creatine, glutamine, insulin for last week's prep...

Skip · May 28, 2003

I have mixed feelings about loading creatine before a show. I have never done it and have received mixed reviews. I would ASSume that loading creatine could potentially smooth you out but I can't explain why - it is more a guess than anything.

I am wondering, for those who have loaded with creatine or creatine and glutamine (with slin of course), do you consider it a gamble in that if done incorrectly, it could blow your condition? Are the affects noticable? I know that they are noticable when I have done this during the offseason but am wondering what affect it really has visually, in the last few days.

Thanks in advance for any input on this.

Skip

BIGKIWI · May 28, 2003

It has never smoothed me out when carb loading with creatine etc only become fuller more vascular

homonunculus · May 28, 2003

Creatine...

Skip,

Creatine is stored intracellularly, with 95+% of it inside your muscle cells.

It has its own' osmotic effect, drawing water into the cell, and additionally it will enhance glycogen storage drawing even more water into the cell. The creatine transporter is insulin dependant (and obviously insulin helps w/ glycogen synthesis, too), so the combo is a good one.

The only way I can conceive that creatine would smooth you out is if you took very large amounts of it, much more than could be taken up by the muscle or cleared by the kidneys (for the time being) and it was moved into the interstitial spaces (e.g., under the skin) where it pulled water and smoothed you out. Nice thing is that a 5 g dose of creatine (w/ or w/o with food) is out of the system (taken up or cleared from the blood) in 5 hr or so.

If you simply stop taking creatine the night before the show, it alone shouldn't be much cause for worry - it should be cleared from your system, but still in your muscle cells along with the glycogen it helped store and the associated water, keeping you full.

-Randy

Skip · May 28, 2003

That is good info and I was thinking this very thing. However, I was only concerned because, as I stated previously, I have only loaded with it in the offseason and it made me BLOW up. I couldn't get my ring off of my finger, my face was blown up - things like that.

Thanks for the info. I just needed to hear it from somebody else who had used it in their prep.

Skip

homonunculus · May 28, 2003

LIke everything....

.... Try it out first. Never try something for the very first time when the real show is on the line...

Good luck, man!

-Randy