Good supplements?

[Clinchfighter]

Ok, I'll try to do this as concisely as possible, even though I'm nearly certain I've outlined this before. First, the rationale behind creatine supplementation:

It all has to do with Phosphate groups. Every cell in your body –particularly muscle cells, since they generally utilize the most energy if we don't count brain cells– derives its energy from ATP, which stands for Adenosine Triphosphate. That is an Adenosine (henceforth referred to as A) molecule with 3 Phosphate (P) groups attached to it. When the cell requires energy, it breaks one of the bonds between the A and one of the P groups. Breaking that bond releases energy which is used by the cell, leaving behind ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate).
Now, there is only enough ATP in any given cell to last 1 or 2 seconds. The only way to get more cellular energy is to reattach a P to the A so that it can be broken again and so on.
Creatine is in fact Creatine Phosphate (CP), and it is the first, fastest, and most efficient way to replace the P groups. As you can probably guess, it does so by breaking one of the P groups from the CP and attaching to the ADP to remake ATP. However, even this is limited by quantity. You only have enough CP in your cells to last you approximately 30-120 seconds, depending on the level of exertion. After the CP stage, you go into Glycolysis and aerobic means of replacing the P groups, but we don't need to touch on that now.
So in short, Creatine as a supplement works by increasing the amount of CP that is present to be used by your cells.

Now, I'll touch on the benefits and drawbacks of Creatine, and how to get the most out of it:

If you take Creatine by itself and don't change anything else, it will not do very much to help you. The whole point of taking Creatine is to increase the potential amount of energy your muscles can exert. In short, it allows you to workout HARDER FOR LONGER. This is very crucial. If you do not then actually do your workouts harder and longer, you won't see a benefit from Creatine. But if you do, well, the enhanced results should be pretty obvious.
A couple of caveats. First, Prone is correct in that Creatine does draw a lot of extra water into your muscles. This is an advantage and a disadvantage. It does increase muscle size, but also increases muscle requirements. You'll need to increase your water intake by as much as double to meet these demands. If you don't, you'll be denying your muscles a vital nutrient and that will mean you won't get the benefits either. Also, you're a wrestler. Added water means a lot of extra weight. When you're not gearing up for competition, that probably doesn't matter too much. But when you go to cut weight, it matters a lot. Now, it might prove to be an advantage in that you'll have a whole lot of water available to cut. But it's also a disadvantage because your muscles will need that water because of the creatine and you'll be that much easier to dehydrate. You MUST stop taking Creatine well before you start cutting weight. Not just immediately beforehand, but probably a couple weeks at minimum. You'll lose a little bit of the extra gains you made, but not all of them. If you'd been working out the higher intensity, your muscles will still retain a fair amount of their previous strength.

Hope this helps.

Now, from now on, read other threads before asking what is a pretty common question.

I have a summer at a local MMA gym before I even have to worry about preseason cutting thank god. So you're saying if I amp up my normal workout (300 pushups +50 Pullups+ Backsquats at bodyweight and higher) while taking creatine, over the 6 or so months I have before preseason, I should put on some muscle? Also any tips to workout harder would be appreciated.


And yes, I do realize I didn't read the stickies.

Also, you sound sort of like my anatomy teacher haha.

[TaeBo_Master]

If that's your workout, don't bother with Creatine. That's an endurance workout, and Creatine will simply rob you of water and money.

[Clinchfighter]

If that's your workout, don't bother with Creatine. That's an endurance workout, and Creatine will simply rob you of water and money.

What should I do for strength then?

I would ask our school Football and lifting coach, but he doesn't know what non endurance is. He also doesnt know what supplements are. (Really old guy)

[TaeBo_Master]

That is a question which would require writing a book to answer. In fact, hundreds of books have been written on the subject. And websites, lots of those too.

This is where I have to decline to answer in this thread and join the chorus of "Go read the threads that have already been posted in this forum n00b!"

Seriously, this question has been answered a few dozen times on this site alone. The truth is out there.

[ZenMMA]

If you are looking to put on size then just increase your calorie intake and up your weights.

You should be careful though, all muscle is not functional. My advice would be to up your calorie intake perhaps by a 1/3 and stick to the big 3 Bench/Deadlift/Squat, although I would pay attention to maintaining any speed/cardio and agility drills you currently do.

[Hiro Protagonist]

The other day, a friend and I were at GNC and decided we'd ask the cashier about supplements such as creatine. The cashier started pushing product, but not explaining anything to us.

So to Bullshido: Does creatine combined with workouts increase muscular size, strength or does it not do anything at all?

While I'm here, what if any, are good products to take in addition to lifting 2 times a day to increase muscle size? My coach says I need to look scarier before next wrestling season.

Are you living alone, or with your parents?

"Wrestling season" sounds high school-ly.

...'Cause, thus spake teh Rafe:

1. Eat a proper diet. Control your meals yourself. Cook for yourself, and try to stick to healthy stuff even if you cannot control your calories. Means, no cheeseburgers, no doritos, no alcohol, no sweeties. Salad season at the cantina, for the rest of the year! - And no dressing but oil and vinegar.

Living with the parents, dieting can produce some disharmonies. In that case, you do this:

a) Eat a lot for breakfast, and only a snack in the evening. No sweets, no artifical sugar, again.

b) If you feel like you're not gaining mass, have an extra meal each day, around 5 PM: Preferrably: 2 bananas, 1 apple, 1 coffee mug full of unsalted nuts, 1 boiled egg, 1 glass of milk (not chocolate milk!).

Do that for a month, and report the results.

...And if THAT doesn't work, THEN you start supplementing with protein OR creatine monohydrate. Not both at the same time, unless you want to literally **** soup.



2. It's not about lifting alone, it's about lifting RIGHT.

Familiarize yourself with this toy:



(The wheel, not the lady.)


...And in general, do what this dude says:

http://rosstraining.com/blog/

[Hiro Protagonist]

Yeah, like, you placing an out-of-context link in your sig looks like spam.

And that you look like you really have nothing to say.