How do you take YOUR Creatine?

[Chewys Stunt Double]

I like to take it while naked, I find I get better pumps this way.

I have a feeling you are not going to last long..... :roll:

If you're struggling for a sense of humour you might want to review your omega 3 levels as low levels can cause mood swings...

[tomsammce]

When I take creatine, I just stir a heaped tsp into my daily green tea (or black coffee) in the morning :shrug: Seems to work for me, dissolves the powder nicely, tastes good because of the tea (or coffee)... etc.

This is just my (unqualified) opinion, but I think people overcomplicate it - including myself in the past. Just take it the way that suits you best. If you don't notice anything, start looking at what time(s) you take it/how much of it you use/what you take it with. And keep water intake up.

iv read conflicting things about caffeine use with creatine use. personally i would stay away from it while cycling creatine or at least excessive use, im sure the odd bit of caffeine would be harmless. anyway each to their own.

interesting... can you provide a reference for this? I am a caffeine addict + I use creatine.

sorry mate, i cant provide a reference for that info as i dnt have one. i learnt alot about creatine monhydrate and other forms 5-6 years ago as i was right into it then before i began using aas. its just stuff iv read and retained. there are some rumours around it like that caffeine (which is a diuretic) counteracts creatine by interfering with muscle volumizing, which is complete bullshit. although other stuff iv read i do believe in saying that i do remember that not all the studies resulted in an inhibitory effect of caffiene on the benefits creatine monohydrate gave. but their was probabaly a number of factors notn taken into consideration as with most tests/studies.

i dunno bro, its personal opinion do some reading and make your own mind. im not saying what you are doing is wrong, just i wouldnt do it myself thats all.

[tomsammce]

iv read conflicting things about caffeine use with creatine use. personally i would stay away from it while cycling creatine or at least excessive use, im sure the odd bit of caffeine would be harmless. anyway each to their own.

Yeah it is something I'm aware of, but I seem to get the same result with/without caffeine in the diet when I'm on creatine, so taking it with a greentea or coffee is most convenient for me. Also I read that the initial study testing the effectiveness of creatine, was done by diluting it in tea and/or coffee. Not sure how true that is but I'm running with it

As you say though there are conflicting reports, so I guess what I'm saying is people should just give it a go, maybe change something every time you cycle it if it doesn't work how you'd expect, and see what works best for them. But heck if it works, and it ain't broke, don't fix it.

when i say conflicting things i didnt come across anything that would suggest you are at an advantage using creatine and caffeine together just that some articles/studies (or whatever you want to call them) showed no inhibitory effect on the creatine from the caffiene...

thats could depend on a number of things, administration - liquid or pill/cap form, the amount of creatine given and length of time and also the training in which they measured performance on.... it coulda been an hour long workout or could have been 3 sets on a leg extension... theres no consistency with the studies... so u take it for face value and make your own mind up.

[drizzt]

True bro, nicely put :nod:

I haven't been on creatine for a little while, but maybe I'll do a couple of 4 week cycles soon, do one diluted in tea or coffee, and one in water, see what the difference is (if any) :nod: Incredibly unscientific but I'll take a few weeks off in between tests :grin:

[tomsammce]

True bro, nicely put :nod:

I haven't been on creatine for a little while, but maybe I'll do a couple of 4 week cycles soon, do one diluted in tea or coffee, and one in water, see what the difference is (if any) :nod: Incredibly unscientific but I'll take a few weeks off in between tests :grin:

for sure mate! i think the creatine/caffeine debate is more aimed at excessive caffiene intake, like i said its been ages since iv done any specific reading on creatines. Flex might be able to give some better and more factual information with back up evidence. am sorry i cant provide that to back up my posts.

[chovik]

Where do you buy dextrose from?...can you buy it in the supermarket? does it have a brand name?

[mike27]

binn inn

or a brewers website

or in the home brew section at the supermarket

[legacy]

Take Kre-Alkalyn, prefer it over standard creatine. Have it with shakes and on oats etc. No loading needed.

viewtopic.php?t=838

[rovr4on]

Just type creatine caffine in same sentence in google and you will find lots of articles about caffeine being bad with creatine. Also I have read several reports that kre alkyln only works for some people, especially lots of people saying on forums kre alkyln doesn't work, but for some it does.

[rovr4on]

I have it as a shot in water with 1/2 t beta-alanine 2 mins before lifting then repeat it with BCAAS, glutamine and protein shake after training.

that's interesting - I heard that it creatine and protein shouldn't be taken together as they fight for same receptors... your thoughts?

I always have about a 15 min interlude. Glucose and creatine post wo and then protein shake after. I do this because I also read that your body will prioritize replenishing cell energy before absorbing protein.

whats all everyones view one this?

I think you mean creatine and glutamine fight for same receptors. But I guess all protein has glutamine!!

[drizzt]

I like these discussions, gets everybody thinking (myself included). Couple of studies I've started to read through on the topic:

CaffeineCreatine1.pdf

Main part from that^ file:

CAFFEINE AND CREATINE

SUPPLEMENTATION

Caffeine consumption has been reported to adversely affect

the efficacy of creatine supplementation. Since creatine uptake

is dependent upon extracellular Na1, Vandenberghe et al [13]

hypothesized that adrenergic stimulation of the sarcolemma

might enhance muscle creatine uptake via increased Na1-K1-

ATPase pump activity. In a double-blind, repeated-measures,

crossover study, they compared creatine uptake, isometric force

and isokinetic knee-extension torque production in nine healthy

males following 6 days of both creatine supplementation (0.5

g/kg/day) and creatine (0.5 g/kg/day) in combination with

caffeine (5 g/kg/day). A 3-week washout period intervened

between treatments. While muscle [PCr] was increased following

both treatments, torque production was increased only

following creatine supplementation. They concluded that the

ergogenic effect of creatine is completely eliminated by caffeine

consumption. In a follow-up study using the same protocol,

Vandenberghe et al [14] reported that caffeine inhibits PCr

resynthesis during recovery. These data suggest that, in contrast

to potentiating the ergogenic effects of creatine, caffeine ingested

in combination with creatine nullifies any ergogenic

effect. However, additional research is needed to confirm these

preliminary findings.

I think the .5g/kg/day sounds like a lot - for a 100kg guy that'd be 50g of creatine a day? And surely the 5g/kg/day for caffeine is a typo, as that'd be half a kilo of caffeine a day :shock: I read another study that tested at 5mg, so maybe that's what it meant, as 500mg for a 100kg guy sounds a bit better. I do like that they included a washout period, as I believe this was a point of contention in another study.

CaffeineCreatine3.pdf

This one^ seems a lot more in depth, but I'm yet to complete reading it, so if anyone finds anything particularly interesting in it, quote it here :nod:

I also like this link as a nice viewpoint on it.

Got me thinking about it, but a couple of things I've taken out of the reading is that the daily long black (@ approx 200mg caffeine) probably isn't going to ruin your creatine intake. However, 2 or more per day might. In saying that, green tea only has 30-50mg caffeine per cup (depending on what tea you use obviously) so I'd be tempted to lean towards that when I'm on creatine.

[zulu26]

Is creatine good for energy or muscle gain ?

[mike27]

creatine helps regenerate ADP back into ATP which is what the body uses for energy during intense exercise

so if you take creatine, you will be able to have better regeneration of adp. thus knock out some more reps or shift more wight for example.

[Phedder]

surely the 5g/kg/day for caffeine is a typo

I'd hope so, it's quite hard to get ethics committees to give you the green light for killing all of your participants :pfft: