Phosphagen HP or Phosphagen Elite, which one's better?

[Spartan1337]

Im a noob at supplements and I'm going to start taking creatine, I have seen many recommendations towards Phosphagen HP and I just noticed there's an Elite version, but dunno if it's good. Im going to start taking creatine after 3 weeks of gym workout, which one will help me to get better and faster results?

I could try to take Xceed or Cell Mass pre workout and maybe the Phosphagen that you recommend or think will help me the most post workout.

[TinyMan]

I would recommend the basic form of Phosphagen - that is, pure creatine monohydrate. Given that you are starting, I recommend sticking to the basics (whey, creatine monohydrate, a multivitamin, and fish oil). Leave things like CellMass for later, IMO.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/eas/phosnew.html

You will get a lot of bang for your buck by just buying straight creatine. Phosphagen HP is essentially creatine with dextrose (good for aiding in uptake of creatine), however there are just as effective ways to do it without paying the price.

5 grams of Phosphagen (or similar pure creatine monohydrate) with grape juice, and you should be good to go. Their writeup on creatine usage is decent (from the link I posted), however I would skip their loading phase altogether.

[Spartan1337]

That's good advice, but why regular Phosphagen instead of the "superior" versions, like HP?

[Elliptical Envy]

To be honest with you Phosphagen HP and Elite are just creatine with sugar (carbs) added. Elite has 1g of Taurine and Beta-Alanine added. The reason why you should just get the regular Phosphagen are: you are new to supplemenets so just try creatine monohydrate first by itself and it is way cheaper to just buy "bulk" monohydrate (check the amount you get in the container with Phosphagen HP and Elite. After you get everything settled as far as your diet then if you want to experiment then fine but it will save you money to just buy some bulk creatine mono and see if you respond to that. You can actually buy dextrose and add it to your creatine if you want and have a cheaper version of Cell-Tech and Phosphagen HP. ;)

[TinyMan]

To be honest with you Phosphagen HP and Elite are just creatine with sugar (carbs) added. ...

You can actually buy dextrose and add it to your creatine if you want and have a cheaper version of Cell-Tech and Phosphagen HP. ;)


Bingo! The HP and Elite are not 'superior' forms of products by any means. HP boils down to sugar and creatine, and Elite isn't doing much better.

Elite has the taurine (for making pumps last longer, hardly necessary), and beta-alanine (which does have merit, in it's own right). When you have a bit more experience under your belt, both taurine (if you want pumps) and beta-alanine (carnosine) are worthy of consideration, but that comes later. For now, pure creatine will do a good job, at a much more cost efficient price.