CREATINE
A word about creatine…
Creatine is not bad for you. That’s like saying that protein is bad for you. Creatine phosphate is a naturally occuring substance in the human body and is an ESSENTIAL ingredient in the energy production for not only muscle contraction but for brain activity, organ function, etc.
How your body produces energy is as follows:
ATP/ ADP-CP Energy system: You muscles uses energy from ATP (adesine triphosphate) to contract. Your muscles have a small resovoir of ATP they can pull from. The biporduct of using ATP is ADP, adesine diphosphate. This ADP then combines with CP, creatine phosphate, to creatine more ATP. Again, this is a very limitted energy system. If the work is intense and the energy demands great (weight lifting, sprinting, etc), the muscle will go onto the glycogen energy system. This is an “anaerobic system” ie without oxygen. If the demands are small (long distance running, biking, etc), it will go onto to the oxidative energy system. This is an aerobic energy system…
Glycogen Energy: This is when stored glycogen (basically sugar) undergoes a series of chemical reactions to create more ATP. The by-product of this is lactic acid which gives you that burning feeling when working high reps of things. These stores are what is directly targetted by bodybuilders and what makes you “big”.
Oxidative: this is when oxygen undergoes chemical reactions in the body where the muscles can create ATP from it. This reaction is only yields small amounts of energy so only your slow twitch fibers can be powered by it.
In a nutshell, creatine is a huge part of energy production in your body. It’s already there and it’s in some of the foods we eat. Anybody who says creatine is bad for you, doesn’t have any idea about human phsyiology. All extra creatine will give is a little more endurance in the weight room, which will allow you to lift weights a little longer, which will allow you to get bigger when combined with the right diet. Creatine alone won’t do much. It causes muscles to retain more water in some people, but that’s it and that’s not harmful. You just have to hydrate properly.
Please refrain from posting urban legends, conjecture, and bogus info with nothing to back it up.
Re: thanks, this is what I think
Originally posted by william
[B]I
As for my workout? I dont tend to go to the gym, it just takes up too much time. I usually just to push up variations (as many as possible) pull ups, sit ups and some weights like bicep curls and that kind of stuff.
W [/B]
i’m hearing ya…but generally I docrazy high vol reps especially push upsand other bw 'd excercises…I can tell you right now, i’m ripped but very very tiny…
of courese exercise plays a part of what reactions occurandwhat your body needs in recovery but more attention should be payed to your diet…if you dont adapt it to what you’re doing now or what you plan to add, you won’t grow
not so big on creatine, only used it for a short while..but during time, if anything i shrunk,???
ford??
creatine only increases size when you’re drinking enough water for the creatine to stuff into your muscles. how much of the agua were you partaking?
BL,
It pretty much depends on your diet. Creatine itself isn’t a bulking agent in that it actual makes you gain weight. It causes some people’s muscles to retain more water and thus appear bulkier, but it doesn’t happen to everybody and you need to drink enough water for that to happen. I supplement creatine when I’m bulking and cutting. The thing that determine whether I bulk up or cut down is my diet; not creatine.