Creatine Recommendation

Creatine is the most popular ergogenic aid on the market because of its putative muscle building properties. I am not a big fan of any kind of supplement, but planning to start taking creatine in the near future. Looking for a good brand of creatine to use, preferably a recommendation based on personal experience.
By the way I have planned to check out Vitamin Shoppe this weekend.

http://atlargenutrition.com/nutritio...d7b690c117aeb1

Or

http://atlargenutrition.com/nutritio...d7b690c117aeb1

Creatine 500 from AtLargeNutrition
Probably the creatine purest monohydrate in the market... You can mix it with anything and cannot even taste it, it is just GREAT! It has been a week since I've been taking it, and wow, got incredible results so far!
Have used other types and products of creatine, including Cell-tech, and most of them are nothing, but marketing tools! Go with the purest and simplest, and it will work the best.

Originally Posted by MarioCisneros

Creatine 500 from AtLargeNutrition
Probably the creatine purest monohydrate in the market... You can mix it with anything and cannot even taste it, it is just GREAT! It has been a week since I've been taking it, and wow, got incredible results so far!
Have used other types and products of creatine, including Cell-tech, and most of them are nothing, but marketing tools! Go with the purest and simplest, and it will work the best.

Damn for 100 servings under $15 is a damn good deal. Im gonna order some myself in the near future. As long as it gives me an extra 5 lbs of bloat Im happy. haha

I also vote for Creatine 500 from AtLargeNutrition

I will agree with all of those above, Creatine 500 is a great product.

It is not sold at Vitamin Shoppe but you can pick up a three month supply (100 servings) for less than $20 including shipping.

Here is a link: Creatine 500 (Creapure Creatine)

Thank you so much for your recommendations..

Even the paleo community, which tries to be as natural as possible, likes creatine:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-is-creatine/

So even if you don't like supplements, it's naturally occurring and a good idea (and cheap) to take.

Atlarge Nutrition. Not only is it great to support companies that support powerlifting. The products work.

If you want to develop lean muscle by using creatine I would recommend using creatine ethyl ester, I used Cellmass by BSN before and got good results, but I found this new type of creatine that works better thsn Cellmass. Its called creatine ethyl ester by axis labs, and its pure creatine without NO, glutamine, or any other addition. Its best stacked with Ammunition by pride nutrition, an NO product.

Originally Posted by Celltap3790

If you want to develop lean muscle by using creatine I would recommend using creatine ethyl ester, I used Cellmass by BSN before and got good results, but I found this new type of creatine that works better thsn Cellmass. Its called creatine ethyl ester by axis labs, and its pure creatine without NO, glutamine, or any other addition. Its best stacked with Ammunition by pride nutrition, an NO product.

1. BSN went through quite a bit of legal trouble when it was determined that CellMass did not actually have CEE and was in fact another form of creatine. Depending on when you used the product you may have been using simple monohydrate but paying 5X the price.

2. Here is a scientific study from PubMed about CEE: CEE Study. Because they used untrained individuals the placebo, CM, and CEE groups all gained similar amounts of muscle. The catch is that CEE had much higher creatinine levels and lower muscle creatine levels compared to CM in this study, which means that Creatine Monohydrate is a superior product. Along with this CM is substantially less expensive than CEE.

3. Since you specifically mentioned Axis CEE, here is a write-up that you may be interested in: Axis Labs – an Example of Fraud

4. Will Brink, who occassionally posts here wrote an article entitled "The Creatine Graveyard" -> Link to the article.

I looked up the product "Ammunition" and it is simply AAKG coupled with a very small amount of beta-alanine, citrulline malate, and L-Lysine (not enough of any one of those components to have much of an impact; it looks like they were included just to put the buzz words on the label). Their product is also extremely overpriced. I did some research and found a comperable AAKG product that actually had an additional 500 mg per serving, and was the same number of servings for $48.80 less than the "Ammunition" ($80 vs $30).

That's really a shock that axis labs is all a scam, i did not know that. However, I dont believe that CM is superior compared to CEE. It is more superior when it comes to muscle physique because with CM, water is conserved in the muscle, but with CEE it helps develop lean mass. This is my opinion, because i've used both CM and CEE and with CEE I received much better results. One of my best friends is a bodybuilder and all he uses is CEE, that's pretty much why I use it. Also, I was wondering if protein shakes result in the gaining of fat. Right now im not on protein shakes because I took them before and I started to gain fat. And is it better to have a diet consisting of protein or to just consume protein shakes?

Originally Posted by Celltap3790

That's really a shock that axis labs is all a scam, i did not know that. However, I dont believe that CM is superior compared to CEE. It is more superior when it comes to muscle physique because with CM, water is conserved in the muscle, but with CEE it helps develop lean mass. This is my opinion, because i've used both CM and CEE and with CEE I received much better results. One of my best friends is a bodybuilder and all he uses is CEE, that's pretty much why I use it. Also, I was wondering if protein shakes result in the gaining of fat. Right now im not on protein shakes because I took them before and I started to gain fat. And is it better to have a diet consisting of protein or to just consume protein shakes?

Protein shakes won't make you fat, excess calories will do that.

Please look at the link that Tom sent you about CM vs CEE before you post anecdotal evidence.

Originally Posted by Celltap3790

If you want to develop lean muscle by using creatine I would recommend using creatine ethyl ester, I used Cellmass by BSN before and got good results, but I found this new type of creatine that works better thsn Cellmass. Its called creatine ethyl ester by axis labs, and its pure creatine without NO, glutamine, or any other addition. Its best stacked with Ammunition by pride nutrition, an NO product.

all these fancy names sound really inviting, but save your money man.

just get creatine monohydrate. If you don't want to order online goto GNC and get a bottle of it. It cost me 7 bucks.


forget about NO products as well

Originally Posted by Celltap3790

It is more superior when it comes to muscle physique because with CM, water is conserved in the muscle, but with CEE it helps develop lean mass.

There seems to be some confusion on how creatine actually works.

Here is a basic definition:

Creatine's function is to help to supply energy to muscle cells. It's believed that creatine works as a phosphate reservoir which is used for regenerating ATP (adenosine triphosphate) -- which you may remember from high school biology is the main fuel for the muscle in initial high-intensity muscle activity. When a muscle contracts, ATP loses some phosphate in the process of creating energy. Creatine is a source of fuel for re-supplying that lost phosphate which in turn is then used to create more ATP. The theory is that with more creatine available, you will have additional energy for quick, high-intensity activity, such as pushing out an additional rep at the gym. Creatine also has a volumizing effect -- driving additional water and nutrients into muscle cells.

From Will Brink's Article:
(http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/cr...raveyard.shtml)

"Creatine Ethyl Ester (CEE) Study:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=2649889

Warning, the abstract is confusing and not well written. If you read the full paper, it's clearer. If you don't have the time or interest to read it, the take home is: although all subjects in this study (CEE vs. CM vs. Placebo) experienced approximately the same effects; they all had improvements in bodycomp and got stronger. Why? Because they used untrained subjects in the study. Thus, a drawback of this study was due to using untrained people, they couldn't differentiate between PL, CEE, and CM in terms of effects on bodycomp and strength within that time period as newbies always make fast progress in the beginning. No news there.

However, the study did achieve the essential point, which is it clearly showed the claims of CEE false: CEE had much higher creatinine levels and lower muscle creatine levels compared to CM in this study, thus, yet again, the claims by sellers of CEE that it's superior to CM and that CM is “poorly absorbed” or “causes bloat,” or my favorite “CM is not stable,” etc are false. They also looked at changes in water compartments (CEE actually had a trend toward greater extra cellular water then CM BTW, so there goes that stupid “no bloat” claim for CEE…) and other issues claimed to make CEE superior, and it failed.

CEE is less stable then CM, increases creatinine to a much greater extent then CM, and is inferior for increasing muscle creatine levels to CM. This study is not perfect by any means, but when combined with what else exists, and the counter studies sellers of CEE offer (which is to say zero), well you don't have to be a scientist to see the writing on the wall there…"

This is not to say that CEE does not work at all, but it is definitely not a superior product to CM. Coupled with the fact that it is substantially more expensive it should be pretty clear that CEE is simply a marketing scam.

I will address your question about protein shakes in another post.

Originally Posted by Celltap3790

Right now im not on protein shakes because I took them before and I started to gain fat. And is it better to have a diet consisting of protein or to just consume protein shakes?

This is a two part question but first I do want to clarify a couple of things.

1. Were you drinking regular protein shakes or were they some type of mass gainer? Did the protein shake have any fats/carbohydrates?

2. Did you add the protein shakes to an already poor diet in hopes that they would improve your body composition?

In terms of your second question regarding whole foods vs. protein shakes; the answer to that is going to be somewhat circumstantial:

• For general protein intake whole foods are important, and I would recommend that for most people at least half of their protein intake comes from whole foods.
• There are certain times when protein shakes are superior to whole foods; specifically post-workout and during extreme dieting phases. Protein shakes can also be more convenient and in some cases more cost effective than food.
• Just like with food, the quality and type of protein shakes that you are drinking can make a big difference. Saying that all protein shakes are created equal is like saying 'a hamburger is a hamburger' when we all know there can be a large variance in taste and macronutrient profile.

Anything that's micronized. I use AST

I like con-cret seems to be the best one I have tried though I haven't tried creatine 500 and it looks like a great deal.