Creatine..?.?.

Can someone tell me some adverse effects of creatine? I know there not known long term. But things such as high blood pressure, dramatic mood swings, loss of sleep? Im thinking about trying a cycle or two. Just want to see what it will do to ya... Thanks

I was reading an article about it in the Seattle Times. I guess this guy started to have black urine because he took so much and he got so sick his muscles started to rot. But fo those who take the recommended amount it works very well, it gives you more energy to work out longer.

ohh lord, well ill take the directed amount

Note that the first time you use it will be the best time. After that... 'neh', seems less effective.

Lets say you do 40 pushups on creatine and you stop because your muscles are really tired now. Within seconds you will recover and you can go back to working out.

Sweet, sounds like the stuff for me. Ill post back whenever I get some and try it out. It doesnt do anything like steriods and shrink your nuts/wang will it?

Creatine is nothing like steriods. Don't worry about side effects if you only take 20g a day for no more than 2 weeks I would say.

Your body makes natural creatine from meat but very little. you probably get 1g of creatine from eating steak I think. I might be wrong though. Alone the lines of 1 or 2...

Civ, i know i could research this, but you seem knowledgeable(sp). So what is the
"schedule" when taking it? You say dont worry 'bout s/e blahblah for more than 2 weeks. Are there certain periods that you take it, then you dont take it for a while?

This might help you bud. Be sure eat lots of calcium as well like egg whites.

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/creatine/loading-creatine-use.htm

Thanks man, that will help, but i have a question. Where is says "after a few weeks, their gains taper off an almost disappear" ,does that mean that they dont gain anymore, or what the have already gained diminished as well?

It doesn't mean what you built disapears. It only means you get use to the creatine and its less effective then on out. What you got to do is just use creatine for a month, then quit and just work without it until you can use it again which in my experience is use creatine for a month, then take a month off and then get back on it.

What you gained won't go away unless you just quit working out completely. Just keep pumping iron and you will keep what you got. :)

I suggest you read http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1999/05_99/juhn.htm and take a look at what creatine is actually doing. Its the most unbiased article I've come across on the topic.

There was a thread on the topic a couple months back. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=201812 you might want to pan through it as well.

Hey does anyone know how old you have to be to buy creatine. Does they have age restrictions? I am 16 and was wondering can i go to GNC and buy some?

I've used creatine monohydrate as a supplement during training and to be absolutely honest the jury is out whether it helped or not...

I did the full loading, maintenance dosage regime while doing my pre-season cardio and strength training (which takes 6-8 weeks) for skiing. My observations are...

- Dehydration is an issue. I consumed a lot of water during the training and had to be careful that I didn't hit the wall during the longer bike sessions - in the end I flagged the creative because I had started having dizzy spells at the end of the longer resistance training sessions because I couldn't seem to hydrate enough. However, this has as much to do with being on a bike mag trainer as you struggle to stay cool enough

- Combined with a high protein diet my digestive system had some problems. Occasional nausea during the initial loading was something I wasn't expecting or desired

I gained a fair bit of muscle weight (quicker than without creatine) initially but after about the 3rd week things tapered off. I suspect that the creatine seemed to make me retain fluid in the muscles but didn't really help with building real muscle mass...

The skiing I do is the equivalent of interval training. I hit the run, scoot it and then jump on a lift back up - so it seemed to help with the muscle mass and to get through a full day without having to stop for a proper break (ie 8am to 4pm). But then again I spent 5 weeks @ altitude so the cardio was happening anyway.

The overall verdict was that it was a reasonably expensive exercise for what are some good initial gains but not in the longer term. The dehydration was an issue as was the nausea - I don't think I'll bother again, I simply don't need to do that sort of training anymore as I don't need to bulk up for the activities I do currently so cardio and maintenance is more important so creatine is not really helpful.

Hey does anyone know how old you have to be to buy creatine. Does they have age restrictions? I am 16 and was wondering can i go to GNC and buy some?
Man, dont just go buy it, discuss it with your parental units. Because if something freak does happen theyll know. Im almost 18 and i still asked my Dad if its a good thing to do and whatnot. So make it clear.

I've been usin Creatine for a while now. First and foremost, I'd get the pills. The powder is nasty as hell (I ended up finishin off the bottle by puttin in it Peanut Butter sandwiches throughout the day). My schedule goes as follows: 1 week loading period (25 grams/day), 2 weeks of maintainence (5 grams/day), 1 week loading period (25 grams/day), then 1 month without use. Using creatine, I can easily work out twice as long as I can without it.

Creatine's major gains in the beginning of a cycle are caused by water retention. Your muscles will look a lot bigger because of this. The TRUE gain is from being able to work out longer than you could without taking supplementary creatine. HTH

You definately see results. Its not like your muscles are filled with water so you only 'look' bigger.

Also I'm with the powder tasting like shit. They say its tasteless, but my body disagrees. I end up feeling sick AND dehidrated while working out.

I wasn't meanin to say that you don't get results. I get damn good results using it. It's just that that major gain in the beginning is from the water retention. I love the stuff and I'd recommend it.

Ive been looking some more and I think im going to get the monohydrate, would this be adviseable?

Ive been looking some more and I think im going to get the monohydrate, would this be adviseable?
If you do, make sure your getting enough H2O

Ok, problems...my dad talked to a guy at work, who happens to be a "professional trainer". He strongly discouraged using creatine at my age. So would it hurt me to just use it for 2 weeks, and just never use it again? As long as I worked out super hard while on it?

I started taking it regularly not long after I turned 18. I know a guy who started takin it when he was 16...it didn't seem to do anything different to him

Yeah, I personally dont see anything wrong with it, but still I just wanna try it, at first. So would it hurt me? To just quit after 2 weeks or so?

Hey John, as far as the pill version goes, is there a particular diet you stick to while taking it?

ummmm, hopefully you're not training for any school sports at all? it's an immediate athletic expulsion in the WIAA for use of it, as it is considered an illegal performance inhancer

Well, I decided to forget about creatine. Now im on whey protein and taking zinc supplements. So we'll see what happens.

oh man sorry i got here so late....... there seems to be as usual a lot of confusion on supplements and creatine here. some guys have given you good advice but others......well they don't seem like they know what the hell they're talking about.

Theres really too much to cover when talking about creatine so heres a good link with most of the questions on creatine answered:


http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100831

This is by far the best site on the net when it comes to bodybuilding.

as for me and my personaly experience with creatine, well in my opinion creatine monohydrate is the best as it is one of the purest sources of creatine...... I wouldn't touch the pills myself, the powder is much better as it has a faster absorption rate than the pills.......... most importantly, CREATINE IS NOT A STEROID, don't expect miracles with it, however that being said, I made noticeable gains within the first few weeks of being on creatine............. yes i have to drink a lot more water, but make sure not to drink too much water as that could be dangerous to your health.........creatine will not have any harmful side effects, however, like anything else, too much of it could harm you and could cause you liver pains, but like i said, this is if you take waaay too much and this happens too with protein.........a cycle of creatine would be like 5 weeks on creatine and 1-2 weeks off creatine...... the reason why your gains on creatine get slower the longer you're on it is because your body adapts to the higher levels of creatine so it starts making less gains then it used to at the start of your creatine supplementation.....some people are creatine non-responders meaning that creatine does not work for everyone, but it works for the majority of people.

I think i've answered most of your questions there, if you need anything more then PM me or just check the forums in the link i provided. My advice, don't give up on creatine yet, give it a try for one cycle (5 weeks) and then if you don't like it then drop it. I was about to not try creatine but man when i tried it I loved the gains i've made with it. Anyway, good luck bro.

Dont use GNC creatine. It is shit.

Creatine side effects? Muscle cramps if you dont keep up LOTS of fluids, as for the peeing black cause it rotted the muscles, prove it. Thats a load of crap.

Well if you take too much, you can count on it eating your insides up.

German bodybuilder Markus Rühl takes 100 grams of creatine each day. That isn´t recommendable. If you don't believe me, see for yourself in his DVD: Made In Germany

You definately see results. Its not like your muscles are filled with water so you only 'look' bigger.

Also I'm with the powder tasting like shit. They say its tasteless, but my body disagrees. I end up feeling sick AND dehidrated while working out.

Remember to drink a lot more water than you're used to when taking creatine!

Damn...i've explained this too many times, and each time people know less and less about it...
Thanks ZWrangler and slave for actually knowing what your talkin about and shedding some real light on this shit...
BlackBlur, if you're gonna listen to anybody, listen to those guys

And where I live (which doesn't say much, it IS alabama), creatine isn't banned from high school sports. I used it my last year of jr high and all through my varsity grades (10-12 grades)... they never checked or nothin, not even drug tests, which is good cause i've dipped since 8th grade, but usually they don't check, at least not down here

is there any brand that is better than the other. i know some people dont like the GNC creatine, or is it the same no matter who produces it.