</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Steve McDermott @ July 05 2002,09:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Ok, I've been wanting to start using Creatine for a while now. Since Bryan will be selling creatine soon, I have decided to give it a try and I just pre ordered it.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Keen. I also look forward to Bryans' Creatine Faq; I'm sure he'll have good usage advice to go with his Creatine.
At any rate, here's what I've gleaned over time:
There is, so far, no logical reason -- scientifically or from studies -- to cycle creatine.
Nextly, you don't HAVE to load. You can start on a regular maintenance dose, and you will reach peak creatine muscular levels in about a month. Alternately, you can start with loading dosages (much larger) and get your muscles up to peak creatine levels faster (a week or two.) Creatine loading is inherently wasteful -- the body rejects the creatine at a faster rate as the muscle become closer to saturation. Spreading out the dose during the day while loading is likely to reduce the amount of rejection; it may allow to load with a lower loading dose, or allow you to reach saturation more quickly.
No matter how high you make your maintenance dose, your muscles will not go beyond their natural creatine threshold, so don't waste the extra creatine. It's not expensive, but it's not free, either.
Free creatine in you body will also show up in other areas while circulating, even if it isn't stored there. Creatine attracts water, so free creatine in your fat may cause slight bloating, especially during loading. Cut off supplemental creatine before a show -- muscle levels will drop off rather slowly, but free ciculating creatine will be gone in days.
It's a good idea, though perhaps not objectively proven, to take creatine immediately before working out. The increased blood flow to the muscles helps deliver the creatine where you want it.
As far as taking it with carbs, with citric acid, warm, cold, dissolved, etc., I've seen little indication that it really makes a meaningful difference. Your muscles might reach saturation a little earlier or later, but eventually they get there and you're just maintaining. Unless you're trying to maintain peak levels with the smallest possible maintenance dose to save money, there's no purpose to trying to optimize uptake.
One thing I have seen is that coarse-grain creatines may cause stomache upset if not thoroughly dissolved.
Also, creatine should not be dissovled ahead of time -- creatine in solution will convert, in ratio, to creatinine. Drink it when you make it.
You can start taking creating at any phase of HST, and you can take it while dieting. The major functions are a slight increase in muscle fullness because of water gain (usually considered a good thing) and increased muscular performance for short-term power activities. Neither of these should negatively impact HST or dieting.
Lastly, the negative rumors about creatine seem to be either highly unlikely or outright false.
There are anecdotale reports of people suffering increased rates of muscle cramps after going on creatine. These may be false anecdotes, but are sometimes attributed to people not taking in enought water (speculation on creatine's water-attracting habit) or people's muscles just needing time to acclimate to the larger size. Most people do not objectively experience any cramping, and it's unlikely that the phenomenon exists.
There are occasional horror stories of people tearing muscles. This is usually in the context of something that could tear a muscle with or without creatine, but the tear is attributed to creatine. I.e., if you've just blown away your 1RM PR, and then you try another 20 pounds on top of that, and you tear your pec, is that the fault of the creatine? In reasonable exercise use, creatine has been found to be very safe.
Lastly, there's a lot of creatine research out there. If you find anything that contradicts what I've said, let me know! Thanks!
: Anybody here knows how to use creatine to complement HST like Primer and Driver?