Moralpanic:
For your information, I have a lot of personal experience in this area.
1. I am a Physical Education teacher & teach classes specifically in weight lifting & conditioning.
2. I am a highly successful track & field coach who has coached dozens of all-state athletes (primarily power athletes--sprinters) over the past 7 years (during the "creatine age" WITHOUT the use of supplements or creatine--I DO NOT ALLOW IT!!!
3. I have been a professional personal trainer & have also worked in a health club.
4. I am a former Division I Track Athlete & have been heavily exposed to nutritional supplements, steroids, and creatine for 10 years.
I just got a PM from one of the MD's on this board who agrees with me...I guess, it must be that the power of the internet overwhelms any sort of research or experience done by REAL professionals in the field.
It was said that creatine is one of the safest & most thoroughly researched products on the market. TRUE---to a small point.
- 1st off...steroids, if taken properly, DO WORK, and are pretty safe....for a while. It is mainly the long term effects that are DEADLY!!! What do we know about the long term effects of creatine? NOT A DAMN THING!!!! It has only been used regularly & for about 8 years & studied for even less. Steroids weren't found to be that dangerous until AFTER people started dying from it.
- 2nd...who do you think that MOST of the "research" comes from on these products??? Simple--the research comes from the same companies who sell them to you.
MisterT: You made a comment about the FDA knowing nothing about Sports Nutrition. I would agree with this in that I would never suggest that my athletes simply follow FDA guidelines...high performance athletes often times need to greatly increase their caloric intake. Those who REALLY want to "Get Big" may actually have to ingest 5000+ calories a day to see significant gains. Basically that means you are eating about six OR MORE solid meals, plus lifting 4 hours or more each day. Most of us work for a living & that is really rather difficult to accomplish.
However, more importantly, what the FDA DOES DO: They make SURE all food & drug products are safe for human consumption!!! "Nutritional Supplements" do not fall under their jurisdiction & therefore are never tested by the government. Do you realize that many of these supplements have been found to contain Cyanide & other poisons?!?!?! Yes, some brands are better than others; however, when they say "100% Pure" that doesn't mean JACK SH!T!!! There is NOBODY to make sure that statement is true.
BiB: When you say that I sound "bitter" about something, YOU ARE RIGHT!!! The biggest problem that I have is that MANY of the members on this forum are teenagers. And these are the first people who are going to rush out & buy this crap just to improve their self-image. Furthermore, with the hormonal makeup of most teenagers, they are never going to see any real performance gains from these products anyway. Most of them can lift 1 or 2 times a week & see HUGE strength gains. A small part of it is from lifting; however, the biggest comtributer is PUBERTY!!! There is never another time in your life when you will see such great gains. Also, most teenager don't yet understand that not all of them are going to "get big." When I started competing in college, I began an intense weightlifting program. In high school, I lifted pretty regularly, but not as intensly as at the college level. Well, in 12th grade, I was 5-10", 150lbs; I could bench about 175lbs freeweights & could squat 285lbs. After 5 months of college-level lifting (& eating a LOT more), I had increased my bench to 240lbs & my squat to 485+ (I did that without too much work, but never tried more)---my new size??? 5-10", 155lbs. All I gained was 5lbs of mass, even though my muscles grew considerably stronger. (BTW I have ALWAYS been between 4-5% body fat.) Years & years later, with no serious training, I am still 150lbs with about 5% body fat. I may get stronger or weaker, but this is the "size" that I am, and the size that I will stay.
In my opinion Creatine is the worst, because the directions on the packages are designed, NOT for optimal performance, but so that you will use it up faster & have to buy more!!! For those of you who have done research and read REAL scientific journals, you will find that there is NO gains to be derived from "loading" since you just urinate most of it out anyway, plus you do the same with your regular doses as well. Your body is only capable of processing so much creatine at a time. If you take in more than it can process, you just piss it out. That's some EXPENSIVE PEE!!! When they say 5-6 grams a day, most people take it all at once or in two doses, but your body cannot handle that much. (Keep in mind that your body produces up to 2 grams a day --if you have not already eaten that much). Studies have shown that taking 6 doses a day at 1/2 gram each (3 grams) will give a GREATER performance gain for power athletes than taking one dose of 6 grams. That means you are only taking 1 GRAM MORE than what your body would normally use on any given day anyway!!! You can get (6) 1/2 gram servings by cutting up a few tunafish sandwiches. (Tuna & Salmon are great sources of creatine). Those taking large doses are not only "wasting" all the extra by peeing it out, but you are forcing it to be passed through your kidneys & liver which is where the danger of extended use lies.
HOWEVER...those of you would like to continue getting raped by the [cough]Nutritional[/cough] Supplement Industry, who am I to stand in your way!!!
["Arnold Voice"]You sissy computer nerds need to get PUMPED, so you don't look like little girls...[/"Arnold Voice"]