Creatine

Originally Posted by Ulysses

It hasn't been proven safe, let's put it that way. You have a loading phase (getting your body used to it) and a maintenance phase (you take a regular dose for a long as you want to train). As far as I know it allows you to increase your endurance when working out, a little past the point where you'd normally have to give up. In that way, it helps you to train harder and increase your muscle growth. It's also supposed to speed up muscle recovery. Creatine occurs naturally in the human body but as usual, taking an abnormally large dose of anything (even if it is naturally occurring) is something I personally wouldn't do.

If you want to get big and strong, work harder. It isn't rocket science as long as you have an average body type.

Loading to get your body used it? Why the hell would you want to do that? The purpose of loading is to saturate your muscles with creatine, followed by maintenance of the increased level of creatine. Whether loading is necessary is debatable. Creatine is really cheap (about $10 for 500g or 100 servings), so loading won't hurt. Just make sure you take it with something insulinogenic (e.g. grape juice). I put it in my post-workout shake.

The stuff works for most people, often with great effect. This is most researched supplement on the market. It's safe, plain and simple. You piss out the excess. I mean, anything can be toxic in high amounts, even water, so just take it 5g at a time, maybe four servings a day for a week if you want to load.

Exercise and nutrition are of course the most important thing, but that doesn't mean work harder. That's the dumbest thing I've read all week. It's a very common mistake to overtrain and fry the CNS. You have to train smarter. If everything's in line, then adding creatine can be of great benefit. It's just dumb not to take it.

Check out the Dave Barr article in that link. He knows his shit.

Also, make sure you use Creatine Monohydrate, not that other crap (I'm looking at you, Ethyl Ester).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Ulysses

Yeah, why the hell would you want to follow the manufacturers instructions *rolls eyes*?

I'm sure the the manufacturers aren't just encouraging you to use more of their product so that you have to buy it more often. *rolls eyes back* Do some research, slick. Loading is still being debated.

Quote:

By working harder, I didn't mean overtraining V_V. I think you're a pretty dumb fuck yourself for misunderstanding. Obviously over-training will do more harm than good.

That was for the benefit of the original poster. Just because I know what's going on, should I assume that he does? Like I said, train smarter.

Quote:

It's dumb not to take it? Pfft. We don't even know what this kid looks like and you're telling him that supplements are the only way? Yeah right.

Ahem. To quote myself: "Exercise and nutrition are of course the most important thing...If everything's in line, then adding creatine can be of great benefit."

Don't get pissy just because I trashed your post.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hey, nice to see someone else on the pro-creatine side. You mentioned high rep sets, and I thought I'd mention that beta-alanine (a non-essential amino acid) is legitimately being called "the next creatine", and it does help with endurance, particularly the onset of PWCFT (physical working capacity at fatigue threshold). It's too expensive at this point though.

It's also nice to see you mention explosive movements. You don't see many people in commercial gyms (or non-atheletes in general) doing the Olympic lifts, and it's a damn shame. Kids think benching an unloaded barbell really fast is explosive, but unless you're throwing that thing up in the air, you're just teaching your body to decelerate. Eh, I'm just venting now.

How ya doing, buddy?

Power cleans are basically half of an O-lift (the clean and jerk). I never do the entire movement, I just do cleans and push presses. Personally I think the snatch is easier than the clean. You should try the one-arm dumbbell snatch; it's one of my favorites. It's rare to see people do any powerlifting movements either. I mean, they bench, but their elbows are flared, their backs are flat, it's all wrong. They squat, but they don't even make it to parallel. They never deadlift.

Beta-alanine is now available in a time-released version, which is cool because you used to have to take it eight times a day. You can read about it (and order it) here. It's $50 for 90 servings, which is a month's worth, but after the first month I think you only need half as much. Personally I can't afford it, or at least I'd rather buy more food!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

NO supplements are bullshit, as far as I've heard. Pretty much everyone I've talked to has gotten nothing out of them.

Rezazadeh's a beast. That amount of weight is just scary.

I meant I do cleans and push presses separately. Yes, the full lift would be a clean and press. I think I can push press a bit more than I can clean, just because I don't clean often enough these days.

I've seen it all with the bench--kids looking like they're trying to hump the ceiling or tap dance in the air. I saw a guy doing quarter bench presses just so he could use the same weight his buddy was using. It was just embarassing.

I think you're overemphasizing the stress on your back during a squat, but if you want to avoid it you should try front squats. The front squat is the better lift anyway. Supposedly overhead squats are the best, but I can't be arsed to develop that kind of balance and flexibility. Lunges are fantastic. Try bulgarian split squats (a lunge with the back foot elevated on a bench), they're real killers.

I was speaking idiomatically.

One thing I'm trying to figure out is why the pins are where they are in the power rack at my gym. The thing comes with a bench that hooks into it, but one pin setting is below my chest and the other is above, no matter how flat or how arched I am. It's a real pain in the ass, because since finals are over and there's no one in the gym, I can't count on having a spotter for my max effort bench.

Overhead squats are a good test of flexibility and core strength (and consequently, doing them can bring those things up to par). So while it's a great lift, there's no substitute for heavy back and front squats. For the front squat, the positioning of the bar is basically the end of a clean. That makes a lot of sense, considering that with a technically correct clean (sometimes called a clean and squat) you actually perform a front squat after you catch the bar.

I've used ZMA. My problem with it is that whenever I stop using it, for the next few days I get sudden bouts of chest pain when I inhale. I have to ask my doctor about that before I try ZMA again. I've tried a lot of Biotest supplements; they make some good shit. My favorites are Spike and Power Drive. Spike is easily the best stimulant out there. Power Drive is basically DMAE and tyrosine, and it'll kick up your CNS efficiency. It's also been recently popularized as a CNS recovery supplement (so you take it after workout rather than before).

But I suspect what you're looking for is more along the lines of BCAAs. There's a lot of info out there (e.g. this article). If you can afford to take them in high dosages, you can expect to put on some appreciable lean mass accompanied by strenght gains.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Oh man, I know what you mean about spotters. God, even if I fail the lift, I can hold the bar on my chest for a while without getting hurt. I tell them to "stand the fuck back and let me lift".

Overhead lunge, now that sounds like a good idea. It might help me get comfortable with the squat. Since the power rack is too small, I like to clean and jerk the weight and then lower it to my back in order to lunge or split squat. But now that you've mentioned this, I'm thinking it would actually be much easier to just leave the weight overhead!

I'm not sure about metabolism boosting, but I know BCAAs can aid in fat loss. Though as far as I remember, they taste horrible. And this is coming from bodybuilders, who are used to downing some nasty stuff. Definitely take them between meals. They're great for staving off catabolism, so if you know you're not getting a chance to eat or you wake up in the middle of the night, definitely pop a few. I've seen coaches recommend as much as 5-10 grams, five times a day.

That sounds like a great PW shake. I use Biotest's Surge around tough workouts and chocolate skim milk otherwise. I completely forgot about honey; I'm definitely going to try that!

Selenium is some good stuff. I was just reading about a fat loss stack of kelp, selenium, and l-tyrosine. I'm still bulking for the next four months, but I'm looking forward to trying this out for my once-a-year "get ripped" diet. If you're looking to quash free radicals, get a bag of mixed berries. Because they're thin-skinned, they have enormous amounts of anti-oxidants to protect themselves.


T-Rat, I was wondering when someone else would chime in. Those movements are the bread and butter of any successful program (the genetically gifted and juicers aside). Having said that, there are some really helpful isolation movements out there: external rotation, hip abduction/adduction, wrist extension, and calf raise. Another good compound exercise is the push-up "plus", where you push the shoulder blades forward at the top; it's great for shoulder health. And for core strength, I love stuff like the full contact twist, saxon bend, bird-dog, pillar and side bridges, and windmill. Definitely keep on lifting the heavy shit though!


Almost forgot, here's what happens when you fall asleep in the middle of a clean and jerk.

Most amazing jew boots

Chewing stuff is always better, if you can handle it. I chew my multi-vitamin. It tastes like fucking cat food.

For the chocolate skim, I just buy skim milk and mix in some Nesquik.

This article details an entire shoulder health program, including the push-up plus.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Oh man, I couldn't imagine biting into a fish oil cap...all the oil oozing out into your mouth. >_< I'd rather swallow 20 caps (which I somehow manage to do all at once) than take the liquid stuff.

Jam it back in, in the dark.