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Creatine

Anybody here use creatine? Considering using it to aid building some upper body muscle but concerned about the possibility of weight gain due to water retention. I'm thinking about eight weeks of creatine with weight work and then 4 weeks to drop the added water weight before racing leaving just the muscle gain. Would that work?

Comments

  • BlinkybazBlinkybaz Posts: 1,144
    Hello



    I have posted before about protein shakes to aid recovery and the reson was varied.

    I used my protein to get mine and it was cheap compared to others. If you decide you ise them let me know and I can give you a code to get 5% offI never found a great weight increase but it did make me feel more alive after hard training.
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    Hmm.. Upper body muscle is just something that you have to lug around with you on the run/bike. You just want functional muscle for swimming etc, but nothing too over the top. Most people slim down a bit for tri.. I'm not really convinced that these kinds of supplements really help for endurance sports.. where its more about the quality of the muscle, than then density/mass. Apart from the muscles you get from doing the activities, I would be more concerned about core/leg/back muscles - those which aid in efficient/injury free movement - especially for high impact stuff like running.



    But, I would like to hear of reasons why an big upper body is good (even top sprint swimmers don't seem to have _that_ much upper body muscle).
  • stay away from it.

    not much use to slowtwitch fibers im told. and thats the bottom line.

  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    yep, as halfironman says creatine is a complete waste of time and money, it will put on bulk without power, so will slow you down considerably. Also there have been many threads on here about creatine



  • To build muscle requires hours of gym work and plenty of Protein intake. As an ex-bodybuilder, I am trying to shed the muscle, I wouldn't have thought it was a good idea to carry more wait and reduce movement.



    Creatine is great if you are a gym rat or do explosive action sports.
  • I agree with the majority of the posts highlighting that creatine is not that useful to the triathlete but im going to try and expand on why that is the case.



    Basically we use the following energy systems



    ATP (Lasts for around 2 seconds of maximal effort)

    Phosphocreatine system (lasts for around 10 seconds of maximal activity)

    ALactic system (lasts for around 1-4minutes of near maximal muscle activity)

    Aerobic system - carbohydrate (lasts for around 45mins-2 hours but is very dependant on the stores within the muscle)

    Aerobic system - fat (this system depending on the intensity your working at can last for a very long time e.g. 24 hour races)



    So if you supplement with creatine you are improving your muscles ability to work the phosphocreatine system. This energy system will contribute minimal amounts to triathlon performance due to the sport placing emphasis on the aerobic system and in sprint finishes alactic system.



    In terms of building upper body muscle creatine can help as it allows you to squeeze out a few more reps or maybe go a little heavier, also your upper body mass will increase due to the water retention you have discussed. Again I would question the importance of increase in upper body mass in triathlon as it will simply serve as dead weight to carry. Also how you talk about using creatine will not work as you muscle will de-load (return to normal levels of creatine) during your 4 week period prior to competition, if this is coupled with a reduction in upper body strength training it will me that the strength ascertained during your loading period will pretty much diminish.



    If you are looking for improvements in upper body strength do not focus on mass increase do a lot of funstional power work both in the gym and in the pool and this should give you the most gain.



    Hope this helps
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    Avoid it it puts on weight and does not make you faster, in fact the extra weight makes you slower
  • rush 1884 has nailed it wow what a post....



    the only thing i have to add is i used to use it when i boxed in my teenage years and it sent me nutts!!!!!!



    Once i loaded up on it and took it regular my physique improved quite quickly, but didnt make me any better at it, like i said it made me quite aggressive when not in the gym so i stopped taking it...[:@]
  • jacombo752jacombo752 Posts: 102

    What supplement would you recommend for increasing endurance and overall well-being? I have a need for a product that would help me remove excess water and also improve the quality of my muscles. If you have experience with , would you be willing to share it?

  • CamelCrewCamelCrew Posts: 69

    Are you uncertain about which dietary supplement to purchase? I suggest considering Core Labs Estro Guard. This supplement aids in eliminating excess water, enhancing muscle quality, improving well-being, and providing additional stamina and vigor. If you need such a product, I recommend checking out their offering.

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