best creatine kre-alkalyn for bodybuilding

[zombietraficker]

Hello All,

This is my first forum on the website and I hope you could help me find answers to my query. I have been training to be a body builder since last 6 months and have enjoyed the journey with some great results so far. But lately I have been doing some heavier weights as part of the program and so I take Nutrigenix Power Caps (Kre Alkalyne Creatine) as my creatine supplement .Unfortunately I have not experienced any extra help from it ( extra pump or power ) and so I was wondering if any of you know a product which works for sure and without any harm to the body? Please share your knowledge and experiences with creatine.

Thanking you all in advance

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hello All,

This is my first forum on the website and I hope you could help me find answers to my query. I have been training to be a body builder since last 6 months and have enjoyed the journey with some great results so far. But lately I have been doing some heavier weights as part of the program and so I take Nutrigenix Power Caps (Kre Alkalyne Creatine) as my creatine supplement .Unfortunately I have not experienced any extra help from it ( extra pump or power ) and so I was wondering if any of you know a product which works for sure and without any harm to the body? Please share your knowledge and experiences with creatine.

Thanking you all in advance

hey welcome to the forum

if you're looking for one that's proven to work then look no further than creatine monohydrate. buy it in powder form (works same as buying in pill form except you save lots of $$$)

http://www.bodybuilding.co.nz/creatine- ... ate-3.html

take 5g a day, every day (yep even on days you don't train)

creatine will help you squeeze out a bit more reps and might give you a slight increase in power but it's not a miracle supp (still, it's a very cheap and effective 'must have' part of every supp stack)

if you are looking for extra energy/pump type stuff then you're probably after a 'pump focused' preworkout supp.. will leave others to comment on that since im currently just using coffee.

[jimmybro1]

^ +1 FellowshipofTheRon is right, don't buy into market hype.

Monohydrate is tried and tested for decades where as these other so called "improved" creatines aren't.

A common marketing tool is saying that it will not cause bloating hence no water rentention however this is pretty much saying their creatine isn't anabolic.....

[zombietraficker]

Hello again. I agree to you both . I think kre alkalyn is just a hype to create more marketing for their product. I also found what you guys have suggested to be the same after watching the video on Youtube:

Thank again for your replies. I truly appreciate it

[zombietraficker]

Hi there FellowshipOfTheRon and JimmyBro1. Coud you guys please throw some light on how to take creatine? DO I have to mix a teaspoon with water before workout? I'm also totally confused with all the loading and cycling phases? Please elaborate if you guys can? Many Thanks

P.S I have ordered the one you guys recommended as shown below:

http://www.bodybuilding.co.nz/creatine- ... ate-3.html

[jimmybro1]

Loading phase is just do you saturate your muscles with creatine faster. It typically is 5g serving 4-5 times a day for 4-5 days this is followed by a maintenance phase of 5g a day for anywhere from 4-8 weeks.

Personally I don't cycle off don't see the point.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

yeah same as jimmybro, i don't see a point in cycling it since it has no long term health side effects nor does your body build up a 'tolerance' against it.

yup you can mix it with water if you want or have with juice (many say to take with a juice containing vitamin c for best results) but according to some studies, creatine taken with coffee may inhibit the uptake of creatine so avoid that if you can.

does not have to be taken at any particular time, it doesn't provide any short burst boost/pumps etc. if you take a protein shake post workout, you can just mix it in to that.

if you don't like the flavour or if your creatine isn't mixing properly then you can also just take it the shortcut way - fill up your mouth with some water/juice, pop in a a teaspoon of creatine (which is 5grams) and swallow.

[shane]

So you guys don't cycle creatine no loading phase at all??

[jimmybro1]

Nope don't load on creatine no point body will reach saturation eventually and no point in cycling IMO.

[shane]

Ok nice just finished the loading phase will keep going with the maintenance phase until I run out :grin:

[zombietraficker]

Thank you guys again for your wonderful replies, I have started my loading phase and I definitely see results as I overcame my benching from the previous workout where I only got 3/4,4/4,2/4/3/4 so after taking the right creatine and eating wee bit more than usual I got all 4 x 4 done

[Flex]

I'm not clear on why people don't bother loading - if you load for 5 days you'll start getting decent effects within 5-7 days. If you just go on the maintenance dose then it's going to take you 28 days to reach the same creatine phosphate saturation that loading achieves in 5 days.

Generally you cycle creatine mono with a 1-4 weeks off after every 8-12 weeks of use - the point of this is to help reduce the level of creatinine which will generally be elevated after that much continuous creatine mono supplementation and high volume strength training. If you're not having a break then you will probably find your creatinine levels will be quite high which may not be too good for you. If you take a break from use then your kidneys can flush it out and get you back down to normal levels of creatinine.

My advice is to load for 5 days - 15 to 30g per day with 3 to 6 5g serves (bodyweight dependent). Then after 5 day loading 3-5 grams per day maintenance, used everyday for next 7 weeks. Then have a break of 1-4 weeks. Depending on volume of training over this time it takes up to 5 weeks for creatine phosphate stores to return to normal. If you then resume another cycle of creatine use after this you probably only need to load for a few days - for simplicity lets assume 1 day loading for every week that you've had off.

BTW kre-alkalyn is just an expensive way of taking creatine mono and sodium bi-carb, when you're first starting out it's best to stick with pure creatine mono if you want measurable results. Once you've done maybe 3 or 4 cycles on pure creatine mono then try out some of the other formulas and compare the results.

[jimmybro1]

I'm not clear on why people don't bother loading - if you load for 5 days you'll start getting decent effects within 5-7 days. If you just go on the maintenance dose then it's going to take you 28 days to reach the same creatine phosphate saturation that loading achieves in 5 days.

Generally you cycle creatine mono with a 1-4 weeks off after every 8-12 weeks of use - the point of this is to help reduce the level of creatinine which will generally be elevated after that much continuous creatine mono supplementation and high volume strength training. If you're not having a break then you will probably find your creatinine levels will be quite high which may not be too good for you. If you take a break from use then your kidneys can flush it out and get you back down to normal levels of creatinine.

Where did you read it takes 28 days without loading?

Naturally you have creatine in your system get it from foods such as fish and red meat so people are higher in it than others depending on diet obviously so some people get better results than others when supplementing with creatine.

Can you please provide references supporting cycling?

[Flex]

Where did you read it takes 28 days without loading?

SKW Trostburg/Alzchem Ag funded study - the manufacturers of creapure creatine. Probably the only company that actually funds decent studies on creatine mono. Shoudl be an abstract for it floating around on google somewhere - it used to be on their website.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

I'm not clear on why people don't bother loading - if you load for 5 days you'll start getting decent effects within 5-7 days. If you just go on the maintenance dose then it's going to take you 28 days to reach the same creatine phosphate saturation that loading achieves in 5 days.

Generally you cycle creatine mono with a 1-4 weeks off after every 8-12 weeks of use - the point of this is to help reduce the level of creatinine which will generally be elevated after that much continuous creatine mono supplementation and high volume strength training. If you're not having a break then you will probably find your creatinine levels will be quite high which may not be too good for you. If you take a break from use then your kidneys can flush it out and get you back down to normal levels of creatinine.

Where did you read it takes 28 days without loading?

Naturally you have creatine in your system get it from foods such as fish and red meat so people are higher in it than others depending on diet obviously so some people get better results than others when supplementing with creatine.

on top of that, i'm also curious about the long term effects of creatine to the kidneys. the higher creatinine level when on creatine is just a byproduct of the creatine and isn't supposed to be harmful in the small recommended dosages isn't it? thought it was just supposed to be a danger sign if your creatinine levels were high and you were not currently supplementing creatine.

if your kidneys were having trouble flushing out the tiny amounts from recommended dosages, wouldn't this indicate pre-existing issues? not trying to bag you at all, just interested in getting to the bottom of this

[jimmybro1]

I'm not clear on why people don't bother loading - if you load for 5 days you'll start getting decent effects within 5-7 days. If you just go on the maintenance dose then it's going to take you 28 days to reach the same creatine phosphate saturation that loading achieves in 5 days.

Generally you cycle creatine mono with a 1-4 weeks off after every 8-12 weeks of use - the point of this is to help reduce the level of creatinine which will generally be elevated after that much continuous creatine mono supplementation and high volume strength training. If you're not having a break then you will probably find your creatinine levels will be quite high which may not be too good for you. If you take a break from use then your kidneys can flush it out and get you back down to normal levels of creatinine.

Where did you read it takes 28 days without loading?

Naturally you have creatine in your system get it from foods such as fish and red meat so people are higher in it than others depending on diet obviously so some people get better results than others when supplementing with creatine.

on top of that, i'm also curious about the long term effects of creatine to the kidneys. the higher creatinine level when on creatine is just a byproduct of the creatine and isn't supposed to be harmful in the small recommended dosages isn't it? thought it was just supposed to be a danger sign if your creatinine levels were high and you were not currently supplementing creatine.

if your kidneys were having trouble flushing out the tiny amounts from recommended dosages, wouldn't this indicate pre-existing issues? not trying to bag you at all, just interested in getting to the bottom of this

I had my bloods due 8 weeks into a creatine cycle and creatinine levels were in the normal range if that answers your question. It is safe to use and is tried and tested for decades. Of course taking massive doses could cause some issue (mostly bloating and gas), alcohol is harder on the body.

[Flex]

on top of that, i'm also curious about the long term effects of creatine to the kidneys. the higher creatinine level when on creatine is just a byproduct of the creatine and isn't supposed to be harmful in the small recommended dosages isn't it? thought it was just supposed to be a danger sign if your creatinine levels were high and you were not currently supplementing creatine.

if your kidneys were having trouble flushing out the tiny amounts from recommended dosages, wouldn't this indicate pre-existing issues? not trying to bag you at all, just interested in getting to the bottom of this

Yeah it should be safe at the recommended dosage so may not be an issue for most users. High creatinine levels can place an extra strain on your kidneys, so it's probably just going to mean your kidneys don't function optimally as they'll be working overtime to filter out the creatinine.

[Flex]

I had my bloods due 8 weeks into a creatine cycle and creatinine levels were in the normal range if that answers your question. It is safe to use and is tried and tested for decades. Of course taking massive doses could cause some issue (mostly bloating and gas), alcohol is harder on the body.

That really only answers the question about 8 weeks use - not 3 years with no rest period.

[Agent]

I had my bloods due 8 weeks into a creatine cycle and creatinine levels were in the normal range if that answers your question. It is safe to use and is tried and tested for decades. Of course taking massive doses could cause some issue (mostly bloating and gas), alcohol is harder on the body.

That really only answers the question about 8 weeks use - not 3 years with no rest period.

This is true, the health markers after 8 weeks don't necessarily mean they'll be the same after a number of years of use, and anecdotes can't imply safety (in either direction) regardless.

A quick look did find this however, which suggests safety at least up to 21 months in the first study, and a range up to 5.6 years (mean 2.9 years) use in the second paper. (These are just the abstracts so unfortunately don't give all details, but not everyone has access to the full papers)

Long-term creatine supplementation does not significantly affect clinical markers of health in athletes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701816

Effects of long-term creatine supplementation on liver and kidney functions in American college football players.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12500988

The second study is less robust due to the self reporting nature, but nevertheless they both seem to suggest that the typical maintenance doses (which made up the majority of the intake) show no ill effect.

It appears to be good enough for the European Food Safety Authority to state that long-term consumption in the region of 3g/day is unlikely to pose any risk, combined with the daily creatine turnover rate being approximately 2g/day. The daily turnover rate would also suggest that maintenance doses of up to 10g are unnecessary; so a 5g daily intake would be more than enough.