Quote (IBlackIHIawk @ Sep 28 2012 02:18pm)
I read your previous post but what are the benefits of cycling off creatine. From what I have read it is not necessary. Granted I do not want to become a bodybuilder by bulking/cutting, just would like to see gains in the gym as I have problems with amount of reps as opposed to amount of weight.
I was going to do the dosages of 20g per day like recommended until saturation then go down to 5g per day.
Is it okay to take with just water as opposed to grape juice (I realize the sugar helps it absorb faster) as I have a "slower" metabolism and I am also lactose intolerant which means I have to keep my sugar levels relatively low, so the only sugars I generally eat are in fruit (juice just has too much sugar) I realize it is 100% grape juice but still.
here is some back ground:
Let me start off by saying I have never in my life used Creatine whatsoever in any protein shake/drink/power/pill etc (Besides naturally like eating meat etc...)
I have seen what it can do as some of my friends in high school used it extensively (We played football together) and I always wanted to do it but my dad (a dentist) has always told me that he does not think it is a good idea for me to use it because the long term effects of creatine have not been studied extensively (I'm talking people using it at age 18+ until they are 60+, since it is "newer" and by that i mean the last 30-40 years).
Essentially after doing crossfit/p90x/weightlifting in general I know what my peak weight potential (regardless of my weight)
2 Years ago I weighed about 185 lbs, Benched 350, Squatted 500+, Cleaned 300ish, Could run 4 miles 6-6:30 min average (This is about the furthest I've ever run in my life because I get bored at about 1 mile in), I plateaued at these max reps within 5-10 lbs for about a year
Now I will point out that I know, with almost certainty after training over the years, a much higher percentage of Fast Twitch muscle.
I was told when I did Crew in college that during a 2000m test (after training for 5-6 months for this test, over 2 years) that I was supposedly supposed to not start going anaerobic until at least 1000-1200m into it, however I started feeling sore about 500-800m in, and that has been my life story in terms of max amounts of reps, running etc...
Summarized version of above:
Regardless of what weight I weigh I generally have roughly the same strength. weighing 260 I do about the same amount of weight as I do at 185. Ideally I would like to weight anywhere between 195-205 lbs at the end of my "dieting/crossfit/gym workouts".
A few concerns:
1. If you are training mostly compound exercises, you might be neglecting smaller muscle groups and stabilizers muscles which prevents your strength from increasing on particular exercises. You need to focus on building up the support muscles for those exercises. IE: Bench press needs front/rear delts, lats, back, abs, and triceps. If any of those are lacking, your chest will not become challenged, as the other muscle groups fail much before the chest does. The solution is to aggressively train the smaller muscle groups, preferably with dumbbells to assist with stabilizer support.
2. Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in the body that can be naturally increased with high volumes of red meat. Long term studies have been shown that increased creatine levels (in the area of 5g per day) had no ill effects unless the person was previously suffering from kidney disease.
3. With regard to de-loading creatine, I only recommend this once a year in order to give your kidneys a rest, and allow your body the opportunity to not become creatine "dependent" and thus see diminishing gains with it. Cycling off of something beneficial allows you to reap the benefits over a longer period of time than if you allow the body to get accustomed to it.