Creatine?

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stonel94
stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I'm 19 and a girl and I do NROL and I really want to gain strength and be really lean and low body fat percentage, so I bought a small container of ON micronized creatine, I've heard different things about it. I wanted to get a different kind but they didn't have it at GNC so I bought the one I could find with the best reviews. So I bought it, and I'm wondering a couple of things. 1. how much should I take, I know guys will "load" but I'm not looking to bulk up or anything, just sort of recomp my body and gain strength, so just the 5 g before workout? 30 mins before? 1 hr? 2. How should it be cycled, like how long on and how long off? 3. what about the bloating, anyone taken this particular one and can share their experience with bloating. I already drink at least a gallon of water a day, should I go for even more when on creatine? I know I should eat as clean as possible and stay away from lots of sugar and sodium...anything else?

Replies

  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
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    tagging to follow
  • wareje
    wareje Posts: 42
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    like wise, tagging to follow
  • stonel94
    stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
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    someone answer for real
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    Out of curiosity, how often do you work out? How much do you weigh, etc?

    There is a HUGE amount of creatine research out there.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/creatine-q-and-a-top-17-questions-answered.html
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    So I'm 19 and a girl and I do NROL and I really want to gain strength and be really lean and low body fat percentage, so I bought a small container of ON micronized creatine, I've heard different things about it. I wanted to get a different kind but they didn't have it at GNC so I bought the one I could find with the best reviews. So I bought it, and I'm wondering a couple of things. 1. how much should I take, I know guys will "load" but I'm not looking to bulk up or anything, just sort of recomp my body and gain strength, so just the 5 g before workout? 30 mins before? 1 hr? 2. How should it be cycled, like how long on and how long off? 3. what about the bloating, anyone taken this particular one and can share their experience with bloating. I already drink at least a gallon of water a day, should I go for even more when on creatine? I know I should eat as clean as possible and stay away from lots of sugar and sodium...anything else?

    1. Creatine should be taken AFTER your workout to replenish the stores depleted during your workout.

    2. Depends really, some research says it should be cycled, some says it doesn't need to be. I would recommend cycling it every 2-6 weeks.

    3. Yes, creatine helps your muscles retain water. This is part of its function. And yes, you should drink more water while on a creatine cycle. And eating clean doesn't necessarily affect your creatine cycle.
  • stonel94
    stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
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    Out of curiosity, how often do you work out? How much do you weigh, etc?

    There is a HUGE amount of creatine research out there.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/creatine-q-and-a-top-17-questions-answered.html

    How much I work out as in lifting kind of depends, but ideally 3 days a week lifting, and 3 days a week cardio, because most people say lifting more than 3 day a week can be bad. But I would be willing to cut back on cardio and increase lifting. My workouts are usually pretty short, like I follow NROL but I don't take the whole 120 sec rest inbetween sets because I'm usually working out before work and time is limited. They are usually 30-45 mins, sometimes an hour.

    I'm 5'7" and I weigh about 155 last time I checked, I'm in the process of finding out my BF%
  • astafivgas
    astafivgas Posts: 5 Member
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    Have you poked around the athlete.io boards? I've been following the CNS and a lot of lifters at my gym do general carb-backloading. You may want to look into Kiefer's posts, he talks a lot about creatine consumption and pre-post workout consuming based on your schedule (ie, do you work out in the AM vs PM..).

    You might be interested in a lot of the stuff on that site if you're working on body composition/weightlifting.

    I also agree with the reply re: water consumption - creatine definitely causes you to retain water.
  • MIssFinny
    MIssFinny Posts: 194 Member
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    http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/

    This is the link that Reddit.com/r/fitness gives in their FAQ section about creatine. IMO /r/fitness is a great source to get information from.
  • Philllbis
    Philllbis Posts: 801 Member
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    According to the Strong Lifts Forum it doesn't matter when you take it but the general consensus is to take 5g per day.

    I've found that it works best for me if I take it 30-45 minutes before a workout and then another dose in the morning for recovery.
  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
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    A gallon of water should be plenty. Loading will help saturate your muscles faster, but it's not technically necessary... you'll reach saturation with 5 grams a day too. It doesn't matter what time of day you take it.

    http://www.simplyshredded.com/creatine-guide.html
  • beekay70
    beekay70 Posts: 214 Member
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    You don't have to load, especially if you're not using creatine monohydrate. If you do load, expect a very temporary weight gain (up to 5 lbs). It's water weight and will shed quickly.
  • GorillaNJ
    GorillaNJ Posts: 4,052 Member
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    I was taking creatine for a while and the things I experienced were mixed. Yes I did find that I was getting an extra rep or two before failure, or adding some additional weight to lifts. BUT it did stall my weight loss and I went through several muscle cramping episodes, enough that I finished off the bottle I had and decided to not do it again.

    I know a lot of people who are using it successfully and have been using it for long term, just my experience was less then ideal.
  • beekay70
    beekay70 Posts: 214 Member
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    Typically, you cycle creatine, i.e. one month using it, and at least a month off of it. I don't know how accurate this is, but the trainer I used in India said this was because it could impede your body's natural creatine stores, as well as negatively impact its effectiveness (tolerance?).

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