Mom's and [certain] doctors across America pledge there allegiance against creatine. Ideas here and there and some random cases have led families hiding their children in fear. Poor Creatine couldn't even stand up for himself [mainly because he's an Amino Acid] and thus was shunned away for older self sufficient athletes. Lets cut away the fat of American presupposition and find out whether moms and the media were right about this white powder, or if they were simply misguided.It will ruin your kidneys:
Behind every myth lies a kernel of truth. Our kidneys are responsible for filtering out blood and therefore any excess that would be floating in your blood stream is grabbed by the kidneys and flushed out in urine. That's why when your dehydrated your urine is dark, our body is pushing out excess salt to keep you alive! So when your doping up creatine like a drug addict your going to see adverse effects [information from: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders] However, anything in excess can wreck your kidneys and send you into a downward spiral. Overconsumption of water can put your salt/water ratio in the wrong direction and cause kidney problems. If your a notorious water drinker you may think those gallons your downing are ideal when in reality your diluting you blood stream. That is why when you think clear pee means super hydrated it can mean over hydrated and that can be just as destructive as dehydration [putting my soap box away.]
It's not natural:
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| MEEAAAT |
My Creatine is so Expensive It Must Be Better:
Not always true. Creatine Monohydrate is the most basic form we can get. It's usually the cheapest and is probably the band for your buck way to do it. Then comes Micro ionized Creatine, which is just more broken down particles which increase surface area and rate of absorption. Faster absorption means loading the system up faster, so this would be ideal for intra workout. A newer form that has hit the shelves is creatine salts. These are better for 1/3 of people while the rest don't take it as well as the others. Some companies sell their own *Amazing patent pending super duper cooler than Chuck Norris creatine, which is usually loaded with sugars to spike absorption. Forget about that stuff because the price tag is just as long as the name. Intra workout drink can be as simple as this: 5 gr of creatine, 3 servings of powdered gatorade.
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| I might try it... |
Yes Creatine holds onto water and will fill your muscles but that doesn't mean its going to slow you down. Last monday We talked about how creatine buffers acid and improves ATP production in the PCr system. So according to the science Creatine can make you feel better by preventing fatigue.
The Bottle says to take before, during, after, before bed, and to use it as salt on my fries:
Yes I just exaggerated, but you get the point. Creatine companies will tell you to take the product as many times as you can as long as its safe. 2 times are scientifically shown to allow you to replenish, and build up the PCr system. Take around 5-10 gr intra workout, and 5-10 gr immediately post workout.
Take Away:
Don't let the rumors scare you away from a product shown to increase strength and endurance. Take Creatine during and after workouts. Start with 10-20 gr a day, there is no need to load your system unless you had never eaten red meat [just kidding]. Stop being so mean to Creatine and realize, he just wants to help.
Genesis 9:3 - Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
Another post I like. Here's a couple things I learned from Dr. Lon Kilgore back when he was here:
ReplyDelete1. Creatine Monohydrate is the best type of creatine because it permeates into your cells easier due to the charge on the particles.
2. For the first 7 days you use creatine take your body weight in kilograms and multiply it by .3 to find the amount you should take per day. For example I weigh 82kg, multiplied by .3 gives me 24.6 which is the amount of creatine I should have during the first 7 days, or the loading phase.
3. Following the loading phase comes the maintenance phase. During the maintenance phase multiply your body weight in kg by .03 and have that amount of creatine per day. So a tenth of what you had during the loading phase which would equal 2.46 grams per day for me.
4. Don't forget to drink water with creatine because it greatly helps the creatine permeate into the cell easier. And creatine makes you have to pee more often which could be bad if you were not properly hydrated.