Creatine (kidneys, weight, gain, time)

[Interpol76]

I use creatine before I lift weights or exercise. I also use it before I have a hockey or soccer game. Not a lot is known about the substance. What are your experiences with it? Good or bad?

[Interpol76]

Ooops. I think this may need to be moved to the Exercise forum.

[CosmicWizard]

You can find alot of creatine information available by doing a google search. I use it from time to time. I don't get winded as easily when I do a heavy set and I seem to recover faster between sets.

[LaoTzuMindFu]

Ive used creatine and have had really good results. But you must use it correctly or it could cause damage to your kidneys.

First, you have to go on the loading phase and this is usually one to two weeks depending on the brand you use (I prefer the pre-mixed Muscletech's Cell-Tech creatine). Then you would have to go on maintenence phase for another couple of weeks, then several weeks of NO creatine at all.

For best results during your mantenance phase is to take the creatine AFTER your workout, not before. You really only need it if you are lifting weights not for sports events. Also, you must stay away from caffeine while on creatine. This means, no coffee, cokes, soft drinks, chocolate and most importantly you absolutley must SUPERHYDRATE - drink plenty of water throughout the day. Loading phase is definatly hard on the kidneys so you'll need to compensate by drinking plenty of water.

You will definately see size increases if taking creatine correctly but some of your gains (muscle and weight) will be water retention. Some people also get acne when using due to the high sugar/glucose in the mix.

[Moth]

I had good results although I have no idea if it was my imagination or not. In any case, I was in pretty good shape.

[Rggr]

I used it and had good results with size, strength, and speed of recovery. I, and others I know that used it, experienced a loss of those gains when I stopped using it.