Best creatine?

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Bolvangar
red dawn can you give me a link to the brace thing you got? I've been having a lot of problems with tendinitis in my forearm as well, i stopped working out for about 2 weeks and still having problems with it!

My GF got if for me so I don't have a link. I think she picked it up at Big 5 or Target.

 

[TheNinja]

Get 100% pure micronized creatine. I have Optimum Nutrition. Mix it with gatorade, grape juice, or something with some carbs to help absorption. I do 5gms 3x a day for 5 days. Then 2-3gm 2x a day for approx 35 days. The container will tell you 20-25gms for loading and 10+gms for maintenance. But unless you just like to have your liver and kidneys process extra creatine to piss out then you don't need that much. They just want to sell you more creatine.

In my experiences the creatine that is in a mixture of some kind (like with glutamine, carbs, sugars, etc), work better but not enough to be worth the cost difference.

This should get you through a 40-45 day cycle to try it out - only $8.50

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: MainFramed

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Munchies
My weight instructor who happened to be the sports medicine guy for the red wings, taught me in my ways of lifting, every 2 days every muscle. NO problems so far, its just that it seems I can't hit anything higher, I would be at 210 by now.

A little advice:

Train each muscle group just once a week. Train with maximum intensity and with every set to failure.

Training a muscle group every two days is overtraining. You're not going to see any prolonged gains with a routine like that.

So your saying dont do curls monday and then wednesday to? Can you work out like upper body monday, lower body wendesday, upper body firday?

No, something like this is better and allows you to give maximum intensity to all your workouts:

Mon: chest and tris
Wed: back and bis
Fri: legs

or

Mon: Chest and tris
Tue: Back and bis
Thr: Shoulders
Fri: Legs

I've been going at it pretty hard since last December working out specific muscle groups twice a week and have had reallly good gains. But lately I've been having some problems with tendinitis in both my forearms and my shoulders. Obviously I've been overtraining (wasn't a problem at first because I wasn't lifting heavy weights) I'm going to give the once a week routine a try and see if it works.
It should also shorten up my routines considerably which will give me more time to do Cardio while I'm at the gym.

I know lift to failure. Not a problem as I always do that anyways.

I've had problems like that at times as well. Basically I've come to two conclusions:

1) *Always* do one or two warm up sets with lighter weights (pretty obvious, but its importance cannot be overstated).

2) If an exercise hurts, use lighter weights and check your form. If your form is good, then maybe you did not warm up and stretch enough. If you did warm up and stretch enough, then just give up that exercise and substitute a different one for that muscle group.

I used to do cable pulldowns for triceps with a rope, but no matter how much I warmed up or made sure that my form was correct, it hurt my elbows. It got to the point where my elbows ached all the time, so I gave up the rope. A month later, no more elbow pain during my workouts.

Some people just don't have the right physiology for certain exercises, I guess.

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: cchen
Swole V2 didn't do anything for me. I used Nitrotech/Celltech last summer (yea, overpriced) but I made really good gains. This summer I'm just using regular prolab creatine and dextrose.

yeah i was always asking trainers and the chiropracters i goto.

 

[halik]

does it matter what juice you drink it with? I usually take it down with little orange juice...thats all i generally have around

ive got some GNC creatine btw

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: halik
does it matter what juice you drink it with? I usually take it down with little orange juice...thats all i generally have around

ive got some GNC creatine btw

From a Creatine FAQ:

Regarding postworkout replenishment: this is where the ?systems? come in. Most creatine transport systems use sugar to boost insulin levels and help shuttle creatine into your cells. It is generally agreed that this is effective, but systems are expensive and the sugar is really the only added component proven to do anything. You can purchase plain dextrose online, at a good food store, or from a home-brewing store and make your own creatine transport system very inexpensively. Simply add dextrose to your pure creatine in the ratio found in whichever off-the-shelf system you wish to emulate (you might start with 40 to 80 grams of sugar).

You can also achieve a similar effect by adding creatine to sweet fruit juices such as grape juice. It has been claimed that adding creatine to highly acidic juices such as orange or grapefruit will diminish creatine?s effects, but there are no studies as of yet to confirm this.

Don't know if there is any new info on the effect(s) of acidic juices on creatine, but if you know that dextrose is safe, I'd use that.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: halik
does it matter what juice you drink it with? I usually take it down with little orange juice...thats all i generally have around

ive got some GNC creatine btw

From a Creatine FAQ:

Regarding postworkout replenishment: this is where the ?systems? come in. Most creatine transport systems use sugar to boost insulin levels and help shuttle creatine into your cells. It is generally agreed that this is effective, but systems are expensive and the sugar is really the only added component proven to do anything. You can purchase plain dextrose online, at a good food store, or from a home-brewing store and make your own creatine transport system very inexpensively. Simply add dextrose to your pure creatine in the ratio found in whichever off-the-shelf system you wish to emulate (you might start with 40 to 80 grams of sugar).

You can also achieve a similar effect by adding creatine to sweet fruit juices such as grape juice. It has been claimed that adding creatine to highly acidic juices such as orange or grapefruit will diminish creatine?s effects, but there are no studies as of yet to confirm this.

Don't know if there is any new info on the effect(s) of acidic juices on creatine, but if you know that dextrose is safe, I'd use that.

Or you can just increase the amount of creatine you take. I'd rather do that than buy dextrose (pretty expensive) and the added calories from it.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: MainFramed

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Munchies
My weight instructor who happened to be the sports medicine guy for the red wings, taught me in my ways of lifting, every 2 days every muscle. NO problems so far, its just that it seems I can't hit anything higher, I would be at 210 by now.

A little advice:

Train each muscle group just once a week. Train with maximum intensity and with every set to failure.

Training a muscle group every two days is overtraining. You're not going to see any prolonged gains with a routine like that.

So your saying dont do curls monday and then wednesday to? Can you work out like upper body monday, lower body wendesday, upper body firday?

No, something like this is better and allows you to give maximum intensity to all your workouts:

Mon: chest and tris
Wed: back and bis
Fri: legs

or

Mon: Chest and tris
Tue: Back and bis
Thr: Shoulders
Fri: Legs

I've been going at it pretty hard since last December working out specific muscle groups twice a week and have had reallly good gains. But lately I've been having some problems with tendinitis in both my forearms and my shoulders. Obviously I've been overtraining (wasn't a problem at first because I wasn't lifting heavy weights) I'm going to give the once a week routine a try and see if it works.
It should also shorten up my routines considerably which will give me more time to do Cardio while I'm at the gym.

I know lift to failure. Not a problem as I always do that anyways.

For joint pains, try MSM and Glucosamine.

It's not my joints, they feel fine, it's the tendons, especially in my right forearm. My shoulder was bothering me somewhat because I incorporated Cable flys into my routine. I worked them today and they seem to be ok (I was also using improper form before)

I also got a brace/strap thing for tendinitis for my arm and it seems to be helping a lot.

I read an article a few years ago about tendonitis and ascorbic acid supplements, i believe it was by Dr José Antonio but i am not sure, i'll see if i can find it.

Well anywayz, supplementing extreme amounts of ascorbic acid seemed to help quite a bit, the dosages were 5000mg a day spread out during the day, as it is such a cheap supplement i thought it would be worth trying it and it has helped me quite a bit. i also noticed that i recovered faster after a workout and got better gains.

 

[dfi]

Originally posted by: Munchies

MY dads quite beastly too, he played colledge ball for MI S, and he said they were just going at it one day in the weight room and he repped 485 4 times. I was like DAMNM!
I weigh 135 and rep 205 like 5 times, I dont know what I max.

First, I'm impressed because I can't imagine someone who weighs 135lbs repping more than 200lbs on the bench. I have friends that weigh 135 and I don't think they could max 200lbs.

Second, Munchies, you weigh 135lbs! Call me crazy, but maybe... just maybe, the lack of creatine supplementation is not your main problem? Maybe, and this is going to sound really bizarre... you need to eat and put on some weight?

Third, if you're dad used to play football, and seeing as how he did give you some of his genes... maybe you should ask your dad what worked for him, and give that a shot. Somehow I doubt it involves benching 3 times a week though.

dfi

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: MainFramed
It's medically proven that it's NOT good for you, be a real guy, get some serious determination, eat right and work out. You didin't see guys 20 years ago using creatine all the time before they work out (let alone half the dumb ass machines made today) and there just as ripped, if not more than most people that work out.

You are a freakin' moron. The jury is still out if Creatine has any negative side effects. There is some speculation but that is it. Given that Creative has been out for years, and there still isn't any proof, I'd say that is a good sign.

As far as which Creatine is better, just get the big ass jug that says 100% Creatine. But whatever you do, stay away from EAS stuff. That is some grossly overprices sh!t.

As for me, I haven't taken Creatine in years (4+ yrs). I just eat alot. Luckily for me, my metabolism is good and I don't get fat. Anyway, I'm up to 400lbs on flat bench, and I'll start taking Creatine here shortly. Hopefully it will push me to 420lbs at least. (I weigh 213lbs)

420...?

Lovely...

Jack what size dumbells would you throw on a flat bench..?

I haven't done dumbell presses in awhile. What I do is, flat bench (straight bar) consisting of 7 sets (8,6,4,3,2,1,4 <reps), then I burn out doing flies with 80-90lbs dumbells (3 sets of 8-10reps). After that I go home and eat. 🙂

No incline?

:Q

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
I'll be trying this workout REAL soon (starting tomorrow, was suppose to be today, but it's a Canadian holiday)... the foundation of this is that when you hit the larger muscle groups, your body becomes more anabolic and produces more testosterone... large muslce groups are the legs and back. My splits with be

Day 1: Squats and Biceps and Triceps
Day 2: Back and Chest
Day 3: Quads, Hams and Shoulder
Day 4: cardio

I'm not sure how my body will respond to that, but it looks like a good program to me.

How can you do chest and back on the same day? I go all out on chest and all out on back. There's no way I'd be able to do both

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Hardcore
I'll be trying this workout REAL soon (starting tomorrow, was suppose to be today, but it's a Canadian holiday)... the foundation of this is that when you hit the larger muscle groups, your body becomes more anabolic and produces more testosterone... large muslce groups are the legs and back. My splits with be

Day 1: Squats and Biceps and Triceps
Day 2: Back and Chest
Day 3: Quads, Hams and Shoulder
Day 4: cardio

I'm not sure how my body will respond to that, but it looks like a good program to me.

How can you do chest and back on the same day? I go all out on chest and all out on back. There's no way I'd be able to do both

Huh? They're different muscle groups... they complement one another, but they're different muscle groups. If you mean that you do chest so hard that your pool of energy gets so depleted that you can't do anything else.. /shrug, i have a lot more stamina i guess.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Huh? They're different muscle groups... they complement one another, but they're different muscle groups. If you mean that you do chest so hard that your pool of energy gets so depleted that you can't do anything else.. /shrug, i have a lot more stamina i guess.

Perfect recipe for overtraining. Doesn't matter if you can get through such a workout just fine...there are many guys I see *getting* through workouts each day that are there when I get there and there when I leave. The thing is in 3 months from now I will be past them and they will still look the same next year. I discovered going from 2 hour workouts to around 1 hour or less increased my mass and strength. I did have a lot more endurance before though, but I would rather have the strength.

You almost never want to use opposing muscle groups on the same day as there is no way to effectively hit them once the the opposite (reflexor/extender) is fatigued.

 

[glaHHg]

Originally posted by: Hardcore


Or you can just increase the amount of creatine you take. I'd rather do that than buy dextrose (pretty expensive) and the added calories from it.

Um, dextrose is like the cheapest thing you can buy. It's corn sugar.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Munchies
My weight instructor who happened to be the sports medicine guy for the red wings, taught me in my ways of lifting, every 2 days every muscle. NO problems so far, its just that it seems I can't hit anything higher, I would be at 210 by now.

A little advice:

Train each muscle group just once a week. Train with maximum intensity and with every set to failure.

Training a muscle group every two days is overtraining. You're not going to see any prolonged gains with a routine like that.

Not necessarily true. It's not the number of times you train a week, but total volume. There are MANY workout methods/regiments out there, and people just need to find the one that's best suited for their body/lifestyle/time. Some people like hitting a bodypart once a day, each week. Others like hitting a two bodyparts a day, and in a week, getting each bodypart twice. Others like full body workouts every other days... so they hit each bodypart 3x a week... these people who do full bodies aren't hitting each bodypart as hard as they would if they were to concentrate on a single body part each day, so recovery is quicker.

The one body part a week is a decent method, and popular... but it's not the only one (and i doubt even the best... it's just popular because it was introduced by Weider). Personally i don't think a muscle takes 6 days to recover... i think it does it in 3 just fine, and if you hit a body part twice a week... you have the chance of muscle growing twice as often (not necessarily twice as fast)... since the only time the muscle grows, is after it's been stressed (the more often you stress the muscle then, the more chances it gets to grow... as long as you don't run into overtraining).

As has been pointed out by others in this thread, a higher frequency routine can work short term, but in the long run you'll end up overtrained and injured.

Hell, maybe it works for youngins. I dunno. All I know is when I tried each body part twice a week, my gains stopped after a few months and the injuries started.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: glaHHg

Originally posted by: Hardcore


Or you can just increase the amount of creatine you take. I'd rather do that than buy dextrose (pretty expensive) and the added calories from it.

Um, dextrose is like the cheapest thing you can buy. It's corn sugar.

Yep, and after a workout your body is just begging for sugar. It's the one time you can have a lot of it and not feel guilty.

 

[purbeast0]

I am currently looking into creatine. should I also purchase a bottle of glutamine and dextrose? are these located in the same area as the creatine at GNC?

or should i just et glutamine OR dextrose, just one or the other? I weigh 170lbs and am looking to get size/strengh until I hit around 180 or 185, depending how much fatty I get on my abs because I like keeping them pretty lean for summer. Please lemme know what I should do. thanks

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I am currently looking into creatine. should I also purchase a bottle of glutamine and dextrose? are these located in the same area as the creatine at GNC?

or should i just et glutamine OR dextrose, just one or the other? I weigh 170lbs and am looking to get size/strengh until I hit around 180 or 185, depending how much fatty I get on my abs because I like keeping them pretty lean for summer. Please lemme know what I should do. thanks

I'm not sure how common this is, but I've seen some people claim that going on creatine makes their stomach a little more pouchy. Since the goal of creatine is to make your muscles store more water, I can see how this might be true. If you are worried about the tone in your abs, creatine may not be the best supplement for you to take (at least not during the summer). Again, this can vary from person to person.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I am currently looking into creatine. should I also purchase a bottle of glutamine and dextrose? are these located in the same area as the creatine at GNC?

or should i just et glutamine OR dextrose, just one or the other? I weigh 170lbs and am looking to get size/strengh until I hit around 180 or 185, depending how much fatty I get on my abs because I like keeping them pretty lean for summer. Please lemme know what I should do. thanks

I'm not sure how common this is, but I've seen some people claim that going on creatine makes their stomach a little more pouchy. Since the goal of creatine is to make your muscles store more water, I can see how this might be true. If you are worried about the tone in your abs, creatine may not be the best supplement for you to take (at least not during the summer). Again, this can vary from person to person.

Well I am not TOO TOO worried bout my abs, because I know from past experience I can cut em back up in a week or 2. But I am more worried about just gaining weight in general right now. And I know with muscle gains, I will also see fat gains, so I expect to see a little more fat in my stomach. But my main goal is to get muscle/size gains, THEN worry about gettin cut up.

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I am currently looking into creatine. should I also purchase a bottle of glutamine and dextrose? are these located in the same area as the creatine at GNC?

or should i just et glutamine OR dextrose, just one or the other? I weigh 170lbs and am looking to get size/strengh until I hit around 180 or 185, depending how much fatty I get on my abs because I like keeping them pretty lean for summer. Please lemme know what I should do. thanks

I'm not sure how common this is, but I've seen some people claim that going on creatine makes their stomach a little more pouchy. Since the goal of creatine is to make your muscles store more water, I can see how this might be true. If you are worried about the tone in your abs, creatine may not be the best supplement for you to take (at least not during the summer). Again, this can vary from person to person.

Well I am not TOO TOO worried bout my abs, because I know from past experience I can cut em back up in a week or 2. But I am more worried about just gaining weight in general right now. And I know with muscle gains, I will also see fat gains, so I expect to see a little more fat in my stomach. But my main goal is to get muscle/size gains, THEN worry about gettin cut up.

Creatine + dextrose should be fine, then. After you get off a creatine cycle you will lose the water weight soon enough anyway, but hopefully keep the muscle mass that it helped you build. I haven't used glutamine, so I can't recommend or denounce it.

 

[purbeast0]

so is the dextrose in the same place as the creatine? like in the same type of bottle? what form do you consume it in?

 

[SP33Demon]

Try AST's Creatine HSC (Hyper Saturation Complex). It combines DGC (Dextroratory Crystals) with micronized creatine... it's not bad taste wise, but makes me feel bloated and full after taking it. I've gained 25 pounds of muscle since taking it (along with Glutamine, and Whey protein shakes). This was in the course of about a year (went from 172 to about 199 lbs, minus fat it's about 25 lbs).

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: JackBurton

Originally posted by: MainFramed
It's medically proven that it's NOT good for you, be a real guy, get some serious determination, eat right and work out. You didin't see guys 20 years ago using creatine all the time before they work out (let alone half the dumb ass machines made today) and there just as ripped, if not more than most people that work out.

You are a freakin' moron. The jury is still out if Creatine has any negative side effects. There is some speculation but that is it. Given that Creative has been out for years, and there still isn't any proof, I'd say that is a good sign.

As far as which Creatine is better, just get the big ass jug that says 100% Creatine. But whatever you do, stay away from EAS stuff. That is some grossly overprices sh!t.

As for me, I haven't taken Creatine in years (4+ yrs). I just eat alot. Luckily for me, my metabolism is good and I don't get fat. Anyway, I'm up to 400lbs on flat bench, and I'll start taking Creatine here shortly. Hopefully it will push me to 420lbs at least. (I weigh 213lbs)

420...?

Lovely...

Jack what size dumbells would you throw on a flat bench..?

I haven't done dumbell presses in awhile. What I do is, flat bench (straight bar) consisting of 7 sets (8,6,4,3,2,1,4 <reps), then I burn out doing flies with 80-90lbs dumbells (3 sets of 8-10reps). After that I go home and eat. 🙂

No incline?

:Q

Dude, incline is on a totally separate day. I find doing flat AND incline on the same day takes away from one or the other. If I do flat first, then I don't feel I get as much out of incline. If I do incline first, I feel my flat suffers. Anyway, I do flat, then a week later I do incline/decline (opposite parts of the chest). I feel this routine works the best for me. So I do chest once a week.

 

[dudeman007]

DONT TAKE CREATINE! SO BAD! IN 4 YEARS YOULL BE FAT AND UGLY AND RETARDED!

 

[LuNoTiCK]

All I can say is don't take liquid creatine, and don't take Cell Tech either. You'll piss out the liquid creatine, it's not stable in it's liquid form. It won't do anything for you.