Comments on: What Is Creatine & How Does It Work?

By: Sunil

Sunil — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:18:54 +0000

Hello Mark,

How much quantity of dextrose monohydrate and creatine we have to take..in grams?

I take these with vitamin c and e and antoxyforte cap that contain spirulina..that contain 100 amino acids…no side effects na if we continue for long term?

By: bharath

bharath — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:34:09 +0000

its any sexual side effects?

By: Andrew Mast

Andrew Mast — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:19:49 +0000

Kynan,

Actually, I’ve read that coffee is not as effective for some reason. Try energy drink packets. At Walmart you can get a box of sugar free energy powders. The one I use has splenda as a sweetener and is pretty simple ingredients. Just drop a packet in water and drink it in the morning before your cardio. It costs a few bucks and should last you a 3 weeks.

I completely understand the extra skin frustration. I had a 12.8% body fat a year ago and just in the last few weeks of binging on holiday foods I’m at 16%!!! A low carb diet is a great way to lose fat fast as long as when you come off of it, you slowly introduce carbs. I’ve lost as much as 2% BF in a month and kept it off! I may do a low carb cycle after xmas but for now I’m just sqeezing in cardio between workouts. I’ve lost about .5% BF in two weeks.

By: Kynan

Kynan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:41:51 +0000

ok that’s good to hear. so far i’ve been using stuff like 85% dark chocolate/ weak coffee/ tea to give myself a boost in the gym on the days that am feeling down and it does work. will probably try to up my milk intake as well to see what happens. i’m trying desperately to reduce this excess skin that makes me want to kill myself everytime i see it.

By: Andrew Mast

Andrew Mast — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:02:15 +0000

CORRECTION: Cyto Sport Muscle Milk Collegiate Cookies and Cream. I use a few different brands so I mis-matched the name.

By: Andrew Mast

Andrew Mast — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:00:03 +0000

Kynan,
No need to lower your expectations. Plenty of people avoid supplements, even pre-digested proteins like whey which can be as cheap as chicken.

The most ‘natural’ things I’ve read about would be
1) Eating balanced meal no sooner than 1 hour before you workout (energy)
2) Drinking lots of water (better circulation for oxygen and waste products from working out)
3) Caffeine!
4a) Consume a carbohyrdrate during your workout
4b) Work your butt off!! Show no mercy.
4c) Immediately consume 50-100 grams of quick digesting protein and maltodextrin. I like American Whey Collegiate Cookies and Cream.

There might be more, but these are pretty well established. Some of them are controversial so I would expect responses to my message either confirming or dismissing these claims, but they are just things I’ve personally read that seem more backed up by research than other studies.

By: Upcoming

Upcoming — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:17:07 +0000

well i don’t think it’s safe. Just google creatine side effects and you’ll come across some very disturbing references about liver damage. You can also ask a doctor. I’m sure he won’t be excited at all guys. Besides, getting bigger is really good but not at the cost of your long or short term health. I’ll pass. I prefer using whey protein. It takes much longer but it gives you a more natural and beautiful result.

By: Kynan

Kynan — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:20:14 +0000

that’s good to hear. I can’t afford to buy supplements and am trying to make it a point to not use any. but is there some sort of need to lower my expectations or perhaps change my diet? i understand that there is a factor of patience and balance in achieving results..but is there something natural that can boost my performance in the gym?

By: Andy Medlam

Andy Medlam — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:44:16 +0000

Great info. . .

I’ll be returning soon to check out other stuff soon

Cheers

Andy

By: Amr

Amr — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:06:45 +0000

yes mark i asked them & they explained that it is precipitated in the kidney causing kidney stones.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:36:00 +0000

@John. I think you should opt for a pure creatine on its own. Also, that particular product isn’t mono.
@mario. Any sport that requires sudden bursts of energy will benefit from creatine supplementation.
@Kynan. I’m all for it man. Vast majority of bb supplements are expensive junk. I take protein, glutamine & cycle creatine, that’s it.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:54:04 +0000

@Storm & Mace. Take a look at my article on comparing different creatines. It’s not my opinion but the results of a comparative study that showed mono was most effective…
https://musclehack.com/creatine-facts-what-is-the-best-creatine/

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:50:51 +0000

@Amr. I don’t know why either man. Ask him/her for an explanation.
@John Osborne. Thanks for that, very interesting.
@Tom & Sunil. You’ll hear many opinions on when is the best time to take creatine but I feel it is better to take it AFTER a workout. It’s after a workout that your body will want to replenish creatine phosphate stores. And the body is primed for nutrient uptake after a workout, not before.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:34:58 +0000

@Andrew. I’ve been taking a Creapure brand creatine for almost a year now. I trust it. This is copied from another site…
“Creatine was discovered in the first half of the 19th century as a component of beef tea and for quite some time Liebigs Fleischextrakt (a meat extract) was the only source. In the 1990’s chemical synthesis became more efficient and has been established in the large-scale industrial production. Degussa developed a synthetic route (cf. US patent 5,719,319) guaranteeing highest quality, purity and safety and is marketing this product under the Creapure brand.”

By: mace twoblades

mace twoblades — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:00:35 +0000

I’m a big fan of creatine and i cycle it 12 weeks on 2 weeks off not because i have been directed to but because i cycle all supplements to see if they work and to give the body a rest, I’m not however a big fan of monohydrate creatine as it bloats me and gives me cramps, i use an ethyl ester for faster delivery and less side effects, noteable energy increases and size i can vouch for. I would take it for the energy alone, i do notice i recover quickly after each set possibly part of the energy being supplied by the creatine. In short you wont be doing yourself any harm in taking creatine and best of all its cheap!! and works

By: Kynan

Kynan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:54:38 +0000

hi mark, what is your view on people that body build without any kind of supplements?

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:09:55 +0000

Marc, I used creatine a few years ago and saw some decent results with it. It, combined with a great routine and nutrition helped me put on over 15 lbs.

Sunil, I found that following the directions on the bottle worked. They also coincide with what many websites say about when to take it. I took mine in the morning with some juice for breakfast and before a workout.

By: mario

mario — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:48:46 +0000

do you think creatine will affect the way you sprint? faster? more intense?

By: John

John — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:14:24 +0000

Hi Mark,

What’s ur opinion on https://www….
I was considering taking it start of new year to aid in my training as its meant to provide you with more of a pump and extra bit of strength.

Would like to hear your opinion on this
Thanks,
John

P.S. good blog as always 🙂

By: Shay

Shay — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:31:36 +0000

Like with all supplements you want to go with a quality pharmaceutical grade creatine.

Jarrow creatine and BIOCHEM Ultimate Creatine Monohydrate are high both high quality pharmaceutical grade.

An interesting benefit of creatine supplementation and resistance training in women is a gain in lean mass as well as fat loss.
https://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Effect%20of%20Creatine%20Supplementation%20During%20Resistance%20Training%20in%20Women.pdf

By: Storm

Storm — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:56:51 +0000

awesome information 🙂 though I disagree with you on the monohydrate being the outright best. I have tried it and got decent results but now im on an EE creatine pill and getting awesome results from it, got from benching 180pounds for 6 reps to 8 reps.

By: razor

razor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:57:14 +0000

awesome info buddy, great job

By: Sunil

Sunil — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:54:52 +0000

Hello Mark,

But when to take creatine

Before or after workout and how much quantity….

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:52:52 +0000

So when should you use creatine. While you work out, before, after, a combination thereof?

By: John Osborne

John Osborne — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:44:59 +0000

Hi Mark,

My name is John Osborne, I am currently studying exercise science at uni and remembered a paper where the researchers extrapolated protein synthesis after creatine supplementation. I think it was this one:

Kelly, Vincent G; Jenkins, David G. (1998) Effect of Oral Creatine Supplementation on Near-Maximal Strength and Repeated Sets of High-Intensity Bench Press Exercise

Which can be found here:

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/1998/05000/Effect_of_Oral_Creatine_Supplementation_on.10.aspx

Hope this helps and keep up the informative articles (they’re great),

Regards,
John Osborne