[Closed] Anyone used Creatine and found it good.

I hated using it, it made me bad tempered. I prefer to get my creatine by eating lots of steak.

I've def noticed a difference while lifting weights and stuff, lets you go longer before your muscles start to fail, not sure about recovery, never really thought about that the couple of times i've tried it. I guess if your doing the same amounts of weights or cycling but your muscles are more capable with the creatine then you aren't going to wear them out as much thus recovering quicker or some bollocks like that.

How can creatine make you ba tempered. Thats a bit like saying that eaing steak is going make you the same!

It doesn't make you bad tempered, its not an anabolic steroid you know. If putting on mass is your aim then give it a go, gains in size are primarily as a result of increased water retention, these will dissipate when you stop.

DO NOT take it without knowing how to cycle it.

It's of little to no benefit in cycling.

used to useit for climbing to reduce pump as it contains atp, dont see it working for recovery myself. i am always bad tempered

i'm not so sure of that MTT, If it lets me lift the same weight for longer before muscle fatigue then surely it would let me push harder or longer on the bike, it might not make a difference on a easy XC loop where its mostly aerobic, but if you throw in a few big climbs where you have to stand up and put some power down I think it might help in that sort of situation.

I thought creatine helped facilitate the regeneration of ATP from ADP? Technically then creatine doesn't contain ATP. It is because you saturate the body with creatine that you are able to increase the rate of ATP regeneration and therefore it 'feels' like an energy boost.

Because you retain water in the muscle tissue, the rest of your body can become dehydrated. Not sure if that's technically correct but it was something I remember reading about when I used to take it.

It does make you thirsty I can vouch for that!

A few years ago there was talk of it benefiting distance runners (I recall Dave Moorcroft was an advocate) I tried it and remember feeling very bloated so I stopped!

I used to take protein powders and HMB supplements and had better results than my mates who just took creatine and protein

:hero:

rs, i take your point but riding a bike is not like lifting weights, the nominal power is not important but the Watts per kg for sustained efforts is key. Mass is counter-productive. Cycling is all about increasing your functional threshold and not fast twitch efforts. Arguably it could be beneficial if your chosen race was a flat circuit race or sub 25 mile TTing where power rules, but for mtbing i cant see a benefit.

I'd simply use a protein supplement.

What Joxster +1

It turns you nasty, and interferes with your normal pooing routine.

MTT
It's of little to no benefit in cycling.

You want to tell BC that. We had to preload of 1grm per kg body weight three times a day for the first week then on to 1grm per kg body weight once a day for the next three weeks followed by a week off and start again. So I was taken 65grm three times a day.

The key to understanding creatine supplementation is to appreciate that it only helps with certain activities. A basic review of what creatine is, and how it is used in the body will help you understand how supplementation might be beneficial. First, the basics. Muscle cells generate mechanical work from an energy liberating chemical reaction -- ATP is split into ADP and P (phosphate). ATP can be used by muscle cells very quickly, but there is only an extremely limited supply -- usually only enough for a few seconds of high intensity work. When the ATP is gone, work stops. Fortunately, the body has several ways to convert ADP back to ATP. The fastest method is to move the phosphate group off of phosphocreatine and onto ADP. This yields ATP -- which is immediately available for muscular work -- and creatine. There is enough phosphocreatine to keep ATP levels up for several more seconds. So at this point we've moved from 2 - 3 seconds of all-out work (ATP) to almost 10 seconds (ATP + creatine). The body can recharge creatine back to phosphocreatine, but this takes time (approximately 30 - 60 seconds). This ATP + creatine system makes up the fastest component of the anaerobic system, and is most used by power athletes. A good example is trench warfare in football (i.e., 6 seconds of all out force, followed by 45 seconds of standing around)

Joxster - interesting reading. Are you not just mirroring my observations though? Its a power supplement, can it be used to increase FT? Does it have any benefits in terms of maintaining the IF (higher TSS) or does it just assist at the top end? say 5sec to 1min?

Isn't cycling about sustained effort?

65g is a massive amount... 😐

I was using it in 1992 when it first appeared, it was meant to speed up the process of ADP to ATP. I never liked using it.

I thought creatine only came out in 1997!Also 65 gram is insane amount of creatine. Scientific research has proven that 3gram a day does the same benefits as over dosing on stupid amounts. 65 grams would for sure have serious health implications, not least your liver would be on over drive. I have only been taking 3 gram per day for 2 weeks and I have noticed a diference to recovery times between gym workout and also I'm hurtin as much on the muscles after training thus improving my cycling in a more indirect way.

I was riding the track at the time, so Kilo Sprint, Points Race, Scratch Race, Madison and Team Sprint.

Most research on creatine has focused on short-term creatine loading and its effect on high-intensity performance capacity. Some studies have investigated the effect of prolonged creatine use during strength training. However, studies on the effects of prolonged creatine supplementation are lacking. In the present study, we have assessed the effects of both creatine loading and prolonged supplementation on muscle creatine content, body composition, muscle and whole-body oxidative capacity, substrate utilization during submaximal exercise, and on repeated supramaximal sprint, as well as endurance-type time-trial performance on a cycle ergometer. Twenty subjects ingested creatine or a placebo during a 5-day loading period (20 g.day(-1)) after which supplementation was continued for up to 6 weeks (2 g.day(-1)). Creatine loading increased muscle free creatine, creatine phosphate (CrP) and total creatine content ( P <0.05). The subsequent use of a 2 g.day(-1) maintenance dose, as suggested by an American College of Sports Medicine Roundtable, resulted in a decline in both the elevated CrP and total creatine content and maintenance of the free creatine concentration. Both short- and long-term creatine supplementation improved performance during repeated supramaximal sprints on a cycle ergometer. However, whole-body and muscle oxidative capacity, substrate utilization and time-trial performance were not affected. The increase in body mass following creatine loading was maintained after 6 weeks of continued supplementation and accounted for by a corresponding increase in fat-free mass. This study provides definite evidence that prolonged creatine supplementation in humans does not increase muscle or whole-body oxidative capacity and, as such, does not influence substrate utilization or performance during endurance cycling exercise. In addition, our findings suggest that prolonged creatine ingestion induces an increase in fat-free mass.