Beginner Takes CREATINE for 30 Days (RESULTS & SIDE EFFECTS)
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Date: 2023-07-30
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Comments and reviews: 19
Marcus
Just posting this out there to help anyone else experiencing muscle cramping and wondering if it's the creatine? According to research, in at least a small percentage of cases (I think the figure was 20-30%) creatine does cause cramping, even though most of the research suggests that it doesn't cause muscle cramping and may in fact prevent it in dialysis patients. Through a process of elimination, I determined that in my case, it was (interestingly, it was also the case for my ol' lady.
I was suffering from HORRIBLE muscle cramps an hr into my workouts forcing me to quit, then lasting a few hrs post-workout, on every single workout: abs, biceps, triceps. I tried everything: vinegar, salt on the tongue, different creatine formulations, longer rest periods between reps, eliminating caffeine, more hydration, NA/K electrolytes plus high dose (500mg) magnesium supplementation - nothing worked. I even got bloodwork drawn and all my no's were normal (obviously, it isn't practical getting the blood drawn at the gym, when I'm cramping. Anyway, I've been off creatine for almost two months now and have experienced zero cramping! I can't tell you what a sigh of relief it is not to experience the apprehension that comes from thinking that I might cramp before, during or after my workouts.
My theory is that the creatine, which causes extracellular > intracellular water shifts (hence the pump) can cause a NA/K hiccup, at least in some folks. I've used creatine for yrs w/o issues until recently, when the cramping became progressively worse and unbearable. Obviously, you'll lose the strength gains from creatine, but I've found a well researched workaround to get the same energy, drive, power & muscle fullness that creatine provides. Take 8g of citruline malate + 3g HMB 1 hr pre-workout for explosive workouts. If you don't experience cramping with creatine then more power to you.
I might gradually re-introduce creatine back into my arsenal at a future date, to see if the break from it helps, but for now I'm enjoying cramp-free workouts. Anyway, hopefully, this helps anyone out there struggling with cramping like I was, cheers!
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Just posting this out there to help anyone else experiencing muscle cramping and wondering if it's the creatine? According to research, in at least a small percentage of cases (I think the figure was 20-30%) creatine does cause cramping, even though most of the research suggests that it doesn't cause muscle cramping and may in fact prevent it in dialysis patients. Through a process of elimination, I determined that in my case, it was (interestingly, it was also the case for my ol' lady.
I was suffering from HORRIBLE muscle cramps an hr into my workouts forcing me to quit, then lasting a few hrs post-workout, on every single workout: abs, biceps, triceps. I tried everything: vinegar, salt on the tongue, different creatine formulations, longer rest periods between reps, eliminating caffeine, more hydration, NA/K electrolytes plus high dose (500mg) magnesium supplementation - nothing worked. I even got bloodwork drawn and all my no's were normal (obviously, it isn't practical getting the blood drawn at the gym, when I'm cramping. Anyway, I've been off creatine for almost two months now and have experienced zero cramping! I can't tell you what a sigh of relief it is not to experience the apprehension that comes from thinking that I might cramp before, during or after my workouts.
My theory is that the creatine, which causes extracellular > intracellular water shifts (hence the pump) can cause a NA/K hiccup, at least in some folks. I've used creatine for yrs w/o issues until recently, when the cramping became progressively worse and unbearable. Obviously, you'll lose the strength gains from creatine, but I've found a well researched workaround to get the same energy, drive, power & muscle fullness that creatine provides. Take 8g of citruline malate + 3g HMB 1 hr pre-workout for explosive workouts. If you don't experience cramping with creatine then more power to you.
I might gradually re-introduce creatine back into my arsenal at a future date, to see if the break from it helps, but for now I'm enjoying cramp-free workouts. Anyway, hopefully, this helps anyone out there struggling with cramping like I was, cheers!
reply
Tim
Here s my take on why creatine is not effective in 20-30 percent of people: as it works by replenishing atp I would argue that is mostly helpful for those populations that have a lot of type two muscle fibres (either by nature or by already training for a while and hypertrophying fast twitch fibres) since type two fibres use mostly anaerobic ways of energy production via the atp resynthesis whereas slow twitch fibres use more aerobic ways of energy production. Hence, having more type 2 / fast twitch muscle fibres means creatine can actually have more of an effect. Assuming a normal distribution of muscle fibre types would lead exactly to the expected result that the lower 20-30 per cent of people with a very little percentage of type two fibres would hardly benefit or benefit in such a negligible amount that we would need a huge sample size to detect the effect.
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Here s my take on why creatine is not effective in 20-30 percent of people: as it works by replenishing atp I would argue that is mostly helpful for those populations that have a lot of type two muscle fibres (either by nature or by already training for a while and hypertrophying fast twitch fibres) since type two fibres use mostly anaerobic ways of energy production via the atp resynthesis whereas slow twitch fibres use more aerobic ways of energy production. Hence, having more type 2 / fast twitch muscle fibres means creatine can actually have more of an effect. Assuming a normal distribution of muscle fibre types would lead exactly to the expected result that the lower 20-30 per cent of people with a very little percentage of type two fibres would hardly benefit or benefit in such a negligible amount that we would need a huge sample size to detect the effect.
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Rikuran
I am just a regular guy who trains constantly and I did this for half a year so I can only say that it works for me that way but here is my advice:
Do not take creatine if you regulary drink coffee because it nullifies the benefits of creatine.
For the loading phase (first week) take 5g after each meal and one extra a few hours before you go to sleep.
After a week drop down to 3g (if you don't have huge muscles) and once every 3 months take 5g (a little more) for a week instead.
If you miss a day just take more the following day. If you drink coffee take 5g after 12 hours.
And just buy the cheapest stuff of creatine monohydrate. I do not recommend all the extra fancy stuff.
Hope that helps to get a feeling how to do it right. Keep it up, guys!
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I am just a regular guy who trains constantly and I did this for half a year so I can only say that it works for me that way but here is my advice:
Do not take creatine if you regulary drink coffee because it nullifies the benefits of creatine.
For the loading phase (first week) take 5g after each meal and one extra a few hours before you go to sleep.
After a week drop down to 3g (if you don't have huge muscles) and once every 3 months take 5g (a little more) for a week instead.
If you miss a day just take more the following day. If you drink coffee take 5g after 12 hours.
And just buy the cheapest stuff of creatine monohydrate. I do not recommend all the extra fancy stuff.
Hope that helps to get a feeling how to do it right. Keep it up, guys!
reply
Ijaz
I started taking creatine about 2 months ago. First i started to do the loading phase and it was so terrible for me. Like the dude in the video, i had immense stomach ache and stuffs. Then i stopped loading and took it normally. Within 3 weeks i started to see increase in my strength. I can see noticable changes in my physique too. But recently my hair started to fall more. I don't if its the placebo about the negatives of creatine. But for me creatine's a magic
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I started taking creatine about 2 months ago. First i started to do the loading phase and it was so terrible for me. Like the dude in the video, i had immense stomach ache and stuffs. Then i stopped loading and took it normally. Within 3 weeks i started to see increase in my strength. I can see noticable changes in my physique too. But recently my hair started to fall more. I don't if its the placebo about the negatives of creatine. But for me creatine's a magic
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Kevin
Hey Jeremy! I have a concern about taking creatine. I have heard you need to be very hydrated or it might give you kidney stones? Is that true? In a very hot climate like India, as someone who works out very intensely every day in hot conditions (wrestling training and conditioning, I end up drinking 3L on average. Is that good enough or will I have trouble taking it?
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Hey Jeremy! I have a concern about taking creatine. I have heard you need to be very hydrated or it might give you kidney stones? Is that true? In a very hot climate like India, as someone who works out very intensely every day in hot conditions (wrestling training and conditioning, I end up drinking 3L on average. Is that good enough or will I have trouble taking it?
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Tim
Honestly, why would you take 20g in a single serving? The max I would ever take is my bodyweight in kilograms divided by 10 (that number in grams not kilograms obviously. And then I would also distribute this amount over two servings a day to help absorption. With this you still have a loading period but it s gonna be way faster than just taking 3g per day.
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Honestly, why would you take 20g in a single serving? The max I would ever take is my bodyweight in kilograms divided by 10 (that number in grams not kilograms obviously. And then I would also distribute this amount over two servings a day to help absorption. With this you still have a loading period but it s gonna be way faster than just taking 3g per day.
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Shinobi-No-Bueno
We had a dude at my highschool who could have been the next CBum (or rather PreBum since im a few years older than him) tore his MCL during football and started lifting upper body and become a full on amateur bodybuilder. He wrote his controversial research paper for our English final about creatine being safe lol
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We had a dude at my highschool who could have been the next CBum (or rather PreBum since im a few years older than him) tore his MCL during football and started lifting upper body and become a full on amateur bodybuilder. He wrote his controversial research paper for our English final about creatine being safe lol
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Shekhar's
I wonder why would any normal individual ( who is not bodybuilder or model) want to 'Get bigger' with the supplements at risk of known and yet to be known side-effects vs just eating good food, working out and get incremental gains naturally without those potential side-effects? Bigger =/= Better
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I wonder why would any normal individual ( who is not bodybuilder or model) want to 'Get bigger' with the supplements at risk of known and yet to be known side-effects vs just eating good food, working out and get incremental gains naturally without those potential side-effects? Bigger =/= Better
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InterruptedByFireW
Van der Merwe study did not account for the difference in DHT levels being a result of increased exercise load from the Creatine, and instead pointed at Creatine being responsible. Do it again with sedentary individuals or monitored exercise programs with the same exercises/sets/reps.
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Van der Merwe study did not account for the difference in DHT levels being a result of increased exercise load from the Creatine, and instead pointed at Creatine being responsible. Do it again with sedentary individuals or monitored exercise programs with the same exercises/sets/reps.
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Wadani
I started creatine 7th july 5grm before work out and 5grm after gym. Now I feel that i got stronger because my weight lift in bench press and dumbbell press increased.
Nausea, abdominal discomfort all these issues comes the first day of my pre workout and then I never get that.
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I started creatine 7th july 5grm before work out and 5grm after gym. Now I feel that i got stronger because my weight lift in bench press and dumbbell press increased.
Nausea, abdominal discomfort all these issues comes the first day of my pre workout and then I never get that.
reply
iiimadmaniii
I have gains from it, but also a true victim of hair loss. My family genes are big horse hair head. I am faded to a horseshoe and I used to have a widows peak to be ckaracterized for. Not anymore after 5-10 g of creatine off and on for a few years. But Im solidly swole.
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I have gains from it, but also a true victim of hair loss. My family genes are big horse hair head. I am faded to a horseshoe and I used to have a widows peak to be ckaracterized for. Not anymore after 5-10 g of creatine off and on for a few years. But Im solidly swole.
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royalmac1011
It would be nice to see 3-6 months transformation. The reason i never took creatine is because from what i seen Is when you cycle off the creatine you lose all that water weight and strength like it was never there. i prefer just to get everything i need through food.
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It would be nice to see 3-6 months transformation. The reason i never took creatine is because from what i seen Is when you cycle off the creatine you lose all that water weight and strength like it was never there. i prefer just to get everything i need through food.
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Blake
How tf this is so dramatic? I mean, just take 5 grams/day from the get go, and you are good.
I barely noticed any changes in how my stomach worked.
It feels like I'm just taking this magical white powder every day with noting more than my faith keeping me doing it.
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How tf this is so dramatic? I mean, just take 5 grams/day from the get go, and you are good.
I barely noticed any changes in how my stomach worked.
It feels like I'm just taking this magical white powder every day with noting more than my faith keeping me doing it.
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FlyingIguana
lol who calls creatine legal steroids? you gain about 5 pounds after a month (or a week if you do a loading phase. blood work will show elevated levels of creatinine. kre-alkalyne is the best to take imo. no loading needed, no upset tummy.
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lol who calls creatine legal steroids? you gain about 5 pounds after a month (or a week if you do a loading phase. blood work will show elevated levels of creatinine. kre-alkalyne is the best to take imo. no loading needed, no upset tummy.
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Aaron
I'm a non responder. Although after a few weeks of taking creatine my bench suddenly went up from 120kg for 4 reps to 120kg for 8 reps, but then a couple of weeks later it went back down to 120kg for 5 reps, like I lost my gainz. Weird.
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I'm a non responder. Although after a few weeks of taking creatine my bench suddenly went up from 120kg for 4 reps to 120kg for 8 reps, but then a couple of weeks later it went back down to 120kg for 5 reps, like I lost my gainz. Weird.
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Raphael
I had to let go of creatine after three months because I was having too much cramps, to the point I was waking up at night. A few days without creatine and I was fine. People can say what they want, this is not for everybody.
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I had to let go of creatine after three months because I was having too much cramps, to the point I was waking up at night. A few days without creatine and I was fine. People can say what they want, this is not for everybody.
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Allen
In my experience creatine is definitely effective. When I started working out I experienced an immediate effect in just one week of taking creatine. I noticed that I got stronger and my muscles felt bigger.
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In my experience creatine is definitely effective. When I started working out I experienced an immediate effect in just one week of taking creatine. I noticed that I got stronger and my muscles felt bigger.
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Jessica
It sounds like if you are predisposed to male pattern baldness then YES keep an eye out for changes. It also depends on how important is your hair to you and how you want to look and feel?
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It sounds like if you are predisposed to male pattern baldness then YES keep an eye out for changes. It also depends on how important is your hair to you and how you want to look and feel?
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iabaca
Interesting, but would be great if you had a control. Another beginner doing the exact same workout but no creatine. Because we know beginners make mad gains just from looks at weights
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Interesting, but would be great if you had a control. Another beginner doing the exact same workout but no creatine. Because we know beginners make mad gains just from looks at weights
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