Creatine seems acknowledged as working in the fitness community by both the bro-science and the science-based crowds. For me, it worked very well, but I noticed I was losing hair in the shower (eep!) and stopped using it. Seems that's a thing for people with male pattern baldness. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Replying to signal boost this. I too get hair loss from DHT-boosters such as creatine or the herb tribulus terrestris. I should note that I have a higher than average amount of body and facial hair, so likely have naturally elevated DHT levels.
When I stopped taking creatine, I did lose a few reps in all my lifts; it does work.
Creatine seems acknowledged as working in the fitness community by both the bro-science and the science-based crowds. For me, it worked very well, but I noticed I was losing hair in the shower (eep!) and stopped using it. Seems that's a thing for people with male pattern baldness. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
People keep posting studies dating it doesn't cause hair loss. But it absolutely causes hair loss.
I have creatine on my short list of supplements to try this summer. Anything you wished you knew when starting it? Do I need to worry about buying a specific brand known for being “clean”?
Look at any pure creatine monohydrate (not the ethyl ester or hydrochloride forms) from a reputable supplier. It can cause stomach upsets in some people, but 5 grams once/day is generally well-tolerated and a sufficient dose for almost everyone. Don't expect miracles, but there is good-quality evidence for a marginal increase in sports performance in many situations, for many participants.
Creatine seems acknowledged as working in the fitness community by both the bro-science and the science-based crowds. For me, it worked very well, but I noticed I was losing hair in the shower (eep!) and stopped using it. Seems that's a thing for people with male pattern baldness. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I know caffeine is detrimental to my workouts because it dehydrates me and raises my heart rate. I have clear personal data on this. Creatine is well established as a substance that has a real measurable positive impact on people.
It depends on your goals and heart health. If you want to burn through fat fast, then caffeine before heavy cardio workouts is the way to go (assuming your heart is in good condition)
Sure. My heart is very healthy and I am seeking to maintain a very low body fat percentage. However, my raw performance is better if I have low/no caffeine.
I'm rapidly approaching 50 and in the gym 7 days a week 2+ hours a day for heavy lifting and cardio.
Creatine is one of the few supplements that I can say has noticeable immediate difference on or off. Without it, my recoveries take longer and I have to back down workouts to 4-5 days a week.
5mg a day... time doesn't seem to make a difference but I take pre workout. No hair loss or other side effects.
I have creatine on my short list of supplements to try this summer. Anything you wished you knew when starting it? Do I need to worry about buying a specific brand known for being “clean”?
Make sure to eat food before you take it, and start with 2.5g twice a day instead of 5g all at once to go easy on your stomach. The food helps slow down how quickly the creatine moves through your system. This prevents too much water from being pulled into your GI tract, avoiding undesirable symptoms (use your imagination).
As more anecdata, I eat it all times of the day and have no undesirable symptoms, before food, after food, while not eating at all, it simply doesn't have enough impact on the stomach for me to notice.
Conclusion: Creatine supplementation improves sit-to-stand performance, muscle function, and lean tissue mass. It is crucial to conduct high-quality prospective RCTs to confirm these hypotheses (PROSPERO number, CRD42023354929). 'Give us funding pls' I use creatine myself and think it helps build muscle, but this is a pretty weak result. I do think it's worth researching because it's a cheap supplement and could help…
I mean, I think it makes sense and deserves funding. Creatine has a mountain of evidence in sports nutrition, as you are likely aware, so much that it’s kinda mind boggling to me that there hasn’t been more research into treating it more like a Vitamin for the general population. The evidence is clear that your body simply can’t produce as much creatine as it can utilize. As an adamant vegetarian I admit that this is…
Sports nutrition is pretty sus as a field though. Creatine gets recommended because it's cheap and tested. Problem is most of what creatine functionally does is flood your muscles with water, improve leverages somewhat to get a few more reps on medium-high rep ranges, which has a real training effect, provided you're at level where that extra stimulus helps. Which is to say intermediate-advanced lifters who needs to seriously periodize/plan stimulus recovery cycles to progress. Which excludes 99% of genpop that wouldn't seriously strength train past novice phase at all.
If anything deserves funding/destigmatization, it would be steroids that packs on lean mass merely sitting around. Would be nice if billions gets put into steriods that doesn't adversely effect heart etc. Gen pop needs ozempic tier solutions.
I've worked out my whole life (since around age 14, now over 35) and had periods where I did a lot of supplements like creatine or pre-workout. I no longer bother with them, although creatine is one of the more well researched / "real" supplements, so you're better off with that than lots of others. To me though they've never really done anything (besides cost money). In my opinion the best bang for your buck is drin…
Creatine for responders slightly improves your leverages by increasing water in muscles, which translates to a few % more weight or few more reps. Guestimate, 5% for weight, 10% for reps on higher rep sets. Which is to say it gives a little more headroom for intermediate/advanced lifters who needs to start dialing in program /volumes/recovery/diet in to progress. A few % of intensity or reps per set across training block makes all the difference. Which makes creatine pretty good no shit supplement if you taking lifting remotely seriously as a hobby when it cost $30-60 per year when bought bulk. Ultimately it's deciding if you're willing to shell out $5 a month to look a bit more swole, have slightly more headroom programming/dietting, or if programming and diet on point, lift slightly more than you otherwise would with the extra water balloon leverages. It's like the cheapest pay to win, pay for slight boost in gym ego/self esteem supplement along with a caffeine, which for many is enough.
I've worked out my whole life (since around age 14, now over 35) and had periods where I did a lot of supplements like creatine or pre-workout. I no longer bother with them, although creatine is one of the more well researched / "real" supplements, so you're better off with that than lots of others. To me though they've never really done anything (besides cost money). In my opinion the best bang for your buck is drin…
You are not alone in finding no benefit, and apparently about 1/3 of people are actually non responders.