To Cre(atine) Or Not To Cre
Probably not the first time that this question has been asked here, but I am on the fence as to whether to (1) stick with the basic protien shakes and BCAA’s (already added in to the ON Whey); or (2) start expanding into things like creatine, NO, etc. I just don’t see getting enough protien for growth or calories without the shakes, so those are pretty much a given. While my growth and adds in strength have not been skyrocketing with shakes and whole foods, they have been coming steadily, and I can see a gradual difference. I’ve been temped to add creatine into the mix, given pretty consistent feedback that it’s effective; however, it seems like more of an artificial boost to me. For example, I was researching various threads in the Forum and comments like "I’ve been off creatine for 3 weeks now, and I’m losing da guns!" have me feeling like the gains (if I used creatine) would be 50% me 50% chemistry. On top of that, I would be dependent on the chemistry to maintain the results — just not sure that I want to go there.
On the one hand, whatever gains I’ve achieved so far have been due to hard work and diet (including the protien shakes), and if I failed to maintain the diet the gains would slip away — so what’s the difference if the diet that I keep maintaining includes creatine along with everything else I consume? On the other hand, unlike the "I’m off creatine and I’m losing da guns!" comment, I feel like what’s I’ve achieved is not dependant on any one thing and that if I slipped for a week or two it would not unwind all of the hard work so quickly.
Like everything else (training splits, diet, specific exercises), it’s a matter of choice, and you have to do what works for you. The feeling I’ve gotten from reading through the Forum is that if I used creatine to achieve certain results and wanted to maintain those results, I would need to stay on the creatine — that sounds like dependence. I really don’t like being dependant . . . I guess I’ve talked myself out of creatine, at least for the time being. If anyone has any personal experience or feedback to share, please comment!
November 20, 2007 at 9:57 am
I know what you mean about not wanting to rely on chemicals to keep up your muscle mass. From what I have read, creatine has more of an impact on how hard you can workout and less on retaining the muscle you develop. From personal experience, I used creatine for six weeks or so with pretty steady gains he whole time (around 12 lbs in two months). I decided to take a break from the creatine and most of the mass stayed (maybe some water weight lost, but not much). I *did* notice a little less umph in my workouts though, which kinda sucks, but at least it’s not all or nothing!