Help me out here willya!!!

[Suntzu]

I'm doin some research on Creatine… help me out here… what are some of yalls experience… word of mouth… got any good articles… whatever u got… Thanks…

[rubthebuddha]

i used to take it regularly, and it's benefits were decent. what it usually helped with was irking out another rep or two each set.

however, now i take it when i remember (about three times per week, give or take), and i noticed that, when i don't, my body doesn't feel as good and i get very irritable.

so if i'm regular with it, fine, but i don't like a supplement that causes me to feel less well or be very moody when i don't take it.

[Suntzu]

moody:confused: thats a 1st... thanx

[IronFist]

2 Things:

1. Don't use Creatine Serum. Use the powder. Creatine becomes unstable in liquid form, and the serum is more expensive and less effective.

2. Don't go through the "loading" phase. You just pee out more than about 5g per day. So if you're loading with 30g per day, you're just wasting about 25g of it. The reason the companies tell you to load is so you'll go through more of it quicker and have to buy more sooner. They make more money that way. So, just start with 5g per day, and use that much for the duration of your cycle.

Good luck.

IronFist

[SevenStar]

yes, listen to iron. both serum and loading are a waste of money. I've had good experiences with creatine, but that diminishes (for me) after a while, so I stop taking it for a while, then I start back. I have to do the same thing when I use stacks.

[Qi dup]

From what I know Creatine recruits a lot of water, so be sure to drink plenty of water so as not to dehydrate yourself.

[rubthebuddha]

definitely water. i often take it after a night workout, and if i don't drink plenty before i go to bed, i feel like ass the next day -- too dehydrated.

[IronFist]

Oops, I forgot the water recommendation. Yeah, make sure you drink a lot of water when you're on it.

IronFist

[Ford Prefect]

A good calculation for the amount of water you need is your body weight * .66 in ounces of water/day. ie if you weight a 100 lbs, that's 66 ounces of water.

[Arhat of Fury]

yes, I agree with Iron and seven, no serum or loading.

I have heard of one fellow in the gym that was taking it and his liver got all jacked up. He was a pretty big guy, so i am not sure if he was taking roids or not. He said he went onto liver dialisis(sp) because of it. Again I dont know if he was trying to play off his roid usage.
You can take some milk thistle and this will lessen the impact on your liver. Ask anyone at your local GNC and they should be able to inform you.

Also, I would reccomend cycling one month on and one month off, so your body does not get a false sense of strength.
I noticed that when I would take it for about 3 mos straight I would blow up and when I stopped I would loose most of what i gained whereas, when i would cycle it i would make small gains, then come off and hold the strength and size(for the most part) then go back on and achieve a little more strength.size and so forth.
Basically, taking baby steps and retaining, rather than going full bore and losing it when coming off.

Just my 2 cents,

AOF

[Suntzu]

I was given 'advice' that I should take it at the start of a training cycle and than stop until the next one… so say for example if I was going to the Arnold Classic in Feb( san shou… I'm far from a BB )… I would take it for a month, give or take, and than stop... and just train regularly until the comp... or something like that... but i'm still tryin to figure it all out...

[Arhat of Fury]

Yeah, Alot of it will be trial and error. IMO I wouldnt stop it before a competition because if you begin to lose strength which you have been used to, it may affect your combat ability. Just me cents

Good Luck

AOF

[Suntzu]

see… I gotta think about the weight issue… I'm already at the top end of my class… so I GUESS, based on how the advice was given, would be that I would bulk up… including the water retained… get the benefit of the 'extra energy'… come off the creatine… lose the H2O... and unfortunitly a lil muscle which come with the 'making weight'... and already come off the effects of loosing the energy and 'creatine-created' strength... or something like that...:confused:

[Arhat of Fury]

That sounds like a logical approach. I will usually gain anywhere from 2-5lbs from a cycle of creatine(not retaining all of it), although, I was taking it for the bulk and BB side of it. I did get a litle hyper off of it and my stamina for lifting heavy weights increased.

AOF

[TaoBoy]

Be aware that there can be some side effects from usage. Personally, I got some pretty nasty stomach aches. Consequently, I don't use creatine anymore. I didn't even get the chance to see any results. I have friends who have been prone to headaches during usage too. That could be due to lack of hydration though. As previously mentioned, loading is just a marketing ploy.

Check out www.absolutecreatine.com or similarly named URL (maybe .org or hyphenated).

[Qi dup]

Originally posted by TaoBoy
Personally, I got some pretty nasty stomach aches.

I have heard that the Creatine Monohydrate can cause bloating and/or stomach cramping in some people because they just can't digest it right. Thus, the produce a different kind of Creatine. I'm not sure what it's called, I'm sure you can figure it out.

[Arhat of Fury]

I beleive red meat contains creatine monohydrate

[Merryprankster]

Sun,

I wouldn't really recommend it for weightclass sports, unless you're so buried in the middle you can't drop to the next class and aren't concerned about going over.

When I started BJJ, I was on Creatine and lifting a lot. I walked around at 205.

I stopped the creatine and immediately dropped 10 lbs in a week. My maxes decreased about 3 percent. Needless to say, the minor increases in strength and athletic performance are nothing compared with what you gain by cutting a few more pounds.

[Ras-Tanu]

creatine website (http://www.absolute-creatine.com/)
what Tao Boy was talking about; its got some info.