imagine it not being in supplement arsenal.

If it doesn't work for you then you are one of the many non-responders.

You can try a creatine transport an see if this helps any.

Oh,I haven't taken creatine in a month and a half(its called cycling) and I'm still the same size and weight.

[IPON]

I tried creatinine and stopped because of severe leg cramps. I really am not into strenghth supllimaentation and I have made great strides with out it. With that said I don't down it just not for me but I have experimented. Usually, I find the people that do not respond are peope that do not have an intense work out and/or are not following the simple directions or they think it is a magic pill and don't give it enough time to work. I think your doctor friend is wrong about the "air mucles" deflating is a week that's just......welll....stupid (I am refering to the doctor not you)

Regarding the research, believe little of what you read and less of what you hear, creatine research is almost on par with the research that the tabacco industry.

With that said, I would try it, be sensible and work hard. Like alswolledup said the key is cycling.

Are you currently working out, if not I would wait a few weeks or a month after you got back into a routine then start if you are interested..but ultimately you should do your research. Remember at its best creatinine is a suppliment...period, better than 90% is the sweat you put into training.

[hashpuppet]

The guy is a kidney specialist, he has 2 master degrees. Yea he's probably a doctor of bullshit.

For the guy who said he was 5'11 and 200 lbs, yea you might think your fast but you might only be fast for about 60 seconds, fighting an experienced fighter, you're not gonna be able to take him down in 60 seconds so chances are after that time limit your gonna get worked.

By the way I've also heard that guys who take a lot of (or atleast abuse) creatine often age prematurely so a 25 year old guy may have the body of a 40 year old.

[allswoledup]

Whoever is feeding you this BS.......

Needs to receive an ennema quick before he/she ends up choking on their own CRAP !


do yourself a favor and either make new friends,ones that actually know something,or read up on sports nutrition and supplementation.It will do you wonders when your in the know and you go around tripping on everyone's stupidity.

It makes for a barrel of laughs most days !

[IPON]

By the way I've also heard that guys who take a lot of (or at least abuse) creatine often age prematurely so a 25 year old guy may have the body of a 40 year old."


I have never read this, but my kneejerk reaction is that if this is true it is probably a spurious (sp??) correlation, ie some other unaccounted variable. If a person is in the mind set to abuse creatinine they may have been or are using juice or some other psuedo anabolic inhancement...I don't know if that can be blamed on the creatine... any other thoughts??

Oh by the way, 2 masters degrees may sound impressive but that does not qualify somone to be called doctor I mean he is obvioslu not a nephrologist. Remember, when people get degrees it is for the area of specialization you have taken and passed these classes successfully...degree (generally speaking), It does not mean they are masters of all knowlege even within thier specialization. It is analagus to MA.....promotions are awarded for knowing formas katas techniques......how many times do we he about black belts that can't fight.

Just something to think about again I would do some online research...no matter what anyone suggests pro/con it is your body so know what you are getting into if you decide to start.

Sean, regading theBB link it was not a 8year study..(the article was trying to infer that in the past 8yrs no major incidence has been documented link Cr to an serious event). But you are on the money regading the long term studies see link below. Since no longitudal studies have been conducted you can't draw any conclusions, if the information in the link below is correct then there are few studies longer than 3 months and only 2 studies for 9 months that is not a long time especially without knowing the design of the study and criteria for inclusion.


Also, the bodybuilding sites posted state no legitmimate studies have been conducted that can prove negative effects (I don't know I won't argue) but what I will say is read between the lines...they are also saying that studies have proven negative effects, but they do not consider them "legitimate" so how do they define "legitimate" with the volume of research I am sure there must be some objective research. Rember, like they said it is a cashcow > $100 mil business and this site is also bias as they are selling suppliments so it is there interest not to say anything negative about Cr. I am not attacking or standing on a saopbox but this is just the reality of business and marketing which is why you have to be an educated consumer

I am leary of someone who says no legitamate reseach has been done and then grossly generalizes infering that a product is safe becuase in 8 years no significat negative effects have been reported. regading the article on the BB site, they comment about people that smoke and drink and being concerned with the efect of CR. Again, part of marketing ...if you don't think about what they are saying you think...."hey that's a good piont your right" I don't drink or smoke (I think its disgusting) but the reality WE DO know the risks of smoking and abuse of alcohol.....and WE DO NOT really do know about creatinine, those are facts. people still use "legal"/illegal steroids (juice) and the risks are well published but they make choice based on desire or ignorance.

Take home message Number do not lie but people do intentionally/unintentionally misinterpret data....so like anything else be a informed consumer. (oh sorry for the long post)

http://www.absolute-creatine.com/

[allswoledup]

Well let me be one of the lab rats......

Been using creatine since the early 90's and only water retention and hella pumps have been the side effects for me.

I was using this stuff back when it was priced like gold.It is one of the cheaper supplements on the market now.

[decypheredbeats]

well I guess the easy conclusion on this is we dont know. I know creatine along with protien and multivitamin have been the constant 3 in my supplement arsenal, and probaly always will. who knows maybe 30 years from now I might get some sort of kidney malfunction. But then again who knows with anything? Id rather take the chance to be the best athlete I can be and work as hard as I can for the rest of my life then dump alchohol and shit in my body and take that chance of geting some malfunction later on.

LOL hashpuppet, what makes you think I can only be fast for 60 min? Bro I train 2 a day and I periodize my training in many 3 week microcycles to work on problem area. I am constantly Finding my weakpoints and correcting them. I can assure you I keep myself well rounded. If I thought I would be winded after a minute then I would be working on my stamina right now, yet Im working on building more strength currently

also now offense to anyone in here, but it seems most of you dont have a clue and are really misinformed on creatine.
please go to the forums from that site I posted. Many people there have Biochem Degrees, a couple of the users even have PHDs, And I dont know what your talking about but those pages should have references from the studies they were taken from at the bottom of the pages........