Hi, can someone help me with info on these. My friend is interested in taking Creatine but then would he need protein shakes too. Can someone help with the differences and anything else. Thanks

to my knowledge creatine is a substance that is found in small quantities in your muscles, its mostly to do with endurance sports, it allows for short bursts of energy... I believe its more used with runners and such than people that go to the gym...

but taking suppliments of it allow to replenish it as its found and created in only very small quantities with food...

I've some that I use that I got from the following site:

http://www.nutrisport.co.uk/home.asp

along with a weight gainer thats full of protein and carbohydrates :) I'm using that mainly because I have an extremly high metabolism and I need to be packing in thousands of calories to be gaining any sort of muscle

why is your friend wanting to take this stuff? is he working out at the gym? trying to build up? tone up? slim?

there is no medical evidence to suggest that taking creatine orally has any beneficial effect. But there are studies which indicate that it has no effect as it is efficiently broken down by enzymes in the stomach/gut.

its the biggest and best selling suppliment and athletes, boxers and weight trainers use it to great effect.

i dont take protein shakes coz i cant stomach them... but he would get better results if he combined the two.

creatine is already in your body and you are just upping the amount so recovery is faster and training becomes more successful..there are no cases of side effects in all the years its been around....longer term effects cant be judged because it hasent been around long (15years?) but small effects are more appetite, dehydrated and you put on a bit of weight on your initial loading up period.

buy it online..much cheaper.



take it...its works....full stop.

trust in Cyclone, he knows stuff ;) I only got it cus I had to make up a little money so I got free delivery... lol, personally better off investing in vitamin C tablets as if your pushing yourself a lot it can slightly lower your imune system, and the last thing you want is some badass flu

I can honestly say that protein and carb suppliments in the form of the weight gainer stuff have helped to start adding to my frame though, although I doubt it has any effect that eating a crap load more food would... but its a lot easier to have a shake after a work out and one before you sleep than cooking an extra few meals a day :?

if you want to weight train or work hard at the gym and get the most out of it you take creatine.....simple as.

i know plenty of body builders and athletes....and any1 serious about training in these areas has either thought about taking creatine or has taken it already.


http://coachmeyer.com/articles/creatine.html

here is a compilation of facts from 44 qualified health and fitness experts.

thanks everyone for your replys. He has been doing a bit more research and found that there are tablets (both protein ones and creatine ones) which you can buy instead of the powder which needs making into drinks. I have heard these might be better? because they (drinks/powder) don't always taste very nice. What does anyone think about these? thanks

Well I have a whey protein shake 30 minutes after every training session, and I'm about to order a creatine-based product called Matrix V2 by Reflex.. My trainer (who DOES know his stuff) uses it and loves it!

GazB

if your gettin any creatine make sure you are gettin creatine monohydrate!

and i dont really belive that when you take it makes too much difference as it has to work into your system...right after training is prob best but i dont stick to this religiously

the drinks arent that nice...depends how picky you are..(i am very picky)

ive put my friend in charge of my training coz the trainers at my gym seem to give every1 the same programme and dont really change your workout to suit what YOU want to do.

if he wants to buy anything...i suggest he trys different types...powder, pills, protein shakes etc.... then order in bulk online.. free postage for most things as well. (which helps coz of the massive weight)

Originally posted by ukstudent
Hi, can someone help me with info on these. My friend is interested in taking Creatine but then would he need protein shakes too. Can someone help with the differences and anything else. Thanks

A bit of background info for you, i have a degree in Physical Education & Sports Science but this is just off the top of my head, i'd have to read up a bit to be sure, but:

Creatine (Creatine Phospate, or CP) is stored in small amounts in the muscles. Energy for movement (muscular contraction) is provided by breaking down ATP (Adenosine TRI-Phosphate) into ADP (Adenosine DI-Phosphate). Basically, 3 phosphates become 2. To replenish that in order to continue, you need to add another phosphate... CP (Creatine)

The creatine you have stored basically gives you a quick burst of "free" energy. No major pain or breathlessness when you stop. Once your CP is used up you move onto other ways of providing energy by breaking down glucose with or without oxygen... but thats another story.

Protein is not generally used for an energy source, it's main role is structural as it's what you build muscles out of. You can't store extra protein. What you don't use is broken down into urea and got rid of in urine.

So, in my opinion, make sure carb intake is high (pasta, spuds etc.) so you have the energy to train, and worry less about protein supplements etc.

Sorry for the lengthy post, this is just a brief explenation too, i could waffle for much longer but hope this is of use/intrest to someone.

-PK-

if you are trying to build muscle fast and spending a long time in the gym your diet will need to include enough protein for your body to repair your muscles, this can either come from increased protein in normal food or from supplements.
Creatine is produced by your body on demand, but orally ingested creatine is just broken down and expelled. I think oily fish is a good source of the basic components your body needs to make creatine.
Taking it orally can also lead to side effects which I think include dehydration, stomach aches/cramps etc...

GimmeSomePK put accross a similar point to me, you need more than just protein if your building up... its a known fact that if your trying to really gain muscle you need to be eating at LEAST 4000 calories a day, because you need the extra for giving your body the energy it needs to repair itself with the protein you've been packing in... (as well as needing extra energy for your actual workout!)

your best bet is a combined carb and protein drink, aka weight gainers, unless of course your "big" as in fat already in which case you want to stick to around normal calorie intakes and the extra will come from burning off fat... although its probably better to do lots of aerobic exercise first and shed the weight, then build muscle... but I'm no expert, I've just done a lot of research

I've used creatine and had good gains in muscle strength but only limited gains in size. I don't believe it has helped at all for endurance. I echo what MTheo says about making sure you only use creatine monohydrate and have found that one of the best/cheapest is sold by Wicker Herbal stores (£14.99/500) or Holland and Barratt sometimes have it on offer for around a tenner.

I suggest taking it with warm water and a bit of fruit juice about 40 minutes before you train to get the best results. Make sure you 'load up' for 5 days first as per the instructions on the tub though.

I usually supplement it with protein shakes, but there are so many on the market depending on what your goals are. My personal preference is Nutrisport 90+ - i've found it's as good as the Maximuscle products but loads cheaper.

I recommend staying on Creatine for around two months max with a break of at least two months after that.

Personally, I find other 'supplements' like Sus, dbol, deca & HCG give me better and faster results but that is another thread topic for another day and I am certainly not recommending that anyone else gives them a try.

Did you also try the same exercise regime without creatine. Otherwise the results may have nothing to do with the creatine at all (as sports science studies have indicated).

Originally posted by mrinvestigat
I've used creatine and had good gains in muscle strength but only limited gains in size. I don't believe it has helped at all for endurance. I echo what MTheo says about making sure you only use creatine monohydrate and have found that one of the best/cheapest is sold by Wicker Herbal stores (£14.99/500) or Holland and Barratt sometimes have it on offer for around a tenner.

I suggest taking it with warm water and a bit of fruit juice about 40 minutes before you train to get the best results. Make sure you 'load up' for 5 days first as per the instructions on the tub though.

I usually supplement it with protein shakes, but there are so many on the market depending on what your goals are. My personal preference is Nutrisport 90+ - i've found it's as good as the Maximuscle products but loads cheaper.

I recommend staying on Creatine for around two months max with a break of at least two months after that.

Personally, I find other 'supplements' like Sus, dbol, deca & HCG give me better and faster results but that is another thread topic for another day and I am certainly not recommending that anyone else gives them a try.

If people assume that if they take supplements, muscles will appear overnight like a fairytale.. They're far from the truth!

Example, advertisements for whey protein all say "Big muscle growth".. but that's only if you put the work in at the gym. After all, it only helps recover your muscles faster, enabling you to train more often (if the muslces haven't recovered, over-training them is counter productive).. It doesn't BUILD the muslces!

That's usually the problem when people say they don't work... They expect miracles because they misunderstand the advertisement, and what the supplement actually does!

I can't say whether creatine works or not, as I never stick to taking it correctly!

GazB

If all you want is to lose fat, then stick to the simple routine of drinking lots of water (burnt fat is drained via the body's water channels), do lots of jogging, cycling, rowing, walking.. etc, and maybe even take a couple of fat stripper tablets before you go on a run! If people think that doing loads of sit-ups will make their stomach smaller and more ripped up, they're wrong.

The muscles may well indeed be there, but without burning the fat around them, you won't see them!

I'm sure cyclone will agree, but people that think they're going to get a neat little toned body from going to the gym once a week on a monday night are fools.. It just won't happen! If you think "If I don't eat much, I'll lose fat!"... WRONG!! Your body will just use any food you eat after and store it as fat, it's a survival thing!

If you eat crap all weekend and do no exercise at all, then think that attending the gym on Monday evening will burn it all off, you're wrong.

How off topic have I gone :|

Sorry for the ramble, and feel free to correct me if anything I've said is wrong!

GazB :)

Originally posted by Cyclone
Did you also try the same exercise regime without creatine. Otherwise the results may have nothing to do with the creatine at all (as sports science studies have indicated).

I did, yes. I've been training regularly for several years and it was a couple of years before I tried anything other than protein. I'd reached a plateau and did not seem to be making any gains. When i'm on creatine I can typically lift 5 - 10k more than I can lift when i'm off it. I also find I train more enthusiastically. On the downside, I tend to get muscle cramps when i'm taking creatine.

It may be the placebo effect, who knows, but it seems to work for me. As i've taken it on and off for a few years now, I find the effect is not as noticeable as it used to be though which is probably why i've moved on to other things.

Originally posted by mrinvestigat
I've used creatine and had good gains in muscle strength but only limited gains in size. I don't believe it has helped at all for endurance.

Creatine is not used in the energy system for endurance. Local muscular endurance (such as press-ups) relies on lactate threshhold, the bodies ability to break down lactic acid (what causes the pain in the muscles being used) and aerobic endurance relies on the heart and lungs providing enough oxygen.

If you were running say a 5k race, the first few seconds would use Creatine as you accelerate from the line, you'd then use the aerobic system as glucose is broken down and you use oxygen to break down the lactic acid into harmless pyruvate. If you then sprinted the last 100 metres you'd be producing more lactic acid than could be broken down with the volume of oxygen provided. So when you stop, your legs ache as they're full of lactic acid and you're out of breath as you need to repay the "oxygen debt" to break down the remaining lactic acid.

So, to summerise, Creatine is used up in a few seconds, energy comes from stored glucose.

-PK-

Basically, you start exercise, ATP stores in the muscles are very quickly used up, the small store of creatine is used to convert the ADP product back to ATP, prolonging the initial energy supply for muscle contraction. It's still all used up in the first few seconds though, just giving the other systems (e.g. aerobic) a bit of time to kick in.

It would concievably be useful, therefore, for athletes in sports such as 100m sprinting and weight lifting should have more creatine stores

A problem with this is that your muscles already store pretty close to the maximum possible amount of creatine that they can cram in, so adding more is just like pouring water into a full cup, it's excreted as excess

So long as you have enough phosphates in your diet to start with (e.g. a reasonable level of protein) there's no real point in paying that much for creatine supplements

In my opinion and that of most scientists, anyway - there might be more to find out about it I guess.

Basically, it all comes down to eating a diet which is just rich enough in everything, with not too much of anything - thats when your body functions best!

On the creatine topic.. I've just started on a product called Tri-Matrix V2.. which is a Creatine/Nitric Oxide/Glutamine type product, I'll let you know the results :)

My hubby has been taking creatine for the last 6 months (since he enrolled at the local gym to 'shape up') and his muscles have really toned up.

He's a totally different shape now and looks fab.

I can well recommend creatine but it does cause headaches when you first start taking it... a well known side effect usually caused in part by dehydration.

The hubby suffered quite bad for about 3 weeks but kept it up and is more than reaping the benefits now.

Go for it!

Originally posted by Jennie8
My hubby has been taking creatine for the last 6 months (since he enrolled at the local gym to 'shape up') and his muscles have really toned up.

He's a totally different shape now and looks fab.

I can well recommend creatine but it does cause headaches when you first start taking it... a well known side effect usually caused in part by dehydration.

The hubby suffered quite bad for about 3 weeks but kept it up and is more than reaping the benefits now.

Go for it!

call me crazy, but maybe joining the gym and exercising has more to do with it.

Yeah, you won't notice/know the difference of hat creatine can do unless he had a spell of a few months at the gym without it, and then started on it from there..

If he started at the gym on creatine, you won't know if it has helped him or not!