Creatine?

Im starting to take Creatine again starting monday. Will that have any effects postive or negative?

negitive in the fact that the fat by your shaft base will brobobly increase. And it can distroy your heart but that doesnt matter as much

Creatine can destroy your heart? Even in low dosage? I thought creatine helped build muscle not fat.

creatitine helps build tissue, both fat and muscle but yea even in small doses it can eat away your heart. If your looking to gain muscle id just eat alot of protine and yeist.

Cool Doc thanks for the advice, I know about protein and muscle mass. however I don’t know about the yeist part. Care to fill me in a bit? Thanks in advance

Gimmie,

What where your experiences with creatine the last time you used it?

Doc,

Where did you hear creatine will increase fat by your shaft (or anywhere for that matter)? And creatine destroys your heart? Creatine supplementation has been used commonly by athletes and body builders for years and I’m not aware of any proven medical / clinical or university trails showing creatine supplementaion to be harmful when taken at the recommended dosing.

ive heard this from several Doctors and personal trainers Ive talked to. Yeist help inlarge muscles until you acually build the mass. So its kinda cheating but it makes you look bigger.

Doc,

If you could find some information regarding how creatine destroys cardiac muscle, I’d be very interested. The thousands of studies done seem to all point to the findings of increased ATP production, increased lean muscle mass, decrease in body fat, and increased size of muscle cells and function. Yet, this is the first time I’ve heard about creatine “destroying” cardiac muscle. I’ve taken creatine with fantastic results over the past two years, with zero ill effects. In fact, my aerobic capacity (VO2 Max) has increased, yet I don’t do anything aerobic on a regular basis. Stronger heart? Maybe. When I load up on creatine, and when i’m on it, I have to increase my h20 consumption due to the cells being super-hydrated, but other than that, it’s all been good.

Creatine is probably THEE most widely used sports supplement in the world; I’ll admit I have my doubts as to the validity of the “heart destroyer” statement.

Only problem with Creatine is the lack of long term studies, but I think if taken in moderation (much like anything else) there shouldn’t be any severe side effects.

My thoughts exactly. I’m sure there might be a few studies showing some sort of negative aspect for taking creatine, but a vast majority of studies show benificial results of creatine supplementaion. I think all the poisitive findings of creatine far outweigh any negative. And like mentioned if taken in moderation I think you are safe. If there has been any negative findings it was probably with test subjects taking insanely high doses. I can’t remember the details and this is a hazy memory, but think a few years back creatine was in the lime light for causing health problems in a few atheletes. I think when all the findings where in it was discovered these wrestlers were on one of those severe starvation diets/exercise practices and taking extremely high doses of creatine. Their ill effects from the creatine was more of a result of lack of eating / dehydration and taking very high doses of creatine. But none the less the general public tried to blame it all on creatine, since they did not really understand what it was. I think a lot of unknowing people who don’t understand sport supplements just automatically think of supplements as similar to steroids…which can cause health concerns.

Ill do a little reaserch on the whole heart thing but you may be right about the fat, that was a personal observation of mine.

I did creatine for awhile and lost a lot of my sex urge, drive, desire, libido. It pumped my muscles, but also made me look fatter. I found a net message board devoted to creatine and many if not all members described the same thing happening to them while they were cycling creatine. So, I stopped.

Concentrating on the individual muscle (form), not over working out, and increasing weight slowly and Protein shakes worked wonders for me.

The looking fatter part is due to water retention inside the muscle cells. It’s not uncommon for guys to gain 5 or more pounds the first week they start a creatine cycle. It’s mainly all water weight. Of coarse if you are also lifting weights heavy during this time some of the weight gain will be lean mass (muscle). I’ve yet to hear someone getting fat (I’m talking truely fat and not just fluid weight gain) from creatine, Unless maybe they are NOT excersing or following any kind of diet/nutrition plan. Having the “pumped” feeling or look is how creatine works. It draws fluids and nutrients into the muscle cell thus “super hydrating” the cell and creating an “anabolic” environment inside the cell so it can repair itself and grow. Or at least this is my interpretation of how it works. Creatine also works on that whole pathway of helping provide or create more ATP for energy, thus the theory is you should be able to pop-off a few more reps than normal, which also helps put the muscle under load for a longer period and therefore it grows bigger. These examples are for weight lifting, the ATP thing can also come in handy for other sports. I’ve seen study results where basketball players could jump higher, sprinters run a little faster, etc. Maybe I’m just all washed up and have been mis-informed, only hearing the side of creatine use the manufactures want us to hear. If there are serious health concerns or drawbacks to creatine supplementation I’d like to know. I am seriously considering starting back on it again, my workout intensities and strength gains just aren’t what they where when I was on creatine. Plus I miss that “pumped” look and feel creatine tends to give even when you are not wroking out.

Well, I’ve PEed while on creatine years ago and it had no effect positive or negative on PE. Then again, that’s just me. My experience with creatine back then was similar to some of the accounts mentioned above…a great pumped look, but also bloated all over. In alot of ways, I do think it’s somewhat counter productive in the long term for BB. Supp’s like this make it very hard for me to determine the best manner of cycling and the way my body responds to lifting over time. When on, I didn’t really know if it was the creatine working if it was a good workout or was it adaquate rest, good diet, proper workout that made me stronger. Likewise, when I had a less than par workout after a creatine cycle it was tough to try and sus out if it was creatine leaving my body that caused this or the above factors out of balance. IMO, creatine supplementation has the ability to confound one as to whether the basic elements of a fitness program are really in order. Kinda like being really tired and using caffiene as opposed to getting more rest. If one knows from trial and error what workout approach is productive for them in long term experience, then I can see where creatine and other supps may be of utility. I can’t help but think that alot of supp user’s don’t get quite that far before trying out the latest thing in powder or pill. It’s concievable to me that some folks who use supp’s right off the bat actually have a very poorly devise strategy which in itself would not produce gains. Perhaps even severe overtraining, poor eating and rest habits. If use of supps like creatine can mask the negative effects of this behavior, can this be detrimental in the long term? Is this where the negative health effect that are sometimes mentioned come from? Quite possibly, I think. Not saying this applies to anyone above, but it is something to think about. Note that alot of the BB forums typically have the supplement forum at the top of the page. Even illegal supplements. Exercise, diet, and the other really essential elements are almost always further down the list. Of course, some of these boards are supported by supp sales, but I can’t help think that the structure does in fact represent a mindset as to what is priority for success to many people. IMO, that’s all fucked up. groa

That is a massive post… The best suppliment to both boddy building and pe is water. Its not a supliment parsay because its needed for servival but if you keep rebuilding your body with water insted of soda your cells will be much healthier.