Post by Steve Gardener on Mar 8, 2008 9:19:40 GMT
No. Given the huge amount of info now available on the net I despair at the odd post or three I see in regard to creatine on some forums. It ought to be idiot proof yet we see comments like these (my answers are after).
1) I get cramps on creatine...
SG: drink more you spanner. It doesn't matter whether you are a bodybuilder / gym user or a track athlete you can get dehydrated. If you took 5g of creatine and neglected to drink enough liquid with it then sweated for a couple of hours - track or gym - then got cramps then you will get them when doing exactly the same (no drinking enough) when using Creatine.
2) I get an upset stomach on creatine...
SG: drink more you spanner. While it is entirely possible you are from the tiny fraction of people (deffo less than 5%) who might have problems I've also seen and read of some crazy stuff done when taking it. Not limited to: spoonful tipped into mouth and small swig of water to neck it with (BTW: I've done this once and any powder sticks to the teeth etc - disgusting way to take any powder never mind Creatine); the same only with tablets and so on. The clue is in the amount of liquid it is taken with. If we accept it will pull water into the muscle cell then we must also accept WHEN IT IS NOT TAKEN WITH ENOUGH FLUID IT WILL DO THE SAME WITH THE GUT. Using an old London turn of phrase 'it stands to reason don't it'. I seem to recall that for every 1g of creatine you need to be looking at 10ml of water. So 5g = at least 50ml or more.
c) I get spots when using it...
SG: I have no idea what the hell is going on here because it is an amino acid (sort of) and you are taking a small amount - it's just a teaspoonful. I have yet to hear evern of a newspaper article (usually tosh) connecting the two. It should not affect any hormonal balance in the body and so on. It's more likely the user has started training hard, sweating more and so on. Just wash better. The line ''drink more you spanner'' may also apply (more fluid helps flush out toxins).
d) It made me more aggressive...
SG: I say you need to see a doctor. It's all in your mind you nut job. See what it's made of. See how it works. There is NO CONNECTION OR EVIDENCE of any kind to show it affects mood. Some have said it is more likely that Joe Blow merely feels stronger and so started throwing his weight around and was told 'it's those supplements you took which made you more aggressive'. Get a grip silly bollocks. It is not roid rage nor is it creatine rage. Again not even a shit paper here in the UK nor the US has ever made this connection (they've made plenty of others were those that workout are concerned but never aggression connected with creatine).
e) I piss more, sometimes like a racehorse...
SG: FFS, if you drink more you piss more. That's it. It is not the creatine extracting Montezuma's revenge or some such idea.
f) Creapure is better than standard creatine...
SG: On the basis of purity only (and even then this assumes others are not as pure - not so). Not by any other measure. This one gets my goat all the time and I could go off on one on this topic (did so 2x this week alone). By any other measure - especially the important one (see below) Creapure creatine monohydrate does not out perform other creatine monohydrates.
Go and look at and have a good read of www.creapure.com They clearly mention their process removes impurities (on a dry basis it's 99.99% pure). They comment that others were not (past tense) as good. Most cheap mono's are 99.9% on a dry basis (so a Creapure branded product is 0.01% purer). Their comments about some of the toxins which USED TO BE found in the cheap forms of mono from Korea and China are spot on. But I'd argue against that STILL BEING THE CASE. But I will not dispute their claim to purity nor question the process. It just doesn't mean the rest are loaded with toxins and poisons. Even Will Brinks article on purity tests (a few years old now) showed the differences (esp in the UK and EU products) to be 20-30ppm (20 - 30 parts per million).
And that's without going into the levels of purity allowed on everything else we consume (the US actually has lower standards on many more food products than you'd think compared to the UK/EU). Should what we at or use as supplements be clean? Of course but lets not all get freaked out at 20-30ppm. You'll breath more toxins in a week living in the same house with someone who smokes. Go and Creapure their asses!!
g) Creatine bloats me.
This is one of those fallacies and worse a two parter. Will Brink, self proclaimed (and indeed a few others too... aren't I referencing him while I'm at it) says quite clearly on his site that 'water bloat' does not exist. Taken to mean looking puffy and watery a la 'time of the month' style water retention there is NO EVIDENCE to show that this has been recorded in studies.
Which leads me to my second part. If, as we know, creatine draws water into the muscle cells and by doing so you see an increase in bodyweight AND we know creatine does not have 'it ripped me up' claims being made for it - then why do people whine about 'bloat' when in fact they mean 'I feel bigger?'. If you add a 1/4-inch all over then, saying on arms when flexing your biceps for example, you'll notice it. THAT'S THE FUCKING IDEA!! Sheesh. Sure if you took it for it's athletic and or strength enhancing qualities the size gain is an unwanted side effect. The answer is don't use Creatine then. It's not complicated.
Creatine and caffeine
Newb question: 'I've heard that caffeine/coffee can affect creatine'. Short answer is 'not true'. It's been studied and ONE said there were issues... but loads of others did not.
What's the best time?
The answer... it depends. I prefer, as it were, to be loaded and ready to go and as I train in the am for the most part I have mine an hour or so before. BUT... there is some evidence to support the idea that Creatine can and does help shuttle nutrients post workout. You'd still be loaded for the next workout so on balance that would seem the way to go.
In liquid??
Yes (a serious question asked just recently (early Oct 09)). Pretty much anything except piss LOL. Back in the day (thus showing my age) we experimented with grape juice and the like. Cell Tech et al used (and still do) glucose as a carrier when added to water. 99/100 water will do without the minute teeny weeny percentage to be gained by the addition of glucose and the many other reported ingredients that are used in similar products.
Now the measure by which anyone taking a supplement, of any kind, should test a product is thus: If I use a protein does it help make me a better bodybuilder etc? Do those vitamins I take keep me healthy? Does whatever brand/unbranded Creatine Monohydrate have the action I want from it (cell volume, better lifts etc)? The answer should be yes. Neither a standard Creatine Monohydrate nor one with Creapure marked on the tub (and containing said brand inside) do not differ in their ergogenic action. Therefore if you wish to pay £3-4.00 a kilo or more for 0.01% more purity - do so. But FFS do not post on any forum on Planet Earth that it works better for you. Even if it did it'd be by 0.01% only. To give you an idea of the difference that would make it'd be like one car being 1" ahead of another every hour with the speedos of both showing 100mph. In our bodies it'd be like 1/10th of a mm difference between one twins flexed bicep and another. You wouldn't notice it.
1) I get cramps on creatine...
SG: drink more you spanner. It doesn't matter whether you are a bodybuilder / gym user or a track athlete you can get dehydrated. If you took 5g of creatine and neglected to drink enough liquid with it then sweated for a couple of hours - track or gym - then got cramps then you will get them when doing exactly the same (no drinking enough) when using Creatine.
2) I get an upset stomach on creatine...
SG: drink more you spanner. While it is entirely possible you are from the tiny fraction of people (deffo less than 5%) who might have problems I've also seen and read of some crazy stuff done when taking it. Not limited to: spoonful tipped into mouth and small swig of water to neck it with (BTW: I've done this once and any powder sticks to the teeth etc - disgusting way to take any powder never mind Creatine); the same only with tablets and so on. The clue is in the amount of liquid it is taken with. If we accept it will pull water into the muscle cell then we must also accept WHEN IT IS NOT TAKEN WITH ENOUGH FLUID IT WILL DO THE SAME WITH THE GUT. Using an old London turn of phrase 'it stands to reason don't it'. I seem to recall that for every 1g of creatine you need to be looking at 10ml of water. So 5g = at least 50ml or more.
c) I get spots when using it...
SG: I have no idea what the hell is going on here because it is an amino acid (sort of) and you are taking a small amount - it's just a teaspoonful. I have yet to hear evern of a newspaper article (usually tosh) connecting the two. It should not affect any hormonal balance in the body and so on. It's more likely the user has started training hard, sweating more and so on. Just wash better. The line ''drink more you spanner'' may also apply (more fluid helps flush out toxins).
d) It made me more aggressive...
SG: I say you need to see a doctor. It's all in your mind you nut job. See what it's made of. See how it works. There is NO CONNECTION OR EVIDENCE of any kind to show it affects mood. Some have said it is more likely that Joe Blow merely feels stronger and so started throwing his weight around and was told 'it's those supplements you took which made you more aggressive'. Get a grip silly bollocks. It is not roid rage nor is it creatine rage. Again not even a shit paper here in the UK nor the US has ever made this connection (they've made plenty of others were those that workout are concerned but never aggression connected with creatine).
e) I piss more, sometimes like a racehorse...
SG: FFS, if you drink more you piss more. That's it. It is not the creatine extracting Montezuma's revenge or some such idea.
f) Creapure is better than standard creatine...
SG: On the basis of purity only (and even then this assumes others are not as pure - not so). Not by any other measure. This one gets my goat all the time and I could go off on one on this topic (did so 2x this week alone). By any other measure - especially the important one (see below) Creapure creatine monohydrate does not out perform other creatine monohydrates.
Go and look at and have a good read of www.creapure.com They clearly mention their process removes impurities (on a dry basis it's 99.99% pure). They comment that others were not (past tense) as good. Most cheap mono's are 99.9% on a dry basis (so a Creapure branded product is 0.01% purer). Their comments about some of the toxins which USED TO BE found in the cheap forms of mono from Korea and China are spot on. But I'd argue against that STILL BEING THE CASE. But I will not dispute their claim to purity nor question the process. It just doesn't mean the rest are loaded with toxins and poisons. Even Will Brinks article on purity tests (a few years old now) showed the differences (esp in the UK and EU products) to be 20-30ppm (20 - 30 parts per million).
And that's without going into the levels of purity allowed on everything else we consume (the US actually has lower standards on many more food products than you'd think compared to the UK/EU). Should what we at or use as supplements be clean? Of course but lets not all get freaked out at 20-30ppm. You'll breath more toxins in a week living in the same house with someone who smokes. Go and Creapure their asses!!
g) Creatine bloats me.
This is one of those fallacies and worse a two parter. Will Brink, self proclaimed (and indeed a few others too... aren't I referencing him while I'm at it) says quite clearly on his site that 'water bloat' does not exist. Taken to mean looking puffy and watery a la 'time of the month' style water retention there is NO EVIDENCE to show that this has been recorded in studies.
Which leads me to my second part. If, as we know, creatine draws water into the muscle cells and by doing so you see an increase in bodyweight AND we know creatine does not have 'it ripped me up' claims being made for it - then why do people whine about 'bloat' when in fact they mean 'I feel bigger?'. If you add a 1/4-inch all over then, saying on arms when flexing your biceps for example, you'll notice it. THAT'S THE FUCKING IDEA!! Sheesh. Sure if you took it for it's athletic and or strength enhancing qualities the size gain is an unwanted side effect. The answer is don't use Creatine then. It's not complicated.
Creatine and caffeine
Newb question: 'I've heard that caffeine/coffee can affect creatine'. Short answer is 'not true'. It's been studied and ONE said there were issues... but loads of others did not.
What's the best time?
The answer... it depends. I prefer, as it were, to be loaded and ready to go and as I train in the am for the most part I have mine an hour or so before. BUT... there is some evidence to support the idea that Creatine can and does help shuttle nutrients post workout. You'd still be loaded for the next workout so on balance that would seem the way to go.
In liquid??
Yes (a serious question asked just recently (early Oct 09)). Pretty much anything except piss LOL. Back in the day (thus showing my age) we experimented with grape juice and the like. Cell Tech et al used (and still do) glucose as a carrier when added to water. 99/100 water will do without the minute teeny weeny percentage to be gained by the addition of glucose and the many other reported ingredients that are used in similar products.
Now the measure by which anyone taking a supplement, of any kind, should test a product is thus: If I use a protein does it help make me a better bodybuilder etc? Do those vitamins I take keep me healthy? Does whatever brand/unbranded Creatine Monohydrate have the action I want from it (cell volume, better lifts etc)? The answer should be yes. Neither a standard Creatine Monohydrate nor one with Creapure marked on the tub (and containing said brand inside) do not differ in their ergogenic action. Therefore if you wish to pay £3-4.00 a kilo or more for 0.01% more purity - do so. But FFS do not post on any forum on Planet Earth that it works better for you. Even if it did it'd be by 0.01% only. To give you an idea of the difference that would make it'd be like one car being 1" ahead of another every hour with the speedos of both showing 100mph. In our bodies it'd be like 1/10th of a mm difference between one twins flexed bicep and another. You wouldn't notice it.
