Creatine and other stuff

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve been on creatine for just over a week now and since there were a few unanswered questions on the topic recently I thought I’d pass on my initial impressions for any other creatine newbies. Over the week I have put on about 5 pounds (some of which I attribute to continued Massive Eating) whilst staying at 5% on the tanita scales which is in itself is nice given the long term angst associated with getting noticable gains. I presume I will lose this when I go off but having seen the extra 5 pounds there is motivation in wanting to keep the size and then some. Training wise, whilst my 1RMs havent gone up, I am generally getting another quality rep or two on most exercises which has had a profound effect on intensity - eg. Im dreading my next preacher curl session… All up I think its a great sup and Im planning to go for 3-4 weeks on, 1 off while the tub lasts.

Im taking the creating post workout with a whey mix and dextrose but, after reading that creatine loses its effectiveness if left in water for more than 10 mins, Im sticking the powders in a flask but adding water at the gym after my workout.

One other bit of unrelated info I want to pass on - I read in the same mag that squats below parallel activate the glutes alot more and that parallel front squats minimise glute gains. I dont know if its true but I’ll try it as Ive had my fair share of glute gains and personally dont think a squatters butt or bubble butt does much for anyone in the looking good nekid stakes.

2

Your 5 lb is probably from water. I’d be a bit more scientific about taking it. Do a search here for Dr Serrano’s creatine cycle. I used it and got my self about 8 lb of muscle that I kept (my weight went up 18 lb first week).

3

Jee thanks for the tips - very positive and great ettiquete. And I thought I was being scientific by snorting ball point pen sized lines of it. Plus I tried to be even more scientific by getting the “deca like” cell tech but alas they were out. I really dont remember asking any question of the sort nor do I think this is your Q&A column - it was my feed back on my experience for others thinking starting. Yes it is water - it felt like I had a hangover until I doubled my daily water intake - hence my comment that I will probably lose it. My point is Im happy with the temporary size and increased work capacity. Given that I eat 600-1200 grams of beef a day Im surprised I wasnt one of the many non responders to the stuff. And Ive seen the “super cycle” but there are others here that dont see any magic in loading so dont preach it as gospel - there are those that say that loading is bunkum and your body wont absorb much more than 5grams of creatine per day and you would have got the same 8 pound gain without any loading. If this is news to you, do your own search, you may be surprised with the results.