Creatine Not Working For Me

Anton17

I've been using creatine monhydrate for a month now, and to be honest havent noticed any great improvements in performance or growth. I've been increasing weight and reps at the same speed as before (which isnt much).
I have to say im kinda disapointedwith creatine.
Are my expectations too high, because i have to say with all the controversy I had been expecting serious results pretty quickly

Dragan

Anton17 wrote:

I've been using creatine monhydrate for a month now, and to be honest havent noticed any great improvements in performance or growth. I've been increasing weight and reps at the same speed as before (which isnt much).
I have to say im kinda disapointedwith creatine.
Are my expectations too high, because i have to say with all the controversy I had been expecting serious results pretty quickly

Hey dude,

i suggest you start a new thread with details on your workout plan and diet. Creatine will help in most cases, but if you workout routine is poorly structured, and you diet bad, then its not going to help a whole lot.

t-ha

Anton17 wrote:

I've been using creatine monhydrate for a month now, and to be honest havent noticed any great improvements in performance or growth. I've been increasing weight and reps at the same speed as before (which isnt much).
I have to say im kinda disapointedwith creatine.
Are my expectations too high, because i have to say with all the controversy I had been expecting serious results pretty quickly

Some people don't respond that well to creatine for whatever reason. It's just one of those things. It's also possible that your expectations were unrealistic. Getting your diet right is what will make the biggest difference.

Anton17

To be honest i think my diets pretty decent, im getting in over 3000 calories a day and 200+ grams of protein. I'll post it up in a new thread anyway, it would be good to get some feedback

Boru.

t-ha's right, creatine doesn't respond for everyone, but there is also the possability that you aren't taking in enough water to support the additional uptake? When you post your diet details, try to include your water intake and rough workout, body weight etc. That way we can easily determine if you are taking in optimal amounts of water.

Anton17

Heres a typical daily diet for me, bear in mind i'm on a students budget.

Meal 1: 30G Whey isolate 20g Glucose, 5g creatine, (with water), banana, 2 pcs toast or cereal with milk. Have difficulty eating any more than this, appetite doesnt kick in til few hours after I wake up.

Meal 2: 2 pc's brow bread toasted with cheddar cheese. Pc fruit

Meal 3: Tuna sandwiche with mayo

Meal 4: 30g whey with milk and glucose

Meal 5: Chicken fillet, with pasta or rice and jar of some sort of sauce

Meal 6: Maybe a bowl of cereal or noodles

Meal 7: 30g whey with milk

On days I train I have another shake post work out, 30g whey, 30g glucose, 5g creatine.
I generally have 2 or 3 snacks as well throughout the day, which could be pocorn, yoghurt or fruit. I've been trying to drink a lot more water as well since taking creatine, and drink it whenevr I eat

tribulus

Anton17 wrote:

Heres a typical daily diet for me, bear in mind i'm on a students budget.

Meal 1: 30G Whey isolate 20g Glucose, 5g creatine, (with water), banana, 2 pcs toast or cereal with milk. Have difficulty eating any more than this, appetite doesnt kick in til few hours after I wake up.

Meal 2: 2 pc's brow bread toasted with cheddar cheese. Pc fruit

Meal 3: Tuna sandwiche with mayo

Meal 4: 30g whey with milk and glucose

Meal 5: Chicken fillet, with pasta or rice and jar of some sort of sauce

Meal 6: Maybe a bowl of cereal or noodles

Meal 7: 30g whey with milk

On days I train I have another shake post work out, 30g whey, 30g glucose, 5g creatine.
I generally have 2 or 3 snacks as well throughout the day, which could be pocorn, yoghurt or fruit. I've been trying to drink a lot more water as well since taking creatine, and drink it whenevr I eat

What cereal is it? Most cereals e.g cornflakes, rice krispies are crap in terms of providing a steady release of carbs, oats is you best option here.

Don't have glucose in your 4th meal (unless it's preworkout in which case you should probably drop the milk) have some brown rice/whole grain pasta instead.

replace noodles/cereal with something like tuna salad and a piece of fruit.

I think you'de be better off spending the money that was used on creatine to bump up your food budget, or else stop buying noodles and use the few extra euros to get some fresh fruit and veg and a decent carb source eg brown rice.

Personally I've found taking creatine pre and/or post workout with simple carbs to be more effective than taking it at breakfast, just me.

Also what's your training look like? If you're making consistent gains - the same as before creatine supplementation, then why continue with it! Although improving your diet may help.

Nutirition, Training, Recovery comes before supps.

maxi-twist

I wouldnt be an expert in the matter but dont u need an insulin spike for creatine to work,altho i suppose the 20g of glucose would give u that.......I took mine with grape juice and i thought it worked.

Also,did u do a loading phase?

Boru.

One other thing I just thought of quickly is caffine - it can serioously impair the effects of creatine.

daveirl

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maxi-twist

Yeah,but he's only been doing it for a month,how long does it take to reach saturation without a loading phase?Maybe thats why is isnt getting such good results?

Dragan

Hey Anton,

could you please give your height, weights, rough BF% and the time you train at as well????

daveirl

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maxi-twist

daveirl wrote:

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See 28 days?Thats a month.Although this would all be pretty useless if he did have a loading phase!

P.s.I took it and gained 9 kilos in 5 weeks,i was pretty impressed!

daveirl

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justsomebloke

daveirl wrote:

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I would actually use creatine for the same reason in that for me it helps to minimize DOMS and generally quickens recovery. It terms of it effects on increasing my lifting and the increase in size of my muscles due to water retention I think it has had a negligible effect.

I think that some of the gains people claim have come from creatine are just a placebo effect of thinking they are taking something that is helping them lift so they tend to try and actually lift more then they would and tend to just push through their comfort levels as oppose to any real effects that can be accredited to creatine

Anton17

I did the loading phase for 5 days when I started.
Im 6ft, 11.1st, body fat 8.3. When you guys mention oats, do you mean porridge or muesli or what?

daveirl

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Degsy

Anton17 wrote:

I did the loading phase for 5 days when I started.
Im 6ft, 11.1st, body fat 8.3. When you guys mention oats, do you mean porridge or muesli or what?

porridge

Anton17

I'll sort myself out with some porridge then, haven't had the stuff in years. So apart from the breakfeast is my diet ok?

maxi-twist

daveirl wrote:

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Not at all,well,other than rugby.No weights before like so thats probably the reason!

slicus ricus

Hi Anton. I would recommend kre alkaline or creatine ethyll ester as a far superior alternative to creatine monohydrate. For me, kre alkaline has been the most effective. Its also cheaper than monohydrate - can be hard to get tho - i got mine in nutrition connection in caple street.

Also, i cannot understand how you eat that much and have a bf% of only 8.3%! For bulking up (and i presume thats why you're taking creatine), you would really need to get the bf to about 10-12% (some ppl go MUCH higher) and when you want to get leaner, cut.

Also, your meals 2 and 6 are pretty worthless in terms of protein intake. I would recommend replacing them with chicken or tuna.