I'm getting pretty desperate with my workouts. I've been going to the weightroom 2 or 3 days a week for the past few months and have seen little results. I can bench only 15 more pounds, and i still tire quite easily. I have been doing endurence training as well..Which leads me to this.
I'm definately going get some creatine to help maximize my results. I've read the full article here about it http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/creatine.html . Is there any more information from a more independent source that isnt actually selling the product? It seems completely safe, but i'm wondering if it's alright at 16 years old.
Thankyou!
edit: fixed link
Creatine
Moderator: The Kwon
-Disclaimer- I'm not a doctor or anything so I can't say how safe creatine is or such.
From my reading and talking with some friends just a short while ago when I was considering taking creatine I found out a lot more than I knew previously. From everything that I could find online it seemed that creatine is a fairly safe supplement as long as you don't overuse it. Being a naturally occurring substance in the body means you're not likely to have any adverse affects unless you overdo the dosage. I forget the exact figures but basically medical research showed that muscle tissue could only hold a set amount of creatine and past that point it would just go through your body. Secondly as long as you stay within the limits of how much your body can hold there should be minimal side effects. Most that I read about involved increased urination and possibly diarrhea as well as some other minor side-effects. Of course everyone can react to things differently so it's really impossible to say whether something is 100% safe for you or not.
As to whether creatine will actually help you or not, that is mainly depending on the type of workout you are doing. Creatine basically is a substance that when broken down replenishes the ATP in your muscles. ATP basically being the 'energy' that lets your muscles do work. However your muscles already have a store of ATP in them sufficient for approximately 5-12 seconds of maximum effort. After this point you only need to rest for a short period of time and your body naturally replenishes the ATP. Everything I found said that basically what creatine would do is allow you to do maximum effort for a longer period of time, say 12-19 seconds or so. For this reason creatine would really only make a difference for someone if you are doing say super-sets where you do maximum effort exercises back to back without a pause until you have done your full sets. The creatine replacing the ATP faster allows you to go longer at full effort before you need a break. Creatine will not actually make you gain muscle; it will just enable you to exercise full out for a slightly longer period of time before resting between sets. While being able to work out harder will give you better results just taking the creatine without actually working out to the point where it kicks in means that you're just wasting it.
To be honest without really knowing anything else about you other than what you said in your post you may want to just try and increase your protein intake before trying creatine. It's amazing how many people I know that go to the gym and only take no more than the RDA of protein and see minimal results. Personally I try and consume approximately 3x the RDA of protein and I think it works wonders, but your mileage may vary.
Btw I thought this was a fairly informative site: http://www.absolute-creatine.com/
From my reading and talking with some friends just a short while ago when I was considering taking creatine I found out a lot more than I knew previously. From everything that I could find online it seemed that creatine is a fairly safe supplement as long as you don't overuse it. Being a naturally occurring substance in the body means you're not likely to have any adverse affects unless you overdo the dosage. I forget the exact figures but basically medical research showed that muscle tissue could only hold a set amount of creatine and past that point it would just go through your body. Secondly as long as you stay within the limits of how much your body can hold there should be minimal side effects. Most that I read about involved increased urination and possibly diarrhea as well as some other minor side-effects. Of course everyone can react to things differently so it's really impossible to say whether something is 100% safe for you or not.
As to whether creatine will actually help you or not, that is mainly depending on the type of workout you are doing. Creatine basically is a substance that when broken down replenishes the ATP in your muscles. ATP basically being the 'energy' that lets your muscles do work. However your muscles already have a store of ATP in them sufficient for approximately 5-12 seconds of maximum effort. After this point you only need to rest for a short period of time and your body naturally replenishes the ATP. Everything I found said that basically what creatine would do is allow you to do maximum effort for a longer period of time, say 12-19 seconds or so. For this reason creatine would really only make a difference for someone if you are doing say super-sets where you do maximum effort exercises back to back without a pause until you have done your full sets. The creatine replacing the ATP faster allows you to go longer at full effort before you need a break. Creatine will not actually make you gain muscle; it will just enable you to exercise full out for a slightly longer period of time before resting between sets. While being able to work out harder will give you better results just taking the creatine without actually working out to the point where it kicks in means that you're just wasting it.
To be honest without really knowing anything else about you other than what you said in your post you may want to just try and increase your protein intake before trying creatine. It's amazing how many people I know that go to the gym and only take no more than the RDA of protein and see minimal results. Personally I try and consume approximately 3x the RDA of protein and I think it works wonders, but your mileage may vary.
Btw I thought this was a fairly informative site: http://www.absolute-creatine.com/
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Tegellan
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Can't read your link, but taking Creatine is what i would consider safe. It is no miracle drug though, when i was on it, it did seem to give me a few more percent though.
One thing to remember is that it ceases to work after about a month, at which point you need to take a break from it for a month or 2 before it will work again. Also, remember to drink plenty of water when you are on it, it will draw the water from your body into your muscles and this can leave you dehydrated. Not sure if any of this was on your link, it didn't work for me.
One thing to remember is that it ceases to work after about a month, at which point you need to take a break from it for a month or 2 before it will work again. Also, remember to drink plenty of water when you are on it, it will draw the water from your body into your muscles and this can leave you dehydrated. Not sure if any of this was on your link, it didn't work for me.
Fortune favors the brave!
creatine is very safe, at the moment im not taking any but i have taken it before in minimal amounts...ideally i would just stay on whey protein and stay away from anything else...sure supplements seem ideal for building strength but as soon as you stop taking them you’ll loose a visible amount of strength, discouraging you from maintaining a healthy workout session. I pride myself on building "natural strength" without the assistance of such products
take it slow, make reasonable goals and results will come, sooner or later
take it slow, make reasonable goals and results will come, sooner or later
-xzionis human mage on mannoroth
-zeltharath tauren shaman on wildhammer
-zeltharath tauren shaman on wildhammer