Looking to gain mass is creatine a must?

[murphto]

I have made some nice gains the last 6 months but have never tried creatine.Is it a must have product and if so what brand?

[rockymania]

No, its not a must, but it does seems to help........pushing yourself with heavier weight is a must!

[murphto]

Thanks im 6'2" and 210lbs and want to put on another 15-20lbs

[sytennison]

I agree. Creatine isn't a must, but it is helpful. Try a cheap creatine monohydrate first before delving into the more exotic and costly products. If you're like me, you may find that plain old monohydrate works just fine and you'll save yourself a lot of money.

[Bando]

I added creatine, glutamine and arganine to my workout about 10 days ago, today I was surprised at what I could get up on my bench 8 times. I have been doing a lot of dumbell presses as I was kinda stuck at where I was on my bench, and I was in a new gym, but something defiantly changed, or I just finally broke a plateau, I dunno.

I haven't noticed any visible mass gain, I have gained like 4 lbs which I attribute to not enough cardio and bad food - I've been handling a big stressful, no healthy meal conference this week.

So I guess stay tuned, If my strength keeps progressing like this, I'll keep with the creatine, I've been been trying to get my bench weight up for awhile, and it's up.

[JOHN GARGANI]

Originally Posted by murphto

I have made some nice gains the last 6 months but have never tried creatine.Is it a must have product and if so what brand?

unequivocally NO!


if you have been making some nice gains, then , stick with what you are doing!

[murphto]

Thanks guys,I have had alot of luck with eating oatmeal between meals.I work at quaker oats so I eat it on my breaks and was just looking for a little extra boost.My 16 year old son tell's me ya gotta have it and he has made some great gains on his bench, now if I can convince him to eat his oats.

[murphto]

Yo rocky I checked out your progress the last few years all I can say is awsome man keep it up.

[boathead]

i've probably swallowed 25 lbs of creatine in my life. and gained 2 lbs. uggh.
the literature says that some are not affected by creatine. apparently they are talking about me.

[StartinOver-68]

I'm probably not a good example for creatine because of my age, but I tried it for the first time about 6-7 months ago and noticed nothing positive. No strength gains, no size gains. Good clean food and some ON Whey works best for me.

[mug_1972]

i don't guess its a must but u could try "size on" it does what it says; well for me anyway plus it helps me recover after workouts. do a search on it cause the price can be anywhere from $38 to $70.

[exhibita]

Originally Posted by murphto

I have made some nice gains the last 6 months but have never tried creatine.Is it a must have product and if so what brand?

Read up on what it does, and then make the choice.

[domineaux]

EAS Phosphagen HP - creatine monohydrate

In my case, I supplement OnWhey Protein shakes, a scoop of glutamine in the first protein shake each morning. 2 large caps of fish oil with GLA.

You have to have protein supps unless you can gorge down that much meat, cottage cheese, etc. to equal 1-1/2 grams of protein per pound of your bodyweight each day.

Glutamine is vital, because it helps you retain muscle tissue. This is a lot of help in workouts, because you'll progressively have better recovery between your sets and exercises.

Creatine retains water at the cellular level, effectively that will give you great pumps and provide even better recovery and strength during workouts.
Great pumps do not make you bigger, contrary to what many people think. The load builds the muscles and filling your body with water from creatine supplementation isn't real growth. I look at creatine only as a tool to enable better workouts.

I've often wondered how creatine affects blood pressure, because I've always heard retaining water causes HBP.

I do creatine only periodically. I gauge it, by my workout recovery. If my body is reluctant to do another set or I wait a little too long between exercises. I load and do the Phosphagen HP for a couple weeks. You have to drink about a gallon of water a day minimum when doing creatine, because it is extracting so much water from your system, especially your internal organs. You've got pork down water.

A note on my workouts: I allow 1 minute max time between sets for rest/recovery and only 3 minutes max between exercises. This routine has been great for pushing my metabolism up without taking my heart rate to maxes. When my body starts demanding longer time between sets or exercises...then I supplement creatine. Honestly, I use about one tub of the creatine a year at most.

It would be great if I could drop the creatine altogether, because I have noticed the gains I acquire when on creatine do diminish when I quit using it. I know then my gains were mostly water. I can literally go up a whole shirt size when doing creatine.

[smp13]

I use advocare's Post Workout Recovery drink that has 2g of creatine..you will gain at least 10 lbs in the next 2 months...only take it after you workout before your 'window of opportunity' closes..

[sweeps]

I know its a hot debate whether Creatine works or not but I give it a thumbs up. Yes, I have added some water weight but not in a bad way. I drink a lot of water as it is but my muscles feel better and stronger. My weights have gone up over the last 2 months using it. I have not gained weight b/c I am in a losing fat stage right now. Still I can see a difference in my muscle growth since taking it. Buy some cheaper stuff and use it for a month. I think you will see/feel a difference.

[Pooh Bear]

Window of opportunity? Are you sure about that?

Seemed like creatine used to have a dramatic effect back when I first tried it about 10 years ago. Now I hardly notice anything.

[newmexico123]

No

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by Pooh Bear

Window of opportunity? Are you sure about that?

Seemed like creatine used to have a dramatic effect back when I first tried it about 10 years ago. Now I hardly notice anything.

I believe he is talking about the absorbtion time. Most of the article say to take it right after you workout.

[GSOgymrat]

I've tried creatine in the past and didn't notice a difference. Maybe I'm one of those people who it doesn't work for.

[sdnatural]

It took me a long while to try creatine as I was an avid believer that I could do without it. I did read an article about how it can help during the week prior to a bodybuilding show to lessen the amount of water under the skin since it would be drawn into the muscle, so I did try it for that...not sure if it really worked or not.

A few years later, I finally caved after seeing others benefit from it and tried it. My opinion? Wow...wish I'd done it sooner. Even though I'm into bodybuilding, the strength gains I got from it where incredible where I came close to benching 405 lbs...this while I weighed probably no more than 180 lbs. if that.

Try it, but as someone suggested above, read about it and understand what it does. Good luck.

[murphto]

Thanks for the help guys

[oldsuperman]

Originally Posted by murphto

I have made some nice gains the last 6 months but have never tried creatine.Is it a must have product and if so what brand?

I don't use it! ed

[beez721]

Originally Posted by murphto

I have made some nice gains the last 6 months but have never tried creatine.Is it a must have product and if so what brand?

its still the only product Ive ever used that gave me a noticeable direct gain in recovery,,,weight and strength. I gained 7 lbs of lean mass in one month. my squats and deadlifts went up enormously. only thing is,,,my gains were very small after the first month. plain micronized creatine mono with 40-50 gms of dextrose worked the best for me ( post workout)

[beez721]

Originally Posted by Bando

I added creatine, glutamine and arganine to my workout about 10 days ago, today I was surprised at what I could get up on my bench 8 times. I have been doing a lot of dumbell presses as I was kinda stuck at where I was on my bench, and I was in a new gym, but something defiantly changed, or I just finally broke a plateau, I dunno.

I haven't noticed any visible mass gain, I have gained like 4 lbs which I attribute to not enough cardio and bad food - I've been handling a big stressful, no healthy meal conference this week.

So I guess stay tuned, If my strength keeps progressing like this, I'll keep with the creatine, I've been been trying to get my bench weight up for awhile, and it's up.

that 4 lbs is water weight. did the same thing to me,,,which is good believe it or not in the long run. the increased strength will result in an increase of muscle weight eventually. there's no other way around that

[beez721]

Originally Posted by GSOgymrat

I've tried creatine in the past and didn't notice a difference. Maybe I'm one of those people who it doesn't work for.

yea,,its said that about 20% of people dont respond to it,,espescially if you eat lots of red meat

[newmexico123]

Does nothing for me.

[Roger999]

everyone responds diffrently to diffrent types of creatine because of youre muscle type fibers, most people respond to creatine mono, some will not respond good to it, i barely noticed any gains with it, ive also tried effervescent creatine and had nice gains, but it goes rock hard too fast, im going to try CEE next, still waiting for the delivery from bb.com , creatine is not a must but can help if youre gains are slowing down.

[FJ and G]

very mixed reviews here.

Are there foods that have a naturally high level of creatin in them?

[biggaz]

Originally Posted by FJ and G

very mixed reviews here.

Are there foods that have a naturally high level of creatin in them?

Was told that a diet of red meat (steaks) two or three times a week would provide sufficient creatine.

[SaberT00FRawr!]

I'm in the middle of an off cycle of creatine (two months on, one off). I can really feel, and notice the difference. I can't wait to start up on it again.