Which creatine is best?

[brent]

I've heard a lot of positive comments about creatine, in my poll. So I decided to get some, but there is a dizzying array of kinds/breands. Do any of you have a prefrence, and if so why do you prefer it? Or should I buy the cheapest?

Thank you,
Brent.

[brent]

OK, thaks all for the replies , I bought some Creatine & will see how it goes. The bottle says to drink LOTS of water. I am a little worried that I drink to little water. I drink a lot of coffee, and I'm probably a little dehydrated most of the time. Should I worry about this? What do you people think?

Thanks. Brent.

[growinguysf]

You definetly have to drink lots of water on creatine. As I understand it and correct me if I'm wrong, there are two aspects of creatine. One it allows you to do a little extra work while working out. You may be able to get a few more reps out and increase poundages quicker.

The 2nd part of creatine is to draw water into the muscles which increases the nutrient supply to the muscles and makes them appear fuller.

Drinking coffee is not recommended while on creatine. From what I've read it can take away some of the effectiveness of creatine.

Try and kick the caffeine habit anyway. While there have been no reports of excessive coffee drinking causing problems, it is a stimulant which will give you spikes of energy during the day everytime you have a cup. Eating 5-6 smaller, healthy meals during the day will give you a more steady energy supply.

[brent]

I felt the increase today as I was working out. I thought that would be impossible, to feel any effect from something you started earlier that day, but all my weights were up. I don't think it was just a mental thing either, since I didn't expect to see any change for at least a few days.

On the coffee front, I am trying to quit (but I've been trying unsucsessfuly for over 10 years now). It's just that coffee is so damned hard to quit. I can't take the headaches. Any suggestions? I've switch to instant coffee. so I won't enjoy it, but that isn't working...

[growinguysf]

I had a friend that was a heavy coffee drinker. He would have his ups and downs all day then crash at night.

He went cold turkey and dealt with the headaches for two weeks. After that he was fine. He had more energy at night and no more energy dips and spikes during the day.

You could try weaning yourself off. Reduce the number of cups per day every week or every other week.

You could also substitute decaffeinated.

Good luck!

[Mdlftr]

Brent,

I hear you. I totally love coffee, and can drink it any time of the day or night. It really doesn't affect my sleep patterns, but I agree with GrowingguySF that you don't need it (at the very least not as much as I used to drink) and it does spike your energy levels.

I quit cold turkey--I went from about 6-7 cups of strong, black coffee per day to zip. I was really stressed at work, not sleeping well, drank coffee to wake up, drank coffee to get a "lift" to do more work, drank coffee because it was there. One weekend after a particularly stressful week at work, I got chest pains. They were strong enough to scare me. It was from the stress and the coffee. I talked to a friend who had heart palpitations, and was himself advised to quit caffeine or risk serious arrythmia. I quit cold turkey that day. I started drinking water whenever I would normally drink coffee. I quit all caffeine: no chocolate, no Colas, no tea, no coffee, no NOTHING.

The first few days I DID have a headache. The headache was nothing compared to the chest pains, which really scared me. I got checked out by a doctor and he agreed with my self-diagnosis: too much coffee and stress. I quit all caffeine for 10 months. After that, I went back to it, in very limited amounts. I don't need coffee to stay awake. My last two or three all-nighters have been pulled on adrenaline and water.

You can quit. Do it. You don't need it, and you'll get over the headache. Take it from someone who's been there. I still like Starbucks, but I use it only as a special treat. {Who needs to blow $3 on a cup of coffee?!}

Best--Keep lifting!

Mdlftr

[brent]

I tried to go cold turkey again, but it wasn't pretty. I am not cutting-back, and will only have tea in the afternoons. I can't just stop, so I will try cutting-back. Thank you for your responces.
Brent.

[FuzzyKB]

Originally Posted by brent

I've heard a lot of positive comments about creatine, in my poll. So I decided to get some, but there is a dizzying array of kinds/breands. Do any of you have a prefrence, and if so why do you prefer it? Or should I buy the cheapest?

Thank you,
Brent.

[COLOR="Wheat"]
Before you buy a Creatine Supplement read the label. Wal-Mart used to handle a decent brand and then all of a sudden things like High Fructose Corn Syrup made an appearance in a product that is supposed to promote health and muscle growth.

Read the label and what you look for is the highest concentration or strength level of Creatine Monohydrate that you can possibly find with zero other things to pollute it.

Creatine and most other pre-workout sups require a ton of water to be effective. Nephew gets up eats breakfast, then downs a 32oz cup of water, about 2 hours later another 32oz goes down and then two sixteen ounce glasses with his pre workout and his creatine. This is a total of 96oz of water before hitting the weights. Yes pit stops are necessary, and to a small degree these start about 30min after the first glass, but the losses do not come anywhere close to the intake. You want to have time between the water intake and the start of heavy exercise or the water will make you sick. It is different for everyone, but, here is one system that is working for one person. [/COLOR]

[gymgaymtl]

Hello Brent and others.....I'd like to suggest u consider trying Rich Gaspari's 'SuperPump250'. It has creatine in it. I have done a couple of 6 wk cycles of regular creatine and tho I liked it I did a cycle recently of SuperPump and really noticed a great increase in strength/energy/even mass.\. All these products tend to bloat u, something I don't really like, but the more water u drink, the less u'll retain water (which is a major function of creatine).
Nutritionists suggest 10 glasses of water/day....on these supps, even whey u've gotta up that amount.
good luck