Hello everybody. I would REALLy appreciate some good advice for my dilemma. I am considering using creatine. I have been working out for more than 2 years. I am 17, weight 180. Probably around 12 % body fat. Eat 6 meals a day. I can max bench at around 235 lb. I deadlift with sets of 8 with 175. So,my friend and I (we are exactly the same with max’s, weight, etc, he is just 22 years old) are considering taking creatine. I have heard bad things about this (from doctors), and positive things from others. I don’t know what to do. I want to get bigger, don’t really care about fat too much, i’m only 17. An increase in bench numbers would be cool. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this, and I would like all of your imputs please. Thanks
Yes, I would take it. I guess the docs you’ve heard from aren’t up on the many studies that creatine is not harmful. It’s one of the main supps you should take, at 5 or 8 gms per day. Your strength should go up around 5 to 10%.
Take it…
Take it!!! Make sure you go with a name brand. Take 5-10gram ED. Good for strength and volume in muscle.
Ask your doctors what’s so bad about creatine. Recently I stumbled upon an article that even claimed creatine to have great cardiovascular health benefits! I betcha if creatine was a prescription drug they wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that for you. Bottom line: go ahead and give it a shot.
Creatine has been studied more than any supplement in history. It’s safe. Only ignorant people are saying it’s not. Just don’t get caught up in the Kool-aide hype formulas. Just get some plain white creatine. I like EAS. Pretty cheap and good quality. It’s hard to F-up plain creatine.
Dude, chill out and wait until you hit 18. Let your kidneys finish their last stage of growth without tooling with them. It’s only a couple months; if you want to grow, jack up your calories even more and train harder than you did last time. Creatine is nice and cheap but really not necessary; I find that it helps me some but, like all things, it’s not a miracle.
If you feel like its worth it, you will probably be fine. Make sure everything else you are doing (training, dieting, lifestyle) is top notch too - might as well make sure its put to optimum use. Drink plenty of water.
Creatine’s fine. And I like TEK’s advice about which brand to buy.
As for your doctors, ask them to supply you with the name of a study (or other reference) that shows why creatine is bad. Most likely they won’t be able to. In that case, you need to find a new doctor, preferably one with a background in sports training/therapy. If, however, one of them can supply you with a study, then you should read the study for yourself and see what it says. After that, you can search for any one of the dozens of recent favorable studies that have been quoted here at T-Mag, read those, and see what you think. It’ll be tough, but you’ll have made a significant contribution to your (and maybe your doc’s, if you show him the info) knowledge base. And that’s where the REAL gains are in life…
If you have similar stats to your buddy, then you can experiment! You could each take enough money for one month’s worth of creatine. Let him buy the creatine. You buy THAT MUCH good-for-you food. You eat that food in addition to what you are eating now (no cheating).
I’m serious about this. During the month, you will be extremely jealous of your buddy’s progress. But guess what? Most of it will disappear after the cycle ends. What you really need to focus on is where you two are after TWO months. I bet you will be past him in gains and strength. IMHO creatine is a short-term “show-off” supplement.
btw: Just thought I’d clarify a hidden question in your post. Creatine won’t make you fat. The calories are paltry
I had always heard that Creatine will make you fat - water retention, etc.
Is that just another rumor? I've got 2 bottles of Creatine under the counter, but don't want to bloat out so I haven't been taking it.
Oh, creatine will make you bigger alright. It makes you retain more water. Which is actually a good thing if you’re heavy - you’ll burn more calories just moving around. Creatine won’t add to your fat stores though.
So… Should I go on Creatine then, even though weight loss is my primary goal?
wow guys, thank you very much for your responces. (by the way, those were MY stats). I think i’m gonna wait a couple of more months, let him try it first 
, and see what happens. I checked out the site, it’s cool. Creatine is cool now, but it hasn’t been around for long enough to really ‘study’ it. haha. anyway, i’ll heed everyone’s responces, and probably start that stuff when i enter college. Until next post…
Is there any (big) differences between pills and powder form creatine? I would imagine powder would be much better for absorbtion, but thought I’d ask.
The powder is cheaper. The capsule is simply encapsuled creatine. You pay someone to put it in pills for it’s total BS. Get the powder from EAS.
I didn’t realize creatine was even considered a “supplement” anymore!