Supplements

[mikeman]

Okay, I dont know much about supplements, so bare with me. However, I was wondering why take creatine if all it does is hold water? Once a person is off of it,wont the muscles kind of deflate? I know that sounds dumb... any help would be awesome.

 

[dantem]

I take glutamine, creatine and a good protein powder

 

[sonick]

Originally Posted by mikeman

Okay, I dont know much about supplements, so bare with me. However, I was wondering why take creatine if all it does is hold water? Once a person is off of it,wont the muscles kind of deflate? I know that sounds dumb... any help would be awesome.

It also increases strength.

 

[alexwgoody]

2 multivitamins- 1 morning pill, 1 night drink
fish oil
royal jelly
bee pollen
cassein
cytomax
potassium
fish oil
wheat germ

I've found these to be very helpful in my triathlon training. I've put on a considerable amount of muscle and raised my conditioning a lot in just the last few months.

 

[john55]

I have been using Whey for past two years.I am getting the desire results and I am using the Whey Isolate and have already used the pure Whey.I think Isolate is much better than the pure whey in terms of results.

 

[Z_Cavaricci]

Over the last 3 months I have been taking Methylcobalamin ( vitamin b12).
1000 mcg per tablet. Tastes like cherry, take 2 every morning gives me that boost of energy.

Once you get into your 30's, no matter how much exercise I do. Its nice to have a few enhancers along the way.

Picked it up at Vitamin Shoppe.

 

[djlukin]

Multivitamin: Controlled Labs Orange TRIad- a little pricey ($25 for 45 days depending on where you get it), but combines multi, joint supplement, immune, flex, digestive complexes. Must have.

Fish oil: I just use cheap supplements brand fish oil (bodybuilding.com) and take it with multivitamin after breakfast and dinner.

Pre-workout: Although these aren't necessary, I love superpump MAX. It is better than jack3d, better than SP250, better than Controlled Labs White Flood, better than 1 M.R.

BCAA: USP labs ModernBCAA, although I enjoyed Scivation Xtend as well

I don't typically use protein powders- I prefer whole foods (protein+carbs+fat, not shady protein isolates) after a workout. I have tried USP labs OxyElitePro fat burner. It is very potent, but the sideaffects (heart racing, restlessness, ED) weren't for me.

 

[alecx]

Nice post..

 

[Jbreen1]

ON Whey and Casein, Orange Triad multi, NOW fish oil. I also take 5-htp and ginkgo biloba. For preworkout I've been taking Animal Rage but I'm going to switch to Ultima and caffeine pills.

I'm also going to be starting a test boosting stack for a couple months. Activate Xtreme to raise free test. Triazole to boost total test and lower estrogen. And Lean Xtreme to control cortisol levels. It's a lot of **** but I've put on about 25lbs of pretty solid mass in the last three months and I want to keep that going.

 

[Jbreen1]

Double post. But I forgot BCAA's and creatine.

 

[mcnealy]

I'm on quite a few things, actually.

Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men multivitamin
Vitamin E
Zinc
Fish Oil
Animal Cuts

that's about 15 pills in total :O

 

[ribkin]

200mg caffeine pre-workout ( at least 45 minutes ), be very careful with cardio... pay attention to your breathing, heart-rate

Fish Oil & Multi-vitamin if I remember to take them

 

[afc345]

Just got back to taking Jack3d pre-workout. Really helps during finals preparations as I'm into now, amazing energy during the workout and better focus during reading as well. Only downside is getting a bit sleepy and weary throughout the evening.

 

[Proverb]

Originally Posted by mikeman

Okay, I dont know much about supplements, so bare with me. However, I was wondering why take creatine if all it does is hold water? Once a person is off of it,wont the muscles kind of deflate? I know that sounds dumb... any help would be awesome.

The main purpose of creatine is to allow yourself to push a little bit further, it's basically a supplier of energy to your muscles. Many (most) of the creatine supplements leads to water retention and this will make you look more massive when you're on it. When you use it for an extended period of time and then stop, you'll keep your strength but lose some mass. Your question is not dumb at all.

Also I've found that kre-alkalyn prevents my body from retaining as much water as basic monohydrat, but I perform better when using the latter.

 

[Giocatore4]

To be truthful, the excess water is intracellular...so it's not sitting outside your muscles like a waterbed. 95% of people that I have trained that have complained about bloating on creatine are not bloating from the creatine, but other dietary factors/supplements (like dextrose with the creatine right after working out).

Creatine works as such: For anaerobic work, there are two ways that muscles get energy, but both come from ATP. For very short bursts of energy, like that needed for a single maximum lift, ATP sheds a phosphate molecule, which releases energy in the muscle cell. ATP is stored in muscle cells, and under all-out effort, all muscular ATP can be depleted very quickly.

Creatine phosphate, which is also stored in the muscles, can replenish ATP by "donating" a phosphate molecule to depleted ATP, aka ADP. Once the ATP is replenished, it's able to go back to work again by releasing another phosphate molecule and a burst of energy. So, consider it like the "take a penny" tray at the gas station. It doesn't supersaturate your muscle for some water related reason that I've heard talked about in gyms. It simply provides an energy source to your muscles allowing you to continue intense workouts to break down your muscles (that build themselves up through rest and diet).

Going off of creatine won't "deflate" you, you may shed a pound or two, but you won't lose your gains as long as you continue to work out semi-regularly. Generally speaking from my experiences, the people that complain about deflating when off of creatine also stop working out when they go off creatine... then when the get motivated again and get back in the gym they start taking it again and get bigger...