So, I’m thinking about some supplementation with creatine seeing as it’s the only thing that’s legally available and seems to work. If the research is to be believed, it’ll help my short (<30s) activities and I’ll see some strength gain. Both of which would be useful right now.

I’ve currently lost about 5kgs of weight. I’m aware that one of the side effects is water retention so I’d see some weight gain. I’m not overly worried about how this will affect my cycling because that’s more of a rec activity, but I am a bit worried about the mental effect of seeing the scales creep up.

Anyone been in my shoes before? My main focus these days are racquet sports and weight lifting.

Oh, and I’m hoping I can get down to 10% body fat by the end of the year with a combination of the above and watching my food intake.

Also, where should I buy it? I’m guessing all creatine is created equally (see what I did there?), but maybe some are easier to ingest?

I just buy it as powder from MyProtein.com, about £12 for 1kg which lasts months….

I am a bit worried about the mental effect of seeing the scales creep up.

I don’t mean to sound trite but have you considered not weighing yourself? There are other metrics you could use – BF%, tape measure etc. Your weight is not necessarily a good reflection of your body composition.

I don’t find it adds any weight at all.

Bog standard Creatine Monohydrate form the likes of myprotein is all you need.  Getting the creapure certified stuff might not be the worst idea.

Will you gain weight? Yep – when I load on Creatine I gain about 3-4kg on top of my 95kg “normal” weight. But it’s water so you shouldn’t worry.  Worrying about what the scales say is a fools errand.

You’ll notice a slight increase in weight lifted (eg a couple of kilos on a 100kg lift) and reps at lower rep ranges (e.g. 4 instead of 3).

I took creatine whilst doing weightlifting(3-4 times a week) and basketball(3 times a week), I think it did help. I found that I would recover faster from doing drills like “suicides” as well as running up and down the court.

You will notice how your body very mildly swells up due to water retention, if I remember correctly it was usually about 0.5 to 1kg extra weight that I would put on.

In terms of what to buy, buy “creatine monohydrate”, its one of the cheapest supplements out there and last time I checked there was no benefit in my buying the more expensive stuff.

https://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/creatine-monohydrate/10530050.html?affil=thggpsad&switchcurrency=GBP&shippingcountry=GB&variation=10530054&thg_ppc_campaign=71700000024592746&adtype=pla&product_id=10530054&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz93cBRCrARIsAEFbWsicGFT0fRGt1L6kHVRWZsJ76esAD_epqQUiXgzIG57z0__GD7CvkNIaAgxjEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CL_F-f3Nst0CFY8e0wod1B0Hlg

Adds weight to me, about 1-2kg. Hard to tell how much it benefits you physically, as once you’ve read that it gets you a couple of extra reps, you’re already thinking “I’m going to do 5 reps” rather than “i’m going to try and do 5 reps”.

Placebo or not, I did increase my squat a fair bit faster than normal.

I get it from myprotein, can’t say I notice it has any flavour or texture once mixed with something.

Can’t comment on weight gain as I’m currently losing weight. I do tend to naturally drink a lot of tea/coffee/squash/water throughout the day though so I’m possibly not the person who needs to drink more and notices weight gain as a result. I had McDonalds (chicken wrap = healthy, chips and milkshake not so much!) for lunch yesterday, I suspect the bloat from that is more!

I started taking it again when I started commuting again and found 4hours on the bike every other day left my legs not so much tired as I could still go out mountain biking on the other days and keep up,  but lacking in any sort of ‘zipp’, I could plod along faster than ever as I was getting fitter, but then I was coasting technical stuff rather than getting a few pedals in between corners, and sharp rises in the trail were sometimes impossible. After a couple of weeks taking it with whey at 9am when I got to work on commuting days I think I got some power back.

Caveat before the naysayers arrive: Anecdotes aren’t data. My ‘training’ volume has obviously increased massively so feeling tired was to be expected, and I might just have gotten over that little plateau without it.

OTOH: a mix of whey, creatine, psyllium, BCAA, vit’s, green tea made up with half a pint of milk and a pint of water with some flavourings tastes OK (it’s not a million miles off a runny McDonalds milkshake) and keeps me from round the office for biscuits and cake all morning. If anything it’s just been a cheaper substitute for my morning coffee sat at my desk going through e-mails.

I thought the effect on endurance was not demonstrated?

I thought the effect on endurance was not demonstrated?

I’m a committed singlespeeder (or a singlespeeder that should be committed, one of the two).  Getting up short sharp rises in the trail is probably not far off doing one legged squats. The difference between 2-3 pedals strokes each side as hard as I can push on the pedals and attempting that and just stopping.

My commuting time hasn’t dropped or anything like that (no quicker than it was anyway). Just feels like I’ve got a bit more in the tank for sprints rather than standing on the pedals and stalling.

I thought the effect on endurance was not demonstrated?

Yep, no evidence it boosts endurance.

The best source of info on supplements I have found is within examine.com

When I was a competitive weightlifter, I took it regularly – it helped. It did increase my weight a little, via water retention, but a low carb diet a week or so before weigh in counteracted it. Water retention levels however vary from person to person, try it and see.

Good point. I’ll give it a go, and thanks for the links!

re metrics, weighing myself is the easiest thing to do. I guess I could just use the BF measurement on the scale, but that seems to vary quite wildly based on water retention, diet and some other stuff.

Get some callipers, they’re cheap and not as sciencey as some people claim, all it involves f grabbing a pinch and squeezing the calipers till they click and reading a number. Stick that number (or 3/5/7/9 for different bodyparts) into various online calculators or make an excel sheet with the formulas and it spits out a number. I find them useful for motivation if the scales say I’ve not lost weight, inevitably fat will have been lost and your just constipated or over hydrated.

Vernier calipers?

So people like taking  supplement that clearly damages your body, why would you ?

Taking supplements is only going to benefit the supplement companies. It’s a mugs game.

So people like taking  supplement that clearly damages your body, why would you ?

There’s three ways to point out to you that you’re wrong

1) The evidence that it does no harm

You’re going to have to provide this clear evidence, because there’s a lot that says it’s harmless unless you already have defective kidneys. You’ll have to go a long way to give it up though as it’s naturally in meat and your own body produces it.

https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/

2) The evidence that it does quite a lot of good to quite  a lot of things in your body.

3) The condescending prick way. Ever bought your other half an alcoholic drink? Because that can will lead to hydration and kidney issues along with muscle loss, fat gain, depression, addiction, liver disease, heart disease, impaired brain function and a whole lot of other medial maladies. All in an attempt to make you look good (both generosity and beer goggles it’s a win win). Creatine on the other hand just helps you get a little bit stronger a little bit quicker and ride your bike a little bit faster a little bit more often.

Taking supplements is only going to benefit the supplement companies. It’s a mugs game.

I probably spend less on supplements* than I get through in tyres on my commuter, and considerably less (I think I worked it out to be 5%) of what it would cost to do the same mileage in petrol.

*why not just call them food? Is it a supplement if I put jam (which is just a 1:1 glucose fructose invert syrup with added thickener/stabilisers) on my toast and have a coffee (a caffeine and anti-oxidant solution combined with lactose sugar and protein) to give me a perk up before heading off on my morning commute?

Holland and Barratt capsules. Six per day. No weight gain, probably little performance. I also add old man’s vitamins.

Easy to take and 1.2g/day is at the bottom end of the dosage. I can’t be doing with potions, shakes etc. These just seemed easy to take. Morning an evening.

May help with recovery from more intense efforts.  My be placebo.

why not just call them food?

Likely because the supplement companies wouldn’t be able to charge as much for them.

£8 for 50 servings!  1 serving per day. What a ripoff!  😉

https://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/creapure-creatine-monohydrate/10529740.html

£8 for 50 servings!  1 serving per day. What a ripoff!

Also, there’s an automatic 30% off code so it’s £5.60

Also it’s often 45% off, so it’s more likely £4.40

Likely because the supplement companies wouldn’t be able to charge as much for them.

Milk is significantly more expensive than milk or whey protein.

Give or take a bit my morning ‘recovery milkshake’ after my commute costs:

Milk 25p (it would be 75p if I didn’t go for the healthy option and dilute it with water). (130 calories)

Supplements 25p (200 calories)

Slice of toast with spread and jam x2 25p (guesstimate, depends if I have posh jam or not) (150 calories)

As a ‘real food’ alternative a tin of chickpea Dall has about the same amount of protein and calories and costs £1.

Just need to deal with the other 2500 calories deficit!

Isn’t whey a by product of cheese making that the milk producer then looks to shift on?

What’s the unflavoured creatine like by the way?

Why bother, what is your goal ?  If there is a goal to be the best XC rider etc etc, then so long as it’s legal then it’s OK, but it’s unnecessary expense for what ?  Unless you are trying to be the best as your sport, I’d just work harder/ride harder.  I used to race TT’s and road, but it’s just not worth dabbling. A good diet helps. An idea of your goals would be better.

Sure. I want to:

– Boost my 1 rep max for the main lifts I do in the gym (squat, deadlift bench)

– Improve my recovery time after short high intensity sprints

– Build some additional muscle mass to help prevent injuries. I have some shoulder and ankle problems I’m working on. Progress is good, but I want to get better. The research I’ve done shows that lifting around 60-70% of your 1 rep max for reps shortly after rehab work will show a marked gain in strength increase so I want to try that out.

I’ve already said that riding is more something I do for fun. So it’s more sports specific stuff I’ll do for my sport. Not cycling.

What’s the unflavoured creatine like by the way?

I buy the MyProtein Unflavoured powder and just flavour it with cordial etc to drink. On it’s own it’s tasteless..

but it’s unnecessary expense for what ?

It’s unbelievable cheap, a 1kg bag, of Creatine Monohydrate, costs £12 with normal discounts at MP. At 5g per day, it lasts 200 days. So about £20/year.

Been trying it since last week. Definitely got the weight gain. Maybe a boost in energy, could be a placebo though. But the promised diarrhoea has not materialized, still constipated AF. Very disappointed.