would creatine help restore my wasted quads?

[ThriceNightly]

would supplements help restore my wasted quads?

i'm 9 months post op knee surgery on my l/h knee. there were complications after surgery and lots of setbacks but i am finally begining to see some progress with my rehab exercises.

i was wondering wether a supplement like protein powder or creatine would assist in restoring my quad muscles which are now significantly smaller than those on my r/h side leg.

i am doing a 2 hour work out 3 days a week for legs which involve all home based exercises (closed chain) advised by my physio including some small weights.

thanks

 

[Morba]

first of all, you are already working closely with a physio, best advice would come from him/her (i loved the one NHS physio i had, she was blind and had a cracking dog :] ).

to build mucsle you need to do 3 things:

eat more than you normally need in a day
train hard, now 2 hours of training is hard, but not the sort of hard that you need. i am talking 35-45 mins max, intensive weight sessions (light doesnt cut it here, you are looking to do 12 reps per set max).
rest lots of it. 7-8 hours sleep a day

now, protein and creatine can be great, if you need it. I am guessing the stage where you are you would be better off eating a decent steak or a nice bit of chicken on top of your normal diet. This will give you protein and or creatine naturally :]

 

[ThriceNightly]

morba thanks for your reply some very helpful advice

my 2 hour sessions also include 20mins cycle and i'm up to 15 reps on all my exercises. I do have to take my time with the exercises as I go carefully to avoid setbacks. I'm getting plenty of rest

I eat healthy but am concerned I am not getting enough protein in my diet as I'm not a big meat eater hence why i was looking at using supplements

 

[RimBlock]

Hi ThriceNightly,

As Morba has mentioned, you need to get your calorie intake up with good food and meat, fish, cottage cheese etc can help add the protein you are looking for.

The protein power is good if you need a boost on top of your current diet, it is convenient and also good for people who have a low or no meat diet. I use it to boost my protein straight after the workout when the body is most receptive and before bed for overnight fuel for muscle repair. Good protein rich food would do the same.

Creatine helps endurance by helping increase the amount of energy you can convert in to energy the muscles can use. Creating increases muscle size by making your muscles store more water for this process and so gives the impression of bigger muscles and so big gains in muscle size for a couple of weeks and then tends to level off. Creatine does not work for all. Creatine is found naturally in meats.

As Morba said, we are not the best people to advise especially if you have a physio to work with but it may be worth asking when they think you may be able to start looking at weight training to build the muscle size up again rather than strengthening exercises to build the support backa round the knee which is what it sound like is currently happening from the info supplied. Until you get on to some proper weight training with heavy weights you will not see many big gains but you need the stability and core strength around the knee before you can go down that route. The physio hopefully can give you a time frame to work towards.

The bottom line to the question you asked in my opinion is neither will hurt to try. Both are well used in the weight training community and have been for a number of years. The protein will work with a good diet, the creatine may or may not work depending on your body.

The physio I had for my knee here in Singapore at one of the private hospitals (company healthcare) came from East London and was great fun.

Regards
RB

 

[ThriceNightly]

rimblock many thanks for your resply

my exercises are to strengthen the knee and at the moment include straight leg raises with a 1kg ankle weight and lots of closed chain exercise involving my own body weight.. My quads are 2/3 the size of my right leg but i am noticing improvements over the last 3 weeks.

I will look to improving my protein intake naturally but i don't eat a lot of meat or eggs.

will look into cottage cheese and perhaps try and introduce some more chicken and fish into my diet.

will run all this past my physio when i next see hime

regards