Creatine

[cglees]

Does it's use have any side effects?
Is it worth the money?
Will my fitness levels decline if I stop using it?

Your fitness wont be that affected,
I used to take it but stopped because I figured I might not be able to take it during basic and, if I couldn't get my 'hit' during selection id be knackered!
I would not advise relying on performance enhancers, one day there will come a time when you need it and cant get it, and you will suffer. Its much better to be able to rely on nothing else but your own ability to do the work!!

I am now miles fitter than i was before and its a great feeling knowing that I got here through sheer hard work and determination, and guts!
You dont want to end up thinking ''was it the creatine that helped me pass my prmc? Could i do it again?''


No its not worth the money - think of all the mars bars you could buy for £60!!

As for side-affects;
Im sure it made my knob smaller, it used to be 16inches and now, well i'd rather not say
Or am i just fooling myself? - as You will be if you pass your prmc on creatine

[Maverick00]

Just reinforcing whats been said on here. Im doing a sports science degree at loughborough uni - top place for sports science research - and have used creatine playing rugby at a high level. As said creatine is involved only in explosive, powerful activities. In terms of RM training or whatever youre training for it will more than likely help with repeated sprints, enabling you to sprint faster and for more times than normal, but only by a small margin. Strength, yes it will help but only in that it helps you train harder and more often thus getting more gains.
Yes there are many of the above reported side effects but it depends on the individual.
In terms of developing your strength youre better off just doing press ups etc, weights arent really necessary at this point in time. Push ups, pull ups will train strength up to what you need.
Creatine will have no effect on endurance performance, ignore any adverts that tell you it does because thats commercial bullshit. In short, its not worth using. Only elite athletes training at their peak condition will find it useful.

Sorry if this all sounds the same as what everyone else has said but this is quiite a popular topic and there are a lot of views expressed about it that are not necessarily correct.

[Skiffle]

Just a major point on the use of creatine.

Creatine is band in the core and especially during training. It is beleived to be related to the death of a recruit while on the 30 miler. Due to the physical effort involved in training it is beleived he pushed himself beyond the point when your body naturally holds you back or stop's you.

When he collapsed of dehydration, the medic's in the section tried to administer a saline drip, and that this was saturating and clogging his blood. It was while clering out his locker that the creatine was found and tied in with the post-mortem.

This story was (and still is) told to reservists before there commando course (in case they have or are using it). And i it may well be told to full time recruits as a warning.

While creatine may be fine for most civvie training (soon to be band throught out most sport's) it is not really suitable for military training.

I personally wouldn't recomend using it, better off sticking to some natural balls out effort

[rambo]

i have to say the above statement completely outrageous.. creatine is naturally found in your own body and in food... so what your bascally implying is that foods for example like beef will be banned aswell.. what next will they be trying to ban. protien supplements.. to ban this supplement would be obseard, creatine supplements have to be one of the best if no the best natural sporting enhancers around... everyones free there opinion but frm my knowledge of the supplement and my experience i highly recommend this..

currently not on any type of creatine stack[/quote]

[judy29]

by the way mate, its spelt: BANNED. x

[Rugby lad]

Rambo’s right, there is no way that the banning of Creatine can be implemented as it is found naturally in red meat and fish, which is why vegetarians respond better to creatine supplementation as their diets are lower in creatine found in food stuffs.

The link to the death of the Marine is a bit outrageous as well. For a start, creatine increases water intake into the muscles and it said that the Marine collapsed of dehydration. If this were true, without creatine supplementation the marine would have collapsed earlier, as the body is able to transfer the water from the muscles to where it’s needed.

Anyway…

I’m recovering from an ongoing shoulder problem and am currently using creatine to help me get my fitness levels to back what they were in a quicker time than usual. I’ve put on a few kg’s in weight already and my strength is improving rather rapidly. Loads of guys who I know that play rugby all use creatine as it promotes strength, increases the amount of reps done in a sprint session and also leads to weight gain, which can be either an advantage or disadvantage depending on the circumstances.

My advice would be to use creatine if you’re looking for an increase in bodyweight and looking to improve your power, especially in sprints (which I believe you do in the gym session part 2 of the PRMC).

The cheapest creatine monohydrate I’ve found is from www.tmof.com, I am using this at the moment.

Hope this is some help


Rugby Lad

P.S: Be warned, creatine on it’s own tastes foul. I’ve heard of people sprinkling it on their cereal!!! The best way I’ve found is to mix it with boiling water until it dissolves, let it cool and then neck it. This is usually followed by a rather concentrated cordial drink to get rid of the taste.

[old scaly back]

My thoughts only.
If i was in a room while doing my training and saw someone taking drugs,or substances that seem to be drugs,i would have to say something to him.
Im sweating my balls off training everyday to achieve my goal and some wimp,yes i said wimp has to take stuff to improve there abilitys.

o.k. ive seen people taking Ibrufin to kill the pain,but even that can be dodgy.
By the time you have all decided to take or not to take the stuff ,you could have all done a bit more training.( or does that HURT)
I have only one word to say to a person who passed his Cadre while taking substances.

FAKE

[gash-hand]

i freely admit top knowing naff all about creatine, however I do know what it takes to pass the Commando course.

From my experience most people who fail are one of two basic types:

1. Wannabees and gym poseurs who fancy themselves in a set of Blues.
2. People who are probably fit and determined enough but use suppliments as a confidance booster - however this theory breaks down when you've been in the field a week and had 4 hours kip - all week, and had the living daylights thrashed out of you on at least a daily occurance.

My advice - bin the suppliments, go out and do some good hard phys and get used to physical pain, that way Lympstone will be less of a shock.

[Rugby lad]

Im sweating my balls off training everyday to achieve my goal and some wimp,yes i said wimp has to take stuff to improve there abilitys.

Lets get one thing straight, if you take creatine, steroids or any other performance enhancer, don't be under the false assumption that you don't have to work hard to reap the benefits. In effect people who use creatine are

sweating their balls off

longer and harder.

I can see your point mind you. I'm only using it as i've been out of training for nearly 6 months and am rather eager to pick up where i left off.

Rugby Lad

P.S The

wimp, yes i said wimp

is a bit harsh, are you implying that all the top rugby players, american football players and power athletes are all wimps as they use ergogenic training aids?? I'm not having a go at you by the way, i just want you to see different peoples perspectives.

[Rugby lad]

Im sweating my balls off training everyday to achieve my goal and some wimp,yes i said wimp has to take stuff to improve there abilitys.

Lets get one thing straight, if you take creatine, steroids or any other performance enhancer, don't be under the false assumption that you don't have to work hard to reap the benefits. In effect people who use creatine are

sweating their balls off

longer and harder.

I can see your point mind you. I'm only using it as i've been out of training for nearly 6 months and am rather eager to pick up where i left off.

Rugby Lad

P.S The

wimp, yes i said wimp

is a bit harsh, are you implying that all the top rugby players, american football players and power athletes are all wimps as they use ergogenic training aids?? I'm not having a go at you by the way, i just want you to see different peoples perspectives.

[old scaly back]

Rugby lad

Im talking about the services

I couldnt care less about footballers,Rugby players.

Your life would not depend on their fitness.

But when the shite hits the fan and you have to cover ground fast,you have to carry everything and i mean everything.

You would then find out very quickly that finding an easy route to fitness is not only dangerous to you but to other people.

There is a BIG difference from working in the gym or pounding the streets,to being in the thick of it.
Lack of sleep,missed meals,carrying stupid amounts of weight,being constantly switched on ,knowing if you drop a bollock, thats you gone
Times that by months.
So you see my friend being in the Army or another service is like nothing else.
Try it by all means,you will do what you think best.

[Walter]

[Jhon Wayne]

Just wondering did the oldies take creatine or any other supplements while attending selection for Marines ,Paras , SAS etc?
Well then why do we need it!

[liverpoolirish]

i have to say the above statement completely outrageous.. creatine is naturally found in your own body and in food... so what your bascally implying is that foods for example like beef will be banned aswell.. what next will they be trying to ban. protien supplements.. to ban this supplement would be obseard, creatine supplements have to be one of the best if no the best natural sporting enhancers around... everyones free there opinion but frm my knowledge of the supplement and my experience i highly recommend this..

currently not on any type of creatine stack

[/quote]

Creatine is a *waste material*. It's produced naturally in the body by the breakdown of proteins. We don't need any in the diet, in the same way we make all the cholesterol we need for our cell membranes.

The body has 5 energy systems:

ATP -> ADP + P and ENERGY (4 seconds)
CP + ADP -> C and ATP (recycles ADP from above, lasts another 4 seconds)
Glucose -> Lactic Acid and ENERGY
Lactic Acid and Oxygen -> CO2 and H2O and ENERGY (via Pyruvate ISTR) (these systems last about 20-45 mins depending on fitness ISTR)
Fat and Oxygen -> CO2 and H2O and ENERGY (indefinate supply of energy for fitness, it works out that the fat in the average fit body can supply about 100 hours of slow running/ fast walking ISTR)

ATP is the energy store within the muscle cells themselves, CP (Creatine Phosphate) regenerates ATP, but the effect lasts seconds. ATP and CP are needed for explosive power, like weights or the 100m. However, they are used up in less than 10 seconds and take a while (ISTR hours) to regenerate.

For BFT fitness it's the lactic acid and pyruvate systems we're concerned with. The problem is we burn sugar faster than we're bringing in oxygen to oxidise it all the way to CO2 and water (i.e. this is the "oxygen debt"). What we want to do is maximise the rate the lactic acid is oxidised to pyruvate and to increase the local oxygen stores in the muscles (myoglobin). This increases the aerobic threshold, allowing us to work at higher heart rates for longer.

To increase this you want to work at the threshold (80-90% of Max HR) for about 20-30 mins. If you're on the "fighting fit" programme, this is the purpose of the 30 minute fast runs.

For endurance purposes, it's maximising fat burning that counts. A mixture of continuous running (to maximise VO2max) and Intervals (to increase heart strength) is advised. For the fighting fit programme, the 45 minute (and 90 minute) runs and the intervals take care of this.

Please excuse the rambling,

Bryn

[jlitt]

All swings and roundabouts. I found that using it was good for endurance work with weights but the cramps you get from long distance running are bad. But the water retention in your muscles looks good if you are vain, me I don't care about that performance beats looks anyday (saying that i'm a weird looking bastard.