How does the GB community feel about taking creatine?

[Sean Burke]

And other supplements for that matter? What do 'you' take? 

[Rajan Shankara]

I take creatine, i think its good for vegetarian athletes and i notice increased endurance when cycling.

 

aside from eating as clean as possible and lightly, i take 1 cup of whole milk with 60 g protein.

 

and at least 1 glass of craft beer everyday.

[Toni Laukkavaara]

its good for sports where your weight doesn't matter as much, so its not good for gymnastics imo

[Elliot Anderson]

I plan on adding creatine at some point because of its performance-enhancing effects, but at the moment I'm not even sure if those are due to creatine supplementation being uniquely good for glycogen stores or if creatine is making up for dietary deficit in the individuals taking part in the studies demonstrating creatine's performance value.

Aside from that:

Rhodiola Rosea (kinda like ginseng, they're both adaptogenics) for stress management, adrenal/hypothalamus/pituitary support, anti-fatigue, mental support

Maca root powder for I don't even know what, it just makes me feel more energetic and present and tastes kinda good

Source Naturals Acetyl L-Carnitine for memory, energy, focus, and suppoooooosedly testosterone receptor density (I haven't looked into that)

Lots of seaweed, dried sheets of it with salt. Used for taste bud satisfaction, additionally the best source of iodine. But damned good with some rice/squash, tomato, olives/olive oil, meats... by itself...

Meditation every day for improved focus, memory, mindfulness, sleep, energy + sense of well-being and control

Basically a paleo diet, lotsa delicious carbs though

[Ronnicky Roy]

I don't have first hand experience with creatine, but all my close friends who do use it all say it is the sole reason they broke through strength plateaus. That's the same answer I got across the board no matter who I spoke with. You'll also pack on muscle faster as well.

If you're not doing volume training outside of the mastery template I don't see it hindering you at all. A big portion of the weight gain with creatine is water weight. You have higher retention while using it.

[Rajan Shankara]

ya i dont think creatine has been proven to increase muscle mass, but gives you the ability to create more ATP reserves, so you can work out longer, thus giving you a better chance at increased athletic performance. But probably also depends on your body type. Creatine doesnt change my weight, but it did help my brother put on 20 lbs. However maybe it just helped him workout longer, making him hungrier, and he ate the needed calories to gain 20 lbs. idk

[Nicholas Green]

Creative is stored in the body as creative phosphate. Basically at acts as a phosphate carrier. So when a phosphate is cleaved off of ATP, making it into ADP, releasing energy,CP is there for the ADP to take back another phosphate, returning it to ATP. Ingesting more creatine allows you to perform short duration (<10 seconds), high intensity bouts of activity for slightly longer and with slightly less recovery. Depending on what you're training and what you're training for, creatine supplementation could be warranted. The thing to remember about supplements is that they are just that, a SUPPLEMENT, not replacements. Having a good diet will serve you better than a crap diet with supplements. Depending on where you're from the supplement industry might not be regulated, and you have no idea what you're actually ingesting. Just something g else to consider.

[Gavin Strelitz]

I used to use Whey Protein Isolate but have stopped it due to questions around long term kidney health. My diet is pretty on point and I have not noticed much difference since dropping it out.

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

I used to use Whey Protein Isolate but have stopped it due to questions around long term kidney health. My diet is pretty on point and I have not noticed much difference since dropping it out.

Well AFAIK protein powder, being just a substitute for food, doesn't impact directly your performance. Let's say that you hit your daily protein requirements: if you cut protein powder out but you eat some more chicken, fish or other sources of protein you'll be fine. Creatine is found in foods like steaks, but to ingest the amount of creatine that you take through the supplement you'll probably end up having an heart attack due to all those steaks My point being, I don't see creatine as a component of the diet, but something you could use if all of the other variables are on point: sleep, diet, training, recovery, stress. You can take all the creatine in the world but if you don't sleep or eat enough it's just not gonna work that well. With that being said, I read studies in the past suggesting that creatine actually works for all the reasons that other people explained much better than I'd have done. I don't have any first hand experience, but I guess if you want to try it and see how it goes do it, I don't see any negative side effects short term

[Rajan Shankara]

Creatine is the only supplement to have been scientifically proven to enhance athletic performance. No negative health issues have been found in short or long term studies.

 

I think its a fact, no matter what your training or diet is like, it will enhance your performance.  

[Mikkel Ravn]

I must be a non-responder, because creatine did nothing for me.

[Cole Dano]

I used to use Whey Protein Isolate but have stopped it due to questions around long term kidney health. My diet is pretty on point and I have not noticed much difference since dropping it out.

 

Kidney stress is only a problem if you are taking more protein than your body can use to build tissue.

 

Generally around 1.2g / kg of body weight is the recommended amount of total protein intake per day, including all sources of protein.

[Nicholas Green]

 

 

I think its a fact, no matter what your training or diet is like, it will enhance your performance.  

This is correct, but it will give you a marginal performance increase compared to a solid training program and good nutrition.

[Jon Douglas]

This is correct, but it will give you a marginal performance increase compared to a solid training program and good nutrition.

 

For me this is what it comes down to also. Supplements help with that extra % you can eke out once the big things are really dialed in. Knowing that my diet and recovery is not perfect, I know I can get more out of it by tightening the screws up there a little more, rather than spending money, worrying about dose, etc.Each to their own though

[Blairbob]

Back when we used to train as a group in Marin, a few members of our group were on creatine and remarked it helped them once they got on. Bare in mind that workouts were 2.5-3hours+, 3 events besides S&C. It probably would have helped the conditon-ey things we did as I would sometimes start missing reps or have to scale down. Then again some of that stuff was far too metabolic in nature. Modified Tabata and AMRAPs with quality reps and a few exercises (let's say 7-10 minutes, 10 Pullups, 10 leglifts, 10 dips, 10 block jumps etc).

For a long when I trained gymnastics, I never used creatine. Bare in mind, many youth gymnasts probably never use creatine though I imagine some guys might use it in high school or college. I doubt very many females in high school and college are ever dosing creatine, period as I have never heard it brought up. Gymnasts are known to eat plenty of carbs and be voracious eaters if they train a lot. Also it can be very problematic having a youth suck down anything that doesn't really taste good. Some may but most won't on a regular basis unless you start blending it in smoothies or something.

I think for the bulk of most people doing GST, creatine supplementation is probably unnecessary. Most seem to train possibly up to 90 minutes or 2hours/day many just 60 minutes give or take. This is not even close to the same thing as an introductory compulsory gymnast. Not many GST enthusiasts are performing event work besides whatever GST program they follow. As well, not too many GST enthusiasts are performing explosive/dynamic work. Not a significant portion unless they also tumble, parkour, some other sports activity besides.


Caffeine. Not much. Generally a 100mg caffeine pill when I wake up. Sometimes a can of redbull instead which is 80. I found the pills more powerful lately when I started taking them instead of making coffee in the morning or a redbull before sesh. I avoid withdrawal symptoms by drinking some coffee or a soda pop on my rest day. Just enough so I don't have to deal with a headache. Some months ago, I weaned completely off and even though I was sleeping way better, performance was hindered. I still sleep pretty good with power naps.

Vitamin D. Currently taking 15000-20000 iu/day. Sometimes it's sunny and sometimes it's not. But generally at least 15k PWO.

Minerals. Also because I drink A LOT of water. Probably 128-160 ounces/day. It's not uncommon to drink 3 liters during a session at the gym.

Vitamin C. I pop this when I wake up, PWO and before bed. Seems to help with training stress.

My whey protein has 2.5grams of creatine per serving. Generally I do 2-3 servings per day. 1 when I wake up and before and after training.

Currently on a diet, so the caffeine and creatine seem to help since I'm generally training on 2 servings of protein and maybe a brunch of eggs n ham/bacon (roughly 4 eggs and 3 slices of bacon or 1/8# of ham).

That being said, carbs seem to definitely help more than creatine when I would forget to take it in the morning when I had it in bulk powder. But I'm restricting carbs besides my protein powder to PWO. No more snacking on granola bars and raisins pre/intra.

584

[Chris Garay]

For what it's worth, here is what Examine.com says about creatine. Basically, it's well-studied, effective, safe, and cheap. I also take Vitamin D and Fish Oil (links to their Examine.com page) among a few others for similar reasons.

[Dorian Brown]

I haven't used it since starting gst but it worked for me when I was doing a different calisthenic and weight training program. No ill effects. You have to drink a lot of water and make sure to cycle on and off of it. 

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

Kidney stress is only a problem if you are taking more protein than your body can use to build tissue.

Generally around 1.2g / kg of body weight is the recommended amount of total protein intake per day, including all sources of protein.

Is that the general recommendation for protein intake for us doing Foundation? I saw this video with Alan Aragon a while back and his chart seems to recommend higher intakes

[Elliot Anderson]

With regard to fish oil, fish oil warrants some research before you pick a brand and use it. Rancidity, toxicity & absorption are big concerns between different brands. I use Nordic Naturals omega 3-D, it seems like pretty quality oil.

Creatine is supposed to be safe, but the manufacturer does make a difference in that regard. Corners getting cut with a chemical you're putting in your body is definitely something to be mindful of.

EDIT: all kinds of phone-based mistakes

[Briac Roquet]

Is that the general recommendation for protein intake for us doing Foundation? I saw this video with Alan Aragon a while back and his chart seems to recommend higher intakesimage.jpg

 

I think Cole meant 1.2g/lbs (or 2g/kg) of bodyweight. That's the recommendation I've seen the most, and it's what Joshua Naterman recommended in some of his posts. And if anyone is worried about taking too much protein, he also said that the general upper limit thrown around is 2,8/kg, which is a lot of protein to eat with or without supplementation.

[Stephen Majerle]

Several years ago I took creatine for a period of time. Then one day I stopped and quickly lost 10lbs within five days. So I lost all the extra water weight it was making me store. Given the nature of GST, I would rather be 10lbs lighter than any marginal strength boost I might get, which I never noticed anyway.

[Larry Manrose]

Several years ago I took creatine for a period of time. Then one day I stopped and quickly lost 10lbs within five days. So I lost all the extra water weight it was making me store. Given the nature of GST, I would rather be 10lbs lighter than any marginal strength boost I might get, which I never noticed anyway.

To me this is the consideration: what happens when you stop taking the supplement? Will you retain the strength gains?  Not sure.

 

The supplement industry is plagued by quality control problems so it's certainly not risk-free to injest powders based on advertiser promises.