Creatine question for you ripped and beefy studs

[Sacogoo]

This is the second time i\'m using creatine. First time i used it was about four years ago, and I

used it for about two months. I got great results, so I figured I\'d give it another whirl now that I\'m back

in the gym after a three year layoff.

I\'ve been back in the gym for three months, and have been on a creatine

cycle for about 2 of those months. The creatine I\'ve been using has been the GNC Creadrive, which is a

carb/creatine mix with Taurine. I\'ve been taking one serving per day, which equals approximately 5 grams of

creatine per day, although on some days, I have taken two servings. I\'ve also been taking one serving of EAS

Betagen once per day, which contains an additional 2.5 grams of creatine as well as 1 gram of HMB and 2 grams of

glutamine. A daily multi-vitamin (Sam\'s Club) has also been in the rotation.

For the past month I\'ve also

been taking a whey protein (GNC\'s \"100% Whey\", which has 20 grams of protein per serving) supplement twice

per day. I\'ve also just finished a one month cycle of NO2, which I do not plan on continuing as I did not notice

any positive effects with this particular product.

Withing the last two weeks I\'ve added 500 mg of HMB (GNC)

twice per day, and within the last week, I\'ve been taking 2 grams of CLA per day (Twin Labs CLA Fuel).

Food

consumption during the day is excellent, with no alcohol, plenty of lean meats (turkey, tuna, chicken, beef, eggs),

fresh vegetables from my garden, etc.

Gains have been excellent, with very noticeable increases in definition,

size and strength, while lowering bodyfat.

I\'ve got what appears to be about two weeks left of the creatine,

and once it\'s gone, I\'ll go on a one month off cycle so that I don\'t crap out my kidneys one morning. Once

I\'m off the creatine, I plan on adding an additional 5 to 10 grams of glutamine (GNC Mega Glutamine) per day. I

also will add ZMA supplement (Cytodyne Tech Cyclo Z-Mass, which also has a \"testrobolic blend\" which claims to

increase testosterone production within the body) and a hemiliodator (Met-Rx O2FX) even though the NO2 I used

previously had no noticeable effect. (The concept behind hemiliodation seems to have some valid points.)

My

questions are:

1. Is a month too long or too short for an \"off-cycle\" of the creatine? Can I get away

with less as I really enjoy the massive pump I get while working out, as well as the energy and strength

increases?

2. Can I/Should I continue taking the EAS Betagen, which has only 2.5 grams of creatine? Is this

amount low enough to be considered as \"not taking creatine\" during my off cycle?

3. Should I increase the

HMB from the current intake of 2 grams?

4. Is the 5 to 10 grams of glutamine enough?

5. Anything else I need

to look at as far as adding supplement wise? (I\'m not really that interested in supplementing with prohormone

products as I don\'t want to worry about the possible side effects - unless these worries are

unfounded.)

I\'d like to keep most of the strength gains while off the creatine, but I don\'t want to have to

take eight billion supplements in order to do so.

Advice and input, looney or sane, is mucho

appreciate.

Thanks.

[Mtnjim]

\"Withing the last two weeks I\'ve added 500 mg of HMB\"

The research I\'ve seen seems to

indicate that unless you take massive amounts, there is no benefit from HMB; and any benefits from massive amounts

are questionable.

\"For the past month I\'ve also been taking a whey protein (GNC\'s \"100% Whey\", which

has 20 grams of protein per serving)...\"

For gains, the recommended amount is generally 1-1.5 grams per pound

of body weight, aim for that between food and supps.

\"...which equals approximately 5 grams of creatine per

day\"

This is the generally recommended amount, make sure to get loads of water!!

HTH

[CptKipling]

Bear in mind that I have never used creatine and this is only from a biologists point of view.

One

month should be fine for an off cycle (perhaps even less), as you piss out creatinine (waste creatine) every day.

Creatine is basically your muscles source of energy (do you know what ATP is? Well, sort of like that, it carries

the energy untill it can be used up), so it should be a relatively safe suppliment if used sensibly.

P.s.

consider taking a calcium supp. aswell, as that is very important in muscular function.

[proteus]

Never liked Creatine too much due to water retention issue. You asked about any additional supplements.

Well, if getting ripped is your objective check out the reviews of SAN Tight on bodybuilding.com (it\'s a

non-ephedra fat burner and better than any of the other non-ephedra burners, and IMO better than any of the ephedra

burners too).

The gains I\'ve gotten working out and using Tight are unreal. Finally getting that six-pack

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. But read up on it first as some folks don\'t respond that well,

but there\'s a lot of buzz around it in the bodybuilding/fitness circles as it works for a lot of folk.

[elvido]

Take whey after workout but caesin at other times (before going to sleep). It\'s absorbed slower than

whey so you\'ll get better gains (er, maintain gains) during those periods.
Reflex has some pretty good

stuff.
For further supp/bb questions a good place is

http://forum.bodybuilding.com

[top_dawwgs]

I take creatine and whey

protein. Creatine helps you gain muscle and whey protein does the same thing. I take creatine capsules, and drink it

with whey protein twice daily. I try to eat a healthier diet also. Ive been researching this on the internet, and

found out that if u want a solid 6 pack, you dont do 500 crunches a day. The way to get ripped, is to simply lose

body fat. The secret to doing that is exercise, eating healthy, and getting enough protein. I cover all of this in a

day as i eat healthier, and exercise while taking these supplements. After only a few weeks, I already feel

better.

[ManBeast]

Not to bash BB.com (First board I

looked at), but there are a couple out there with a much better signal to noise ratio

1) Plenty long

enough, if you are worried about your kidneys, look into cranberry (juice or suppliment).

2) I wouldn't call

it "not taking creatine" but IMHO 2.5g a day is nothing serious.

3) I haven't used/researched it.

4)

I personally prefer glutamine for cutting, at the reccomended dose, maybe 1.5x in extreme situations.

5) Nah,

just eat/lift/rest right. You should be able to keep most (if not all) of the strength gains from creatine, the

things you might loose are: 1) size (due to less water being held in the muscles) 2) endurance (due to slower ATP

replenishment).

MB

[DAdams91982]

Not to bash

BB.com (First board I looked at), but there are a couple out there with a much better signal to noise ratio



1) Plenty long enough, if you are worried about your kidneys, look into cranberry (juice or suppliment).

2) I

wouldn't call it "not taking creatine" but IMHO 2.5g a day is nothing serious.

3) I haven't used/researched

it.

4) I personally prefer glutamine for cutting, at the reccomended dose, maybe 1.5x in extreme situations.



5) Nah, just eat/lift/rest right. You should be able to keep most (if not all) of the strength gains from

creatine, the things you might loose are: 1) size (due to less water being held in the muscles) 2) endurance (due to

slower ATP replenishment).

MB

^^^Agreed^^^

Though I would just do without the HMB... Even at high

dosage it turns out to be a crap supplement... Trying looking into some of the newer creatines.... and maybe some

Citrulline Malate.

Adams

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

I think you should ask that

in the www.bodybuilding.com forum! That forum is related to those subjects,

so...

Anyway, this is only my opinion, but do you really need all those supplements? If you have a healthy diet

(I would say a BB diet), you don't need all those supplements, just a multivitamin and whey protein (eventually

creatine if you want real fast gains). As I said, this is just my opinion, as I feel better when I look at the

mirror and realise that my muscle gains didn't have anything to do with supplementation.

Whey Protein, however,

is the one supplement I think EVERY bb should take (although I just have started taking it recently).

Some

months ago I thought about taking creatine but then I read some testimonials about ppl who got acne by taking it

(although there is no scientific evidence that creatine causes acne).

[ManBeast]

I can't fathom a pathway that

creatine can cause acne other than with people with poor hygenie! And this is really far out too. MAYBE the

endurance gain lets them work harder/longer and therefore sweat more, if they don't clean themselves up of course

they'll get Acne

MB

[MOBLEYC57]

This is the second

time i\'m using creatine. First time i used it was about four years ago, and I used it for about two months. I got

great results, so I figured I\'d give it another whirl now that I\'m back in the gym after a three year

layoff.

I\'ve been back in the gym for three months, and have been on a creatine cycle for about 2 of those

months. The creatine I\'ve been using has been the GNC Creadrive, which is a carb/creatine mix with Taurine.

I\'ve been taking one serving per day, which equals approximately 5 grams of creatine per day, although on some

days, I have taken two servings. I\'ve also been taking one serving of EAS Betagen once per day, which contains an

additional 2.5 grams of creatine as well as 1 gram of HMB and 2 grams of glutamine. A daily multi-vitamin (Sam\'s

Club) has also been in the rotation.

For the past month I\'ve also been taking a whey protein (GNC\'s

\"100% Whey\", which has 20 grams of protein per serving) supplement twice per day. I\'ve also just finished a

one month cycle of NO2, which I do not plan on continuing as I did not notice any positive effects with this

particular product.

Withing the last two weeks I\'ve added 500 mg of HMB (GNC) twice per day, and within the

last week, I\'ve been taking 2 grams of CLA per day (Twin Labs CLA Fuel).

Food consumption during the day is

excellent, with no alcohol, plenty of lean meats (turkey, tuna, chicken, beef, eggs), fresh vegetables from my

garden, etc.

Gains have been excellent, with very noticeable increases in definition, size and strength, while

lowering bodyfat.

I\'ve got what appears to be about two weeks left of the creatine, and once it\'s gone,

I\'ll go on a one month off cycle so that I don\'t crap out my kidneys one morning. Once I\'m off the

creatine, I plan on adding an additional 5 to 10 grams of glutamine (GNC Mega Glutamine) per day. I also will add

ZMA supplement (Cytodyne Tech Cyclo Z-Mass, which also has a \"testrobolic blend\" which claims to increase

testosterone production within the body) and a hemiliodator (Met-Rx O2FX) even though the NO2 I used previously had

no noticeable effect. (The concept behind hemiliodation seems to have some valid points.)

My questions are:



1. Is a month too long or too short for an \"off-cycle\" of the creatine? Can I get away with less as I really

enjoy the massive pump I get while working out, as well as the energy and strength increases?

2. Can I/Should I

continue taking the EAS Betagen, which has only 2.5 grams of creatine? Is this amount low enough to be considered as

\"not taking creatine\" during my off cycle?

3. Should I increase the HMB from the current intake of 2

grams?

4. Is the 5 to 10 grams of glutamine enough?

5. Anything else I need to look at as far as adding

supplement wise? (I\'m not really that interested in supplementing with prohormone products as I don\'t want to

worry about the possible side effects - unless these worries are unfounded.)

I\'d like to keep most of the

strength gains while off the creatine, but I don\'t want to have to take eight billion supplements in order to do

so.

Advice and input, looney or sane, is mucho appreciate.

Thanks.

Geez! A younger Mobley ... taking

everything under the sun!

As a 47 year old, took just about any and every supplement that came out. I have

narrowed my products down to 4, after all these years ... Whey & casein proteins, glutamine, and creatine ... plus

the vitamins. STOP. Right now, my protein intake is ONLY an hour before (20 grams with 5 grams of glutamine, and 5

grams of creatine), immediately after my workout (40 grams with 10 grams of glutamine, and 5 grams of creatine).

After I come back from California in December, I'm off creatine until March. The CLA sounds like a good addition

(Omeg-3s, right?) ... you can never go wrong with that. The key things about the choice of proteins is finding out,

who's guilty of using those bad fillers! PLUS .... WATER .... A gallon a day will make your balls

sway!

WARNING: ALLLLLLLLL roid users WILL pay. There are

NO exceptions! Unless asked, I will never say/type this again.

[ToBeOrNotToBe]

I can't

fathom a pathway that creatine can cause acne other than with people with poor hygenie! And this is really far out

too. MAYBE the endurance gain lets them work harder/longer and therefore sweat more, if they don't clean themselves

up of course they'll get Acne

MB

That didn't get me convinced!

Perhaps the boost

given by creatine or the bigger increase in muscle mass has a slight effect in the hormonal ratio (testosterone),

which leads to an increase in the production of the sebacious glands.

[MOBLEYC57]

That didn't

get me convinced!

Perhaps the boost given by creatine or the bigger increase in muscle mass has a slight

effect in the hormonal ratio (testosterone), which leads to an increase in the production of the sebacious glands.

I know two people that said when they took creatine, they got bumps all over their back ... one in

his middle 20s, the other in his late 40s.

[DAdams91982]

FIrst off... who or what was

that roid comment all about??? Was there recommendations in this thread???

As for Acne with Creatine...

exactly how??? Creatine is NON hormonal... all it does is create a enrionment made for work... increasing the Turn

over of ATP. So this one needs to be questioned to the user... like what ELSE he was on.

A break down of the

basics:
Whey Protien (Before and After workout)
Casien for Night
Creatine
EFA (Essential Fatty Acids) such as

fish oil.
Multivitamin (Me I also get extra Vitamin E, and heavy dose on that)

Others to Think

About:
Citrulline Malate
ECA Stack (Depending on Goal)
Advanced Creatines
Prohormones <--- Only for the really

expierienced.

Adams

[MOBLEYC57]

FIrst off...

who or what was that roid comment all about??? Was there recommendations in this thread???

As for Acne with

Creatine... exactly how??? Creatine is NON hormonal... all it does is create a enrionment made for work...

increasing the Turn over of ATP. So this one needs to be questioned to the user... like what ELSE he was on.

A

break down of the basics:
Whey Protien (Before and After workout)
Casien for Night
Creatine
EFA (Essential Fatty

Acids) such as fish oil.
Multivitamin (Me I also get extra Vitamin E, and heavy dose on that)

Others to Think

about:
Citrulline Malate
ECA Stack (Depending on Goal)
Advanced Creatines
Prohormones <--- Only for the really

expierienced.

Adams

As for the roid comment ... I've been reading here for the longest about

its usage, and not one person, as for what I've seen, has talked against it. Forgive me that my thoughts on the

matter leaked out here in this post. Too many young one's THINKING it's worth the risk, not understanding that

usage will hurt each and everyone connected to them ... from parents to friends to kids to spouses.

Somewhere

in this forum someone wrote "I may not agree with what you say, but I'd fight for your right to say it." I said it

... sorry if I hit a bad nerve ... just ignore any and everything I say here in the forum that bothers you or anyone

else here ... please believe me when I say, "it's not personal."

Now back to

creatine and acne ... I don't know how, I don't know why, but the two individuals did get acne when they started

using creatine. Maybe it caused them to workout a little harder which did something to their testosterone levels or

something. Who knows. ???

For what it's worth, if anything ... everything else you've said, I agree. Good day

all.

[Holmes]

Now back to

creatine and acne ... I don't know how, I don't know why, but the two individuals did get acne when they started

using creatine. Maybe it caused them to workout a little harder which did something to their testosterone levels or

something. Who knows. ???

Maybe because it overtaxed their kidneys? Maybe they weren't drinking

enough water?

[Pancho1188]

As for

the roid comment ... I've been reading here for the longest about its usage, and not one person, as for what I've

seen, has talked against it. Forgive me that my thoughts on the matter leaked out here in this post. Too many young

one's THINKING it's worth the risk, not understanding that usage will hurt each and everyone connected to them ...

from parents to friends to kids to spouses.

Somewhere in this forum someone wrote "I may not agree with what

you say, but I'd fight for your right to say it." I said it ... sorry if I hit a bad nerve ... just ignore any and

everything I say here in the forum that bothers you or anyone else here ... please believe me when I say, "it's not

personal."

Now back to creatine and acne ... I don't know how, I don't know

why, but the two individuals did get acne when they started using creatine. Maybe it caused them to workout a little

harder which did something to their testosterone levels or something. Who knows. ???

For what it's worth, if

anything ... everything else you've said, I agree. Good day all.

*Ahem* I believe I've spoken

against -roids on here before, Mobes...


I'll tell you a story of a guy I knew and looked up to.

He was a football player my dad knew. He was a linebacker for the the Baltimore Colts when they won the Super Bowl.

The man was a linebacker and could run a 4.2 40-yard dash in his day...as fast as many receivers. My best friend

and I talked to him one day as we were starting into serious weight lifting. He gave us this inspirational speech

of hard work and going to the gym every day. After all, if your opponent takes a day off and you're in the gym,

you have one day over him. If he slacks off and you keep working hard, you will eventually win. Also, he said to

increase slowly every day. One day you're doing 100 lbs., slide on those 2 1/2-lb. weights on each side (that's

what they're there for). The next day, just a little bit more. Great guy and excellent football player.

He

went to the hospital a couple of years ago with heart problems. I'm not sure what happened to him, but now he has

to watch everything because his heart is weak. Now, I can't say for sure, but my dad and I believe that he

might've taken steroids back in the day when it was socially acceptable (before they did testing in sports, etc.).

Now he's paying for it with a weak heart and will live the rest of his life without the ability to engage in

strenuous physical activity, which is what his whole life was based on for so many years. The saddest thought is

that he may not live as long as he should because of his heart condition.



As for acne and creatine, I'd

guess that those findings were just correlations and not causations. I'd guess that they probably worked out

harder, sweat more, and had more oil on their face, thus causing acne. You probably just have to be more careful if

you work out a lot. I know I break out often because I just do the normal shower and soap and forget about it.

Then again, I guess if I cared about something like a dot on my face I would be more careful...since I have hundreds

already, though, what's one more?

PR

[HK45Mark23]

For the acne, I tried a product over the last 3-4 days. I have had wonderful results. Check this out

http//www.buythecure.com It is called Natures Cure and is suppose to be all natural. Let me know what you think.





HK45Mark23

[Newbie gal]

If you have high blood pressure

or you have a family history of high blood pressure, it's not good to take creatine.

[JasonLJS]

Ive been

researching this on the internet, and found out that if u want a solid 6 pack, you dont do 500 crunches a day. The

way to get ripped, is to simply lose body fat.

Although there is some truth to this, it is usually not the

case. In order to "have" a 6-pack you must work out the abs and add more muscle to the abdominal region. In order to

"see" your 6-pack you must lose body fat. The % needed to see your 6-pack is generally 9% or below. If you naturally

have a single digit body fat percentage and you don't ever work your abs, they will not be ripped. So you must

build muscle in the abdominal region to have a 6-pack...or you could just go to the liquor store and buy one

.