Whats the best creatine supplement out there?

[hawaiijedi]

I was just wondering whats the latest and greatest creatine out there...the last one I tried was green magnitude...also I have been using usp labs prime and pink magic and think they both are bunk!!! any thoughts??

[Rosie Chee]

I was just wondering whats the latest and greatest creatine out there...the last one I tried was green magnitude...also I have been using usp labs prime and pink magic and think they both are bunk!!! any thoughts??

Take a moment to do a SEARCH because this question has been asked over and over lately.

As for the "best" creatine supplement, answers you get are going to be specific to individuals' experiences with different products, and there is no "best" product for everyone.

Before you go around saying how "bunk" products are, make sure you were using the product/s properly, with your nutrition and training on target for your goals, doing everything possible to optimize your results.

~Rosie~

[mball52]

creatine depends on the person imho. i have taken a few, but my favorite is the creatine you can buy at walmart believe it or not. in one tub, i went from benching 225 1-2 times depending on the day, to 6 times. its all about how you make use of the supplement you are taking, because they are just that. supplements.

[T-Bone]

Be careful with that question. This board has a ton of Sponsors and you will surely bait some of them with that question. It's almost like going into *** and asking that....

[Rebel29073]

I was just wondering whats the latest and greatest creatine out there...the last one I tried was green magnitude...also I have been using usp labs prime and pink magic and think they both are bunk!!! any thoughts??

Thing with Creatine is you have to stick it out for more than 4 weeks to usually see progress.

I have always been told Creatine Monohydrate by someone on another forum I have very high regard for. Anything made with creapure should be what you look for in the monohydrate version. Anything less than creapure is likely a lower grade creatine and quite frankly you get what you pay for.

I tried Kre-Alk, but only for 4 weeks and I bailed since I saw nothing.

Another thing with ANY creatine is make sure you water in take is up. At least 1 gallon a day preferably more. Also keep in mind to cycle off for 4 weeks after 2 weeks of sustained creatine usage.

Gl bud.

[Rosie Chee]

...Also keep in mind to cycle off for 4 weeks after 2 weeks of sustained creatine usage.

Why? Your creatine muscle levels return to baseline in ~3 weeks of not using it, and if you only use for if you cycle off for four weeks after every two weeks of use you're not even allowing your creatine muscle threshold to be reached (since it takes ~3 weeks of 5g a day for creatine muscle threshold to be reached), and therefore may as well NOT be using creatine.

The same as creatine loading, creatine cycling is NOT necessary and inadvisable, IMO. Once your creatine muscle threshold is reached - and I do recommend only using ~5g a day for it - 2-3g a day is all one needs to use to maintain them. Creatine can be used CHRONICALLY ON A DAILY BASIS - I've personally used it almost daily for seven years and it has not had any detrimental effect on my body (and yes, I have had the regular bloods to show that).

I suggest that you THINK before making recommendations in the future.

~Rosie~

[Royd The Noyd]

Why? Your creatine muscle levels return to baseline in ~3 weeks of not using it, and if you only use for if you cycle off for four weeks after every two weeks of use you're not even allowing your creatine muscle threshold to be reached (since it takes ~3 weeks of 5g a day for creatine muscle threshold to be reached), and therefore may as well NOT be using creatine.

The same as creatine loading, creatine cycling is NOT necessary and inadvisable, IMO. Once your creatine muscle threshold is reached - and I do recommend only using ~5g a day for it - 2-3g a day is all one needs to use to maintain them. Creatine can be used CHRONICALLY ON A DAILY BASIS - I've personally used it almost daily for seven years and it has not had any detrimental effect on my body (and yes, I have had the regular bloods to show that).

I suggest that you THINK before making recommendations in the future.

~Rosie~

It's 4 weeks, and there are multiple reasons to cycle off creatine occasionally.

I suggest that you THINK before you make blanket recommendations.

[Rosie Chee]

It's 4 weeks, and there are multiple reasons to cycle off creatine occasionally.

I suggest that you THINK before you make blanket recommendations.

He said, "...cycle off for 4 weeks after 2 weeks of sustained creatine usage" - if he meant to say "...cycle off for 2 weeks after 4 weeks of sustained creatine usage", then he should have said that.

My recommendations were not blanket, but based on personal experience, opinion, and science - as I mentioned, "The same as creatine loading, creatine cycling is NOT necessary and inadvisable, IMO." People may have personal reasons to cycle off creatine, but there is no need for it.

I suggest you READ what people write

~Rosie~

[StackedCop]

APS creatine is great for pre workout pumps.

[Royd The Noyd]

He said, "...cycle off for 4 weeks after 2 weeks of sustained creatine usage" - if he meant to say "...cycle off for 2 weeks after 4 weeks of sustained creatine usage", then he should have said that.

My recommendations were not blanket, but based on personal experience, opinion, and science - as I mentioned, "The same as creatine loading, creatine cycling is NOT necessary and inadvisable, IMO." People may have personal reasons to cycle off creatine, but there is no need for it.

I suggest you READ what people write

~Rosie~

Cycling off creatine for two weeks would not reduce intramuscular creatine concentration to baseline. So his post makes just as much sense as your interpretation if not more.

There absolutely is a need for people to cycle off creatine. There, I just made a blanket statement similar to yours.

[Rebel29073]

Why? Your creatine muscle levels return to baseline in ~3 weeks of not using it, and if you only use for if you cycle off for four weeks after every two weeks of use you're not even allowing your creatine muscle threshold to be reached (since it takes ~3 weeks of 5g a day for creatine muscle threshold to be reached), and therefore may as well NOT be using creatine.

The same as creatine loading, creatine cycling is NOT necessary and inadvisable, IMO. Once your creatine muscle threshold is reached - and I do recommend only using ~5g a day for it - 2-3g a day is all one needs to use to maintain them. Creatine can be used CHRONICALLY ON A DAILY BASIS - I've personally used it almost daily for seven years and it has not had any detrimental effect on my body (and yes, I have had the regular bloods to show that).

I suggest that you THINK before making recommendations in the future.

~Rosie~

Was simply a typo on my side so forgive me. As stated I said you should expect to supp greater than 4 weeks to see results so what I meant to say was 2 months (8 weeks). Many go to to 3 months (12 weeks), but than cycle off 4 and this is widely recommended.

It is believed taking excess creatine for a short period of time (4-8 weeks) may temporarily increase your creatine phosphate stores but after a while your body's feedback mechanisms will likely place some time of control on creatine phosphate storage to bring the levels back down to normal. This mechanism may be to decrease your body's own production of creatine or to downgrade the number receptors that admit creatine into the cell.

Taking time off from creatine can help bring your body's equilibrium back into a state where in taking excess creatine will be beneficial again. Just to be clear I know of no studies to back this theory up with, it could be right or wrong, I am just merely applying a knowledge of biochemistry to a question to which there is no good answer to yet.

[Rosie Chee]

Was simply a typo on my side so forgive me. As stated I said you should expect to supp greater than 4 weeks to see results so what I meant to say was 2 months (8 weeks). Many go to to 3 months (12 weeks), but than cycle off 4 and this is widely recommended.

It is believed taking excess creatine for a short period of time (4-8 weeks) may temporarily increase your creatine phosphate stores but after a while your body's feedback mechanisms will likely place some time of control on creatine phosphate storage to bring the levels back down to normal. This mechanism may be to decrease your body's own production of creatine or to downgrade the number receptors that admit creatine into the cell.

Taking time off from creatine can help bring your body's equilibrium back into a state where in taking excess creatine will be beneficial again. Just to be clear I know of no studies to back this theory up with, it could be right or wrong, I am just merely applying a knowledge of biochemistry to a question to which there is no good answer to yet.

Thanks for clearing up the typo.

What is your definition of "excess" creatine? Taking creatine (2-3g daily) to maintain your creatine muscle threshold once it is reached would not, IMO be classed as "excess" creatine - using more than 5g of creatine daily once your creatine muscle threshold is reached would be, IMO, using "excess" creatine, since it is more than required.

As I said before, once your creatine muscle threshold (150-160 mmol/kg/dw) has been reached, it cannot be saturated further. Once your creatine muscle threshold has been reached, it can be MAINTAINED at threshold with supplementation of 2-3g of creatine daily (Burke, et al., 2006; Harris, Soderlund & Hultman, 1992).

I've seen no studies mentioning this personal theory of yours, and if it were indeed true, there would have no doubt been many by now.

I think perhaps you mean "external" and not "excess"? Either way, this is way off topic from the question asked by the OP, so I will end my comments in this thread here.

~Rosie~

[Rebel29073]

Thanks for clearing up the typo.

What is your definition of "excess" creatine? Taking creatine (2-3g daily) to maintain your creatine muscle threshold once it is reached would not, IMO be classed as "excess" creatine - using more than 5g of creatine daily once your creatine muscle threshold is reached would be, IMO, using "excess" creatine, since it is more than required.

As I said before, once your creatine muscle threshold (150-160 mmol/kg/dw) has been reached, it cannot be saturated further. Once your creatine muscle threshold has been reached, it can be MAINTAINED at threshold with supplementation of 2-3g of creatine daily (Burke, et al., 2006; Harris, Soderlund & Hultman, 1992).

I've seen no studies mentioning this personal theory of yours, and if it were indeed true, there would have no doubt been many by now.

I think perhaps you mean "external" and not "excess"? Either way, this is way off topic from the question asked by the OP, so I will end my comments in this thread here.

~Rosie~

I do read and understand what I read so no need for caps when dealing with me. And I agree this got off track, but a healthy discussion is always a good thing compared to "what is the best creatine" as it provides some support information as well and what i consider to be a healthy discussion right?

Using acronyms in your statements like IMO raises speculation that you have your own theory as well and in fact you are stating opinion. We are all entitled to our own opinions that is what makes open forums so great.

Since you want to quote sources of research possibly you should check this source one out as it is a little more recent? Granted it does make the comment there is no "proof" long term use is a bad thing, but it certainly will make you possibly re-think your stance or at least give anyone else who reads this thread something to think about besides your words or mine.

Mol Cell Biochem 1998 Jul;184(1-2):427-37

Bottom line is it states as you reach saturation levels the synthesis of creatine transporters declines and even stops depending on the amount of creatine ingested over time.

Now if your diet is completely devoid of creatine (unlikely). You may be on to something at your smaller daily small dose not having long term affects,but you also could be very wrong.

For my own hypothesis (as you would call it) I would believe cycling off any supplement would never put you at any risk (unless you have to supplement due to medical reasons of course) while your method of using it indefinitely very well may do so.

I guess we can agree to disagree with points made on both sides of the argument. I guess I will consider myself as not having been terminated...yet.

Thanks for the discussion.