My nephew is getting into weight lifting and since I was big into lifting at his age, he has asked me for advice. One of the guys at his gym is pushing creatine and he wants to know my opinion.
I have pointed him at all the online articles, I’m interested in your personal experiences. Have you used it? Did you think it helped?
My own limited experience with it caused me to have muscle cramps during workouts and so I stopped using it.
It made me a bit puffier and break out a bit more frequently. Effects were minor, but noticeable. Basically, the final set of each exercise was easier to get through and had a bit more energy during my workouts. That was about it. Not really worth it, imo.
Since it’s pretty harmless, it should be fine for him to experiment with if he’s curious. Make sure to shop around for prices, though. As with all fitness supplements, people tend to have odd ideas about what qualifies as an appropriate price.
If I had to make a firm recommendation either way, I’d have to say he’d be better off just making sure his primary diet (what he eats on a day to day basis) is good. It’ll have a much bigger impact than adding creatine in.
I think your nephew would like the GNC protein shakes better. That crap really packs on the muscle. Which I’m sure is what your nephew wants if he’s a younger lad.
In this day and age, I find it astonishing that people believe anything like this. Protein powder is food, and it’s not gonna do anything that you couldn’t get from eating beef jerky and cottage cheese. Don’t get me wrong; the convenience and price mean that I go through a lot of it, but it’s nothing special.
Creatine is pretty much the most-studied supplement out there (a search for “creatine” on PubMed turns up about 38,000 papers), and the discoveries regarding its use in weightlifting are pretty much what slortar experienced: it makes it easier to get a couple more reps. That’s it–no steroid-like effects, no violent kidney damage. It doesn’t work unless you do. And don’t be wowed by the fancy ads for “high-tech” creatine products. There’s no reason to buy anything but the cheapest plain creatine that you can find.
Really? Wlile I don’t doubt what you say is true, do you have any cites that explains this in more detail? Back when I use it I could have sworn a noticble improvement. It’s hard for me to believe it was all in my head.
Cites? Just about any credible source on exercise nutrition will back Ultrafilter up.
The noticeable improvement you mentioned is pretty much what you’d get with any diet that’s properly dialed in. There’s nothing magical about protein shakes/supplements–they’re just there to fill in weaknesses in your normal daily nutrition.
Most people, for example, don’t get nearly enough protein during a typical day, particularly once they start exercising. Add in additional source of protein (whether it’s from eating meat or getting a protein shake) and Good Things happen.
I do not have a cite for this but have been told numerous times that creatine also absorbs water - making you heavier (adds water weight to the muscles?).
Stop taking the creatine and you lose the extra water weight (less creatine in the muscle to absorb the water).
Could be fact or fiction, but in my case it seemed to hold true (given a 12 week on and 12 week off cycle more than once over the past year).
You need to be specific here re “Most people, for example, don’t get nearly enough protein during a typical day”, actually “most” people get plenty of protein relative to their body needs and energy expenditure levels. Some arguments are even made that people get too much protein. The only people that regularly need more (barring metabolic or disease conditions) than the RDA are those who are exercising intensively and/or are trying to build muscle.
Tell him to get pure creatine monohydrate. No mixed in punch junk that you get at walmart. Tell him that if he goes to GNC, know what he wants before hand and don’t let the people talk him into anything that he hasn’t thoroughly researched on the web. They will have him buy all kinds of junk he doen’t need.
To reiterate, taking creatine alone won’t do anything for you. If you take it when working out, it can help you lift more weight for longer which in turn builds muscle, but it’s not going to have steroid like effects. Drink tons of water while taking it or you will cramp up and have negative side effects. Anecdotally I noticed that I can lift more weight for longer while on creatine. In my opinion, if he wants a good body these are the most important things for him:
Diet in order. Without your diet in check, you are really handicapping yourself
Get a good exercise program. Home Grown Muscle is a great full body workout for beginners.
Once those are in check then you can begin supplements like protein shakes and creatine.
Also check out t-nation.com and even the Mens Health forums for tons of information.
Oh, I don’t think I was that far off. When I say “most people”, I mean that in a demographic sense, not in a “subset of people you know who are pretty healthy and live active lifestyles.”
The average person (at least in the US) tends to eat a lot of junk that’s pretty high in fat and carbs and relatively low in protein. US RDA is…I believe about 2/3 gram per kilogram and I’d be pretty surprised if most people are even getting that. Those requirements are higher if you’re doing strenuous exercise (such as Shakes was probably doing when he was using the mass gainer). As your article points out, though, most people would probably benefit from more rather than less.
On a strictly anecdotal basis, I can tell you that creatine makes people break out in acne like they haven’t had since the 10th grade. I’ve known several guys to use it and this was the biggest downside for them. I’ve heard that the upside is less soreness and more reps, which they thought was worth it.
^^ Not everyone, though. My SO uses creatine and he doesn’t break out. i’m not going to pretend I know a lot oabout it, but I know he uses creatine and whey protien (for meals at work so he doesn’t have to eat junk) both. He looks pretty good for a 50 year old!
I’ve used creatine on and off for quite some time (on right now) and it’s one of the few supplements I’ll swear by. Most of the studies I’ve read say it can help put on around an extra two pounds of lean muscle, if I remember correctly. That doesn’t sound like much, but for an over the counter supplement it’s huge. I’ve never had any problems with breaking out, or even heard of any until now.
I’ll second the pure creatine recommendation, don’t bother with the ones with mixed in fruit punch and such. I read something in a Men’s Health magazine about how creatine phosphate gives even better results than creatine monohydrate, but some of the stuff I’ve read on the net disputes that, so caveat emptor.
The theory is sound–creatine monohydrate has to be converted to creatine phosphate cause that’s the actual fuel your muscles use–but any advantage is probably only statistically significant.
To provide even more anecdotal evidence, neither me nor anyone I have ever heard of has ever broken out in acne from creatine (maybe sterioids, but not creatine). YMMV. Searching the web, some others seem to have a problem with it, but they are all at the ages where acne could be a problem anyways (15 - 18)
Something to remember. When having blood tests, let them know your taking creatine because elevated levels indicate medical problems. Any medical problem that destroys muscle, such as heart attack or degenerative muscle disease.