Creatine, Pure Whey...

[DanBoy]

And various other (legal) body building related things you put into your body...

Do they work?

And which substance does what, exactly?

What are the pros and cons?

At this stage I'm just curious really, but thought I'd enquire as I walked past a shop in Guildford with loads of stuff in the window!

[Lois]

I have a friend who uses such products as part of his body building. I also sell them at work and used to have a sheet detailing what each product did.

For them to work you have to be doing the physical exercise for the proteins to be turned to muscle, or else they will be turned to fat.

go to www.maximuscle.co.uk and it should tell you what the different things do.

[BADAPPLE]

Yep, I've found they work very well
Whey is protein which repairs muscle tears after working out. Creatine basically gives you a extra kinda boost during a repitition.

I've only ever really known the basics you might wanna try www.affordablesupplements.co.uk/ns/forum_v2/

[DanBoy]

Thank you Lois, Badapple.

[z4monster]

Creatine gives me massive headaches! Tried it years ago and after 2 weeks I had to give up on it. The side effects were more than I could cope with. Some friends have taken this with no ill effects.

[BADAPPLE]

z4monster said:

Creatine gives me massive headaches! Tried it years ago and after 2 weeks I had to give up on it. The side effects were more than I could cope with. Some friends have taken this with no ill effects.

Never had a problem with the creatine, but the protein shakes I was getting really bad stomachs from, lots complain about this
I found when you mix them up wait like 20mins before drinking so all the air is gone & then there fine, make sure you drink loads of water too.

[993SC]

I tried creatine for a while and my bench press increased by about 10kgs. However, it was making me anxious and I couldn't sleep (girlfriend complained that I was a very restless sleeper when I was sleeping).

As soon as I came off it the strength went back to normal and my relaxed sleeping returned.

I'm not using it now as it seems that you need to keep using the products to maintain strength/size increases etc and I'm happy with my natural strength/size (and more cash in my pocket too).

[maxf]

Creatine can be a good boost when you have reached a peak in your training - although most people would benefit more from a change in routine/exercise type almost as much.

I have always used creatine in a cycle, so I loaded for a period, then had no creating (so my liver etc could recover).

When I was at my training peak (a couple of years ago now, at uni ) I was training upto 10 times a week and using creatine - I ended up stopping the creatine as I found I was able to lift more than I felt my joints were able to cope with.

Protein shakes really upset my stomach (I do have IBS though) sometimes - it depended what protein I used, I did find a Whey protein which was ok. I think the main thing is not to go for a cheap animal based protein (also issues with the manufacture, CJD etc I have been told).

After almost a year of not really training I have started again this month - its depressing how unfit I am these days! It'll change though!

[Mon Ami Mate]

Be wary of creatine. I used it extensively when I was playing rugby. It worked brilliantly for me - I was either training or playing six days a week, my body fat was less than 10 per cent and I weighed 18 and a half stone (I'm 6ft tall). My recovery times became practically non-existant - I could train for two hours in the gym in the morning, doing CV and heavy weights, and then go to rugby training in the evening for another hour and a half, day after day. The amount of lean muscle mass I was able to put on in the space of a year was quite amazing. Then the problems started...

Creative naturally occurs in the body as a waste substance. Most people get a bad stomach in the loading phases because you are ingesting stuff in great quantities that your body wants to get rid of. This puts a great deal of strain on your natural filter systems - extensive use of Creatine has been compellingly linked to permanent kidney and liver damage.

More than anything though, Creatine does nothing for your connecting tissues. Your muscles will recover more quickly and will develop rapidly, but you will put huge strain on tendons and ligaments that are not designed to cope with this stress. The upshot of it for me was a never-ending series of injuries in my connecting tissues that, ironically perhaps, led to the end of my rugby playing career and severely inhibit my ability to train in the gym anything like as hard as I used to.

I now wish I'd never used creatine at all.

[Hilts]

Creatine's about the best natural supplement there is. Never had any trouble with it, first time I used it I put on a stone of 'lean' muscle mass in about a month, when I say lean muscle it doesn't actually make your muscles grow really that much, it just fills the muscle cells with water. This however leads to improvements in strength.

The other natural things I'd recommend are Solgar VM-75, multi vit and mineral, hi - potency.

Also look at meal replacemnets eg MET-Rx etc, these are the bomb, whey's good also. I've used just about everything going and I mean *everything*. By far and away the best thing you can ever take is synthetic Human Growth Hormone yes I can hear the screams but trust me in 20 years time everyone will be on this stuff either through prescription or other means, Downsides are it's very expensive.

MAM, I wouldn't blame creatine for your woes, sounds like you weren't geared up for tendon training. This is where you put tons of weight on the squat bar/ bench etc and only move it slightly building up tendon/ligament strength. Just my 2c.

[800]

First question - do you train with heavy weights already?

If you do then regular intakes of protein are required regularly to help rebuild muscle tissue. Generally 30g ish every 3-4 hours. Eating this as solids is pretty difficult as you can imagine, hence whey protein powders.

Creatine monohydrate was popularized by EAS back in the late '90s. It does what is says on the tin. If you are new to training though, I'd say concentrate on your training and your strength for a good 3 months before going for the creatine

If you are serious about sports supplements then I'd suggest EAS Spots Supplement Review www.phoenixathletic.com/Store/EAS-Sport-Supplement-Review-Book-395.htm

For buying supplements I'd suggest GNC, their discount card gives very competitive prices.

just my 2p
Happy training!

[shirepro]

I use whey after training, but have heard so many horror stories about Creatine (or is that Cretin?) I have stayed clear, tempting though it is. I think I might think about it short term if I had a specific problem recovering, which R and R weren't helping.