Using Creatine..

[Macca]

I'm looking into Creatine, i'm gonna read up on it and stuff as i have little knowledge just now. But i'm just curious if people would advise using it? One thing that's put me off that someone said to me was, when you use it you're body doesn't produce it anymore itself, is this true?

Is it totally safe using it, and is the benefit good enough? If so, which brand do you reccomend buying, as i know it's best to get a good company who makes good quality stuff.

a lot of these questions will get answered when i read up on it more, but any info and expierence people have with it, let me know would be appreciated

 

[Macca]

Thanks, i didn't mean the dearest and best stuff, i just read somewhere it's good to make sure you find someone who produces good quality stuff, something to do with the iron in it

Thanks for the links, i'll take a look. When you used creatine before, was it worth doing it?

 

[Macca]

It has been a while since I was using it, so I'm a bit vague and can't promise if what I remeber is just me hyping up the pacembo effect.

Personally I felt it worked great, I seemed to recover quickly from muscle soreness and if I ever pulled a muscle (which happened in my back) I seemed to recover from that very quickly too, noticeablly more quickly then before I was supplementing.
I also seemed to have more energy when working out, it was quite a strange feeling but I don't get it with this capsule form stuff from Holland & Barrett. When taking the capsules, I take a smaller dose than when I used the powder from Reflex.

Many people will tell you to supplement as follows

Loading Phase -> Normal Supplementation -> Break -> Continue

From my own exerience and from articles I have read online, the loading phase is unecessary. There are calculators available online to tell you the amount of creatine you should supplement with. I did one a while back and will try to find a link.

Karl

Thanks a lot

 

[Macca]

macca, can you do me a favour and post your current routine and diet?
if your not using protein already then its likely you dont need to be taking creatine at this time.

I can do when i sort it out, you are right i don't need to be taking at this time and i won't be. As i'm just starting off with things, i'm still adapting my diet aswell.

At the moment i'm just gathering some info as i plan to move onto using it later on. I'm sorting out a routine as i said above, i was going to start off with using protein and get used to my routine and my diet before ever thinking off using creatine. I just want to find out about it and get peoples opinions.

My goals are to gain muscle and strength.

 

[Macca]

Thanks for all the info.

I have been doing stuff already at the gym, and will be starting a proper routine i'll be sticking to within the next week. I've been going for the past month or so with a friend learning and using the weights and my body has started adjusting to the stress. Now i'm gonna set out a routine for myself. I decided i was going to start using protein then eventually i might use creatine.

Thanks to everyone else for the info to, i might never even go onto it but i am interested in finding out about it, as i thought about moving onto it at some point.