[Closed] Creatine; simple answers please.

As a soon-2-be 52 yr old, the first question I’d ask is.... WTF is creatine?

Am I missing out on something?

So plainly, I’m no help.

My SIL is a senior sports physiologist. I asked her about creatine a few years ago. Her advice; no point unless you need to build muscle for short sharp efforts.

Creatine for lifting heavy and short efforts, otherwise don’t bother.
So not for what you want it for.

It's not really meant for recovery, it improves your power output, allowing you to lift slightly heavier weights for instance, which then allows better muscle gain.

Main side affect is extra water weight which leads to a bloated feeling.

There is some good info here. It is not very expensive and is no harm in trying it and seeing how you get on.

https://blog.insidetracker.com/creatine-supplements-myths-misconceptions-dispelled

Yea, creatine before the gym seems standard protocol for the Swoldiers. It helps regenerate ATP which is the main source of energy for muscles, so you could maybe smash some hills more in a day without being so fatigued. Before would be better than after but tbh the other option is change into a lower gear, smooth cadence, and use your heart and lungs instead!

From Wikipedia:

'Taking creatine monohydrate in supplemental powder form showed that an initial loading dose of 5 grams of creatine taken four times a day in equally spaced intervals (total of 20 g/day) per day resulted in a rapid (20%) increase in total muscle creatine stores after 6 days.[18] Alternatively, an approximation of 0.3 g/kg/day divided into 4 equal spaced intervals has also been suggested since creatine needs may vary based on body weight.[24][18] It has also been shown that taking a lower dose of 3 grams a day for 28 days can also increase total muscle creatine storage to the same amount as the rapid loading dose of 20 g/day for 6 days.[18] However, a 28 day loading phase does not allow for ergogenic benefits of creatine supplementation to be realized until fully saturated muscle storage.'

It’s more of a weight lifting supplement - just a gives you higher stores of something that naturally occurs in muscle anyway. Think it gives you a tiny bit more capacity for short power lifts and recover quicker. Not sure how effective it’ll be for cycling, but now you’ve bought it then give it a go.

However, check the suggested dose and do some googling on what you should take per day. If you take too much I’ve got a feeling it can damage your kidneys.

It's a weight lifter's supplement as other posters have said above. I used to take it years ago when I went through a bit of a gym phase as a student and it noticeably improves your recovery time between sets but you get quite bloated with all the water retention and god knows what its doing to your liver / kidneys.

The best thing for cycling is a healthy balanced diet, some sort of additional carb intake for rides over two hours, and protein shake afterwards to help recovery.

Thanks everyone, it seems like it may help me carry beer back from the shop then do some lifting in the garden?

I was wrecked today after two 12 mile rides in two days; sleeping and teaching online in the same room for 10 weeks is clearly bad for me. This is from someone who in their 20,30,40's rode regualrly to work; afer art college I did 3 years picking in a warehouse then 23 years and counting my feet teaching.

Any tips on a good recovery drink; I like SIS, but maybe time for homemade stuff?

It's what my body has too high levels of when my duff kidney is playing up.

Oh and you have to go through a loading phase, you don't see the benefits for a week or 2, so it's pointless taking it once or twice.

The best thing for recovery is free - sleep, aim for 8 hours (sleep as well not time in bed). Recovery drinks will help ease some muscle soreness but from the sounds of it's your period of inactivity thats the main issue. Just keep riding to a regular schedule keep your intensity low. Overtime time your fitness will return & recovery periods will be shorter.
Check your diet/food intake as well.Good luck 👍

Any tips on a good recovery drink; I like SIS, but maybe time for homemade stuff?

Milk, chocolate milk or protein shake (made with milk).

I use it in spells of 2-4 weeks and I think its great, it raises your testosterone level which in turn improves mood and mental sharpness.

I was told by a kidney transplant doctor to drink a lot of water when taking it.

Thanks for the replies; helpful!

Its being really unsual going outside in daylight, not at the start or end of the day.

It wil come right. When it snowed we asked all our students to go out for a walk and photograph something and shwo it on Teams, other times we ended the session early and told them to go outside and look at the world.

Online teaching, the sooner its stopped the better!

It will cause an increase in weight from water retwntion and it can also give you cramps.

I dont think its quite what you are looking for. Some time on the bike and proper sleep will do you far more good

Online teaching, the sooner its stopped the better!

Shitter than a shit thing on a shit day.

I've always found it yo be really useful - but my riding focus is DH / Enduro rather than XC or road, so building the strength and capacity for big hits with less soreness is important, as well as high output redline efforts.

It also definitely helps with the mental clarity thing too, even more important with WFH at the moment and having to get up earlier to get exercise in, in lieu if the 40km a day round trip ride I was used to.

I tried it a few years ago when I was getting back into shape and riding a lot. I don't think it made any difference. Getting fit and losing weight made a huge difference. Running to work a couple of times a week was probably the thing that made the biggest difference to my climbing times on the bike.

Oh and you have to go through a loading phase, you don’t see the benefits for a week or 2, so it’s pointless taking it once or twice.

Is this definitely the case? I thought back when I tried it the packet from muscletech suggested this but when I looked into it, it wasn’t actually necessary? The dose suggested I’m sure was above what medical professionals suggested too. I tried it for a few months but didn’t really see much benefit - I just got a bit bloated for a while. I think some people find it more useful than others.

With cycling I’m just training hard on the turbo / outside rides and if I’m aching the next day I tend to have a whey protein shake. Fuelling before rides is also important so you don’t run out of carbs mid way through etc. When turbo training early before work I like bananas to get some quick fuel in straight out of bed before getting on the bike.

cloggy
Full Member
It’s what my body has too high levels of when my duff kidney is playing up

That's creatINine, effectively the waste product of what muscles do with creatine
(and probably part of the reason behind the suggestion that creatine damages kidneys - give more fuel, get more waste product which makes your kidneys look bad)
I don't think there's much evidence that creatine in sensible dosing damages healthy kidneys
(I doubt it does much for your average mountain biker either)

pointless

.....simple answer.....

Eat meat

https://meatrx.com/

People who say it's pointless are wrong and those who say you have to do a loading phase are wrong.
1 scoop in some juice/water before a ride will definitely make a difference and I don't think you'll suffer too badly from water retention. It comes naturally from meat and like some have said it's one of the ingredients of the chemical that regenerates energy in your muscles so takinh a supplement means that when you use the energy it can be restored faster.

Personally I would recommend giving it a go for a month to see how you find it, it's not expensive (assuming you have just bought straight Creatine powder and none of those flavoured versions), don't bother loading just take one scoop a day preferably 30-60mins before exercising/cycling on the days you do and see how you feel.

I've taken it for years and can definitely see a difference when I run out.

poah
Free Member
pointless

Posted 1 day ago
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Good clear answer there pooh, care to elaborate 😉

i agree with isitafox, i recover a lot faster when taking creatine and find a lot of benefits in power and strength with no real downsides.

I also do a lot of crossfit where the actual benefit is way more obvious. For biking. Give it a go. Everyone is different. It will either be worth it for you or not. What's the worst that could happen 🙂

Some interesting points and views on creatine.

Creatine is naturally occurring in the body and you typically only store around 50% of what its actually capable of storing, there are natural ways to increase this however a supplement is the easiest way as its cheap.
Without getting too complex Creatine is what your muscles use when under intense load, they convert creatine into energy so the more you have the more you can do, this is mostly associated with strength training in the gym however can also help with other exercises, but will help mostly with short sharp sprints, rather than gaining endurance on the bike.

It wont help with recovery, for recovery you need a good mix of protein and carbs along with the most important factor which is rest and sleep.

If you are dead set on supplements to assist with recovery look at BCAA's for before or during exercise, whey protein for immediately after exercise or Casein Protein for night.
I also found a ZMA supplement to be really good for sleep and recovery.

Theres a whole world of supplements out there but the above 3 are what i use and i mix in creatine when i am training for strength.

I used to be a PT and am an avid gym goer when i can - my typical week consists of 5 days weight training and 3 or 4 session on the bike (1 real world and 3 virtual normally)

Thanks scaredypants. I did wonder. The Doctor just told me rather than writing it down

I will caveat this with IANAD ......

Sounds to be that recovery is a more important factor here.

I'd like to think I have a general good level of (cycling) fitness but I suffer with recovery and repeat exercise of different/new types of exercise initially e.g. weight training.

I found upping my protein intake helped with recovery. Initially this was a whey protein with milk mix and then a whey protein and water mix - the former being much nicer than the latter!

It helped with the initial impact of staring something new.

I've never used creatine and don't immediately see its connection with general cycling.

There are some good resources on this site - far better than mine 😉 so I will bow out now and remind you IANAD.

I guess it depends on what type of "cycling" you do, based on both my own experience and the other comments on here. For endurance, road, traditional XC, seems there's less value, but if you're into disciplines where explosive efforts and higher "impact type" muscle loads, there's more case for it.

No doubt I'd also benefit from more rest too but with a 6 and 3 year old, that's not happening any time soon, so I need to do what I can 😂😂

but will help mostly with short sharp sprints, rather than gaining endurance on the bike.

Buuuut... what if you live somewhere with lots of steep climbs? If you are able to do them more easily then this may de-facto increase your endurance for that ride?

Waste of time.

Pointless

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-7-26

Ride your bike. Rest. Give it time

Start with rides that don't hurt. Ride a bit more each week

You won't win the tour de France but you will get fitter and enjoy being out and about