Reasoning behind people who take creatine year round.

[DeerDeer]

I have met several people over the last several months that claim to take creatine year round.

Not one person could provide justification for the continued intake other than fear of loss of gains.

Anyone here take it year round? Any side effects? Any fears of toxicity be it renal or another organ system?

Cheers.

 

[Boyders]

I fluctuate how much I take depending on how much is in the other supplements I'm taking. It gives me good strength gains on it. When I'm bulking, it helps me lift bigger, so I gain more. when I'm cutting like right now, it keeps my strength up and thus, muscle atrophy down.

You can cycle on and off of it if you want, but I don't think you'll hear much argument i favour of doing that. I have a buddy that says creatine screwed his ability to absorb water once he stopped taking it, but I think he's smoking crack.

Someone will probably post a link to some study or something

 

[SD Nat Muscle]

I've been using creatine for a couple years straight without any problems. When I get off I notice that I lose some water from under my skin and look leaner and my lifts go down slightly.

 

[Boyders]

Yah exactly

 

[DeerDeer]

I've been using creatine for a couple years straight without any problems. When I get off I notice that I lose some water from under my skin and look leaner and my lifts go down slightly.

But are you worreid about any potential long term kidney problems?

 

[SD Nat Muscle]

No. Creatine has been studied and shown not to adversely affect the kidneys. That being said, I wouldn't take it if I was cutting water.

 

[Knowbull]

Ive used it occasionally for over a decade. I did try to use it daily, long term but found it lost effect and seemed to interfere with digestion. I do think it can impair renal function in the same way too much protein can. I think it should be taken in combination with whey and glutamine, and cycled thats how I got the best results.

 

[SD Nat Muscle]

High protein diets have been extensively studied as well and shown not to adversely affect the kidneys.

 

[UofIlifting11]

as far as i know, no studies on NORMAL people found it to toxic or have bad side effects. I think the only studies linking it to kidney problems were done on patients with prior kidney malfunctions.

 

[Knowbull]

Its a GRAS supplement but everyones physiology is different, anything incorporated regularly can have adverse effects over a period of time.

 

[pantera101]

I use creatine yr round.From what I have read,creatine forces your muscle to store more creatine than normal.People who cycle it and say when I come back on,I notice it.Is becuase their creatine stores have dropped,and now they are lifting them back up again.So I prefer to keep the levels of creatine high yr round.Even if I take a short break from the gym,I still use it.And no I'm not scared of something bad happening.The sh!t is the most popular supp besides protien powder and has been around since the 80's.

I have also read that studies have shown it doesn't need to be cycled,and that it doesn't need to be loaded.

 

[Nacho1545]

I have been on it for about 8 months now.. I plan on taking it year round... I cycled it once.. I will cycle it 2-3 months on.. and take a week or 2 off... Once winter comes I will go until spring so I can bulk up then cut back down for next years beach weather...

 

[wrasslin116]

I take it as long as I have it.
Last year I did 3 months strait 20g a day.
Those were a great 3 months, about to do it again and probably until I see diminishing results or side effects which I doubt.

 

[justreading]

There have been some studies done that show creatine levels return to baseline rather quickly with daily supplementation due to transportation ability being downregulad to maintain homeostasis.

these same theories suggest supplementing 2-3 times a week...

 

[panther77]

can you post a link tho this info? i have never seen anything like that

 

[pantera101]

can you post a link tho this info? i have never seen anything like that

Me neither.I have seen numerous reports of studies for yrs saying that creatine doesn't have to be pre loaded,or cycled........I seen 'em on the internet and in MD.

 

[TripDog]

But are you worreid about any potential long term kidney problems?

It seems kidney problems come from that Ethyl Ester crap, and dehydration. Stick with monohydrate and take some form of alpha lipoic acid when u take it. Post workout with a gatorade a few ala caps, and you're golden. Most important thing to remember is to increase your water intake !!!!!.

 

[pantera101]

And regular 'ole unflavored creatine mono is so cheap!It realy is unflavored too.I always drink it with carbs and stuff.In the mornings on off days I just mix it with water and down it instead of mixing it in my big @$$ shake.You can't even taste it.On wo days I mix it with my left over xtend after the wo.I have been told bcaa's will spike insulin levels,and this is what you want with creatine mono for transportation.Thats muscle techs high tech super advanced delivery system......75 grams of dextrose(sugar)!

 

[CrzyHrse]

It seems kidney problems come from that Ethyl Ester crap, and dehydration. Stick with monohydrate and take some form of alpha lipoic acid when u take it. Post workout with a gatorade a few ala caps, and you're golden. Most important thing to remember is to increase your water intake !!!!!.

Yep, ALA and Optimum Nutrition CGT (creatine, glutamine, taurine) is what I use when I can't afford anything else..... I also use these in between cycles of other stuff. Works great, and cheap as hell

 

[justreading]

can you post a link tho this info? i have never seen anything like that

Sorry man I'm real bad with knowing where i saw stuff. I;ve been reading for so many years on so many boards for so many thousands of hours that its hard sometimes. I believe the bb.com articles area has something that makes snese on it on the first 2 pages.

 

[briancogs888]

The idea is that the body produces creatine, so when you supplement with it your body reduces its production. Cycle off and your production goes back up. Is it really that big of a deal with creatine? Well it seems many of you take it year round and are fine. So the question should be, if you "year rounders" go off of it do you feel that you are more adversely affected than those who cycle and go off of it?

 

[Boyders]

Maybe I'm wrong but I believe we get creatine from external sources, mainly red meat as opposed to it being produced in our body.

 

[alwaysgaining]

I've been using creatine for a couple years straight without any problems. When I get off I notice that I lose some water from under my skin and look leaner and my lifts go down slightly.

yep thats about it, not to mention how much muscle that i have put on from usingit
i stop for a couple days so see how ive grown

Maybe I'm wrong but I believe we get creatine from external sources, mainly red meat as opposed to it being produced in our body.

yes thatsa right

The idea is that the body produces creatine, so when you supplement with it your body reduces its production. Cycle off and your production goes back up. Is it really that big of a deal with creatine? Well it seems many of you take it year round and are fine. So the question should be, if you "year rounders" go off of it do you feel that you are more adversely affected than those who cycle and go off of it?

lol this is totaly incorrect, tho only thing i lose is maby 1 or 2 reps on mi maxxs

 

[PublicEnemy]

So far the research I've seen on long term creatine use hasn't indicated any potential health risk...

I've seen two studies on pubmed that were done with creatine monohydrate, both of which had subjects that had consecutive use well into the time frame of several years with no recorded health risks.

 

[BBR]

Just to let you know, I did about 4-5 months straight on Creatine and ended up with what the Doctor described as 'sediment' in my kidneys. It felt like someone was stabbing me below my navel when I urinated and I had pains on and off until I 'cleared myself out'. I had ultrasounds to prove the existence of this 'sediment', it wasn't just some quack doctors anti-supplement rantings. This doctor knew a little about bodybuilding, supplementation and creatine and seemed almost certain that the 'sediment' was crystalised creatine particles or something similar caused by the creatine itself.
Perhaps I was just one of those rare cases, but I still thought it appropriate I interject and let people know what happened.
Oh, and I was drinking around 2litres of water a day the whole time, so it had nothing to do with a lack of water going through my system. I WAS having probably 10g a day though, sometimes more. As I understand it, that dose is on the high side.

 

[briancogs888]

I don't understand whats so funny about half of the creatine in a non-vegetarian (that's someone who consumes meats, which contain creatine) being biosynthesized from the three amino acids, arginine, glycine, and methionine. So like I said, the half of the total amount of creatine in your system that is biosythesized will likely be a much lower percentage as you supplement with creatine. Most metabolic pathways are inhibited by the product of that pathway, therefor as creatine increases in the body, it inhibits the production of creatine by the body.

I can also list reasons why the supplemented creatine (or dietary creatine) does not have a great effect on the body's production of creatine. Since about 95% of creatine in the body is found in skeletal muscle, and creatine production occurs mostly in the liver, dietary creatine is not likely to inhibit biosynthesis (unless you are supplementing with 20g+ a day, then I can see how that might happen).

 

[worm]

I too take creatine mono year round with no adverse side effects.

 

[Universal Rep]

For once, I'd like to see the justification/rationale/research behind the practice of cycling creatine.

That said, an in general, I think the average user uses too much.

 

[PublicEnemy]

Just to let you know, I did about 4-5 months straight on Creatine and ended up with what the Doctor described as 'sediment' in my kidneys. It felt like someone was stabbing me below my navel when I urinated and I had pains on and off until I 'cleared myself out'. I had ultrasounds to prove the existence of this 'sediment', it wasn't just some quack doctors anti-supplement rantings. This doctor knew a little about bodybuilding, supplementation and creatine and seemed almost certain that the 'sediment' was crystalised creatine particles or something similar caused by the creatine itself.
Perhaps I was just one of those rare cases, but I still thought it appropriate I interject and let people know what happened.
Oh, and I was drinking around 2litres of water a day the whole time, so it had nothing to do with a lack of water going through my system. I WAS having probably 10g a day though, sometimes more. As I understand it, that dose is on the high side.

Sorry to hear that bro... It's very likely that you could have a kidney condition; but, and I am by no means trying to short cut or invalidate what happened to you, I do know that a lot of health issues that have been associated with creatine (mostly by anti-supplement pseudo-science nutritionists) really can be traced back to poor batches made overseas with sketchy manufacturing protocols. Examples of taintage would include toxins, the presence and concentration of heavy metals, and cross-contamination from poorly maintained facilities. Hopefully it was just a bad batch of creatine rather than a pre-existing health condition.

 

[BBR]

I've been checked out since, regular bloods etc. because I have low test levels (hence regular bloods). I've had follow up scans etc. and no major kidney issues. I was getting my creatine from a variety of NO2 products (Superpump, Xpand etc.) which is used one after the other, plus bulk CEE (which I no longer use because I didnt find it effective). Bulk CEE was 'Higher Power' brand.