Creatine...

Vo2

Anyone else here useing Creatine? I use it on a cycling basis, i.e. one month on, one month off.
Whatya guys and gals think of it?

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Guest

i dont know what is it?.

Vo2

Oops, sorry! I should of maybe mentioned what creatine is.
Follow this link for a good overview of creatine and it's uses:
www.absolute-creatine.com

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Guest

ohhh so its not as good as Vitamin EPO then? hehe

Seriously, so how does it help you?

Guest

I don't know too much about it but have heard that it's not particularly beneficial for endurance sports.

Vo2

Since I've started using it, I've found that I recover much quicker from hard rides. If I did a serious stint up front, or a hard climb, I usually sat back for awhile before recovering. I now find that my body 'bounces' back in less time than before. Maybe it's all in the head, but I somehow 'feel' stronger while using creatine.

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Guest

Baboon is a creatine guru (lots of research).

We'll get him to answer............

Guest

I've been using creatine on and off for a few years now.  I use it to help in the gym, not really for biking.  I take 5 grams every day after immediately after my early morning workout.  The only side affect I have experienced is some cramping in my calf during riding, but I can not say for sure that it is caused by creatine.  

Vo2, the link you gave (www.absolute-creatine.com) is an EXCELLENT source of information.  

Guest

It can be good on and off. I know that som pro's use it in the major stage races to recover faster. Don't use it too much though, you'll gain weight.

Guest

Do you gain muscles or fat though?

Vo2

It builds muscle, but it's true that your body stores water when used alot, hence the weight gain. My legs definitely fell 'bigger' when I use creatine, especially after exercise.

"Creatine has been shown to pull water into your muscle cells, which increases the size of your muscles." www.absolute-creatine.com

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Guest

You are supposed to use creatine to complement your workouts and diet.  If used properly, creatine will help you add muscle.  You will not add fat from using it.  Creatine helps your muscles last longer during your workouts (or your rides in this case).  Because creatine allows your muscles to work a longer during workouts, you are able to work a little bit harder, so you break down your muscle tissue a little bit more (thus, you gain muscle size when your body recovers).

Some people do tend to retain water when using creatine (does not happen to me).  One way to fight that is to drink MORE water.  The excess water will help keep you hydrated and will flush your body of any excess water that is not needed.    

ewep

Vo2, I sent Andrew McClean an e-mail a while ago and he told me that creatine is not advisable, but gave me no reasons.

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Guest

In cycling, the most commonly reported performance improvements when creatine is used are in events where there are repeated sprints with little rest (like track endurance).

Creatine supports the ATP-PC energy system ('alactic') and this provides energy for very short explosive efforts (i.e. less than 8 seconds in duration).  Recovery of the phosphcreatine stores (the substrate of the ATP-PC system) after such an effort takes around 2 1/2 minutes during rest.  Therefore creatine improves performance in events or training where very short, very intense sprints happen with little opportunity for recovery as it increases the rate of recovery of the phosphcreatine stores.

It appears that most endurance athletes are using creatine because it 'might' help performance and not because it does for 'sure'.  Creatine might help during criteriums and road racing because of the limited number of sprints spread over the race but the benefit will be very limited.  There is likely to be no benefit for time trialers as there is no sprinting involved at all.