creatine and training

how many of you out there use creatine in your training? and if so what are to pros and cons you've experienced? also what is the difference between the serum and the powder? is one better than the other? please give me you opinion. thanks
saochoy

Hey what's up dude? This is what I've heard, but I can't list sources :cool:

one of my friends has said this:

"Ok, basically Creatine in any liquid is unstable over any extended period of time. It isn't even recommended that you leave creatine mixed in juice for any period of time. It is highly unstable. Everyone who has stated this is correct.

It is also correct that the stuff from Muscle Marketing USA has next to no creatine in it.

There is a great article on the AST website if you wanna read it and see test results on the product:

http://www.ast-ss.com/articles/creat...um_5-22-00.htm

Your best bet is creatine monohydrate... whether it's micronized, effervescent, or whatever."

And someone else said:

"...creatine serum tested out really poorly. not only is there hardly any creatine in it, it is probably bad for your health to take it. muscle marketing has said that their creatine is so advanced that you need a 'special' method of testing to detect their creatine. yeah. horse****."

Well as you know I don't personally use any creatine, but there's some info for you.

Oh yeah, and if anyone does decide to use creatine, you don't need to "load" it. The only reason they tell you to load it is so you'll spend more money on their supplements. Just start taking 5g a day (or whatever a serving is) and thats it. No 30g/day loading phase.

Iron

First off,the negatives.More is not always better.load for 4-5 days at the 20-25 gram range and then taper it down to around 10 grams a day after that.I tested this loosely by going by the recommended amounts for 3 months,laying off for 2,then coming back at triple dosage for 2 weeks when i began to see problems.It was nothing serious that tapering off didn't put an end to immediately,but the loading dosage used consitantly every day for two weeks caused me some minor twitches in a few muscle groups(bi's and quads) and caused me to cramp a few times in the ab area(once really painfully).I don't know if this was due to creatine causing a robbing effect on my phosphorous stores or exactly what was happening,but going back down to 10 grams a day solved it.The next problem i have with it is a problem with most anything.After a point you get diminished returns with the same amount.For me it is about 4 months,then i have to leave it alone for a couple months,then go back to it.Now to the good part.I gained 10 pounds of mass(water and a few pounds of muscle)in 2 weeks.It increased the stability of my joints in certain lifts(elbows on bench,possibly from added water).I seem to recover faster on creatine than without,maybe time and a half as fast as normal?Now creatine is by no means a steroid substitute,but seems to be the best thing out there for those of us trying to increase size and strength without going illegal.I tend to try a lot of garbage in my quest for the magic pill and creatine seems to be the only thing i have found to operate as advertised in the sports supplement world including the andro/norteston crap the McGuire supposedly takes(if you believe that...).

-Devildog