Anyone take Creatine, is it legal

[izatt82]

my personal 2 cents on creatin is the **** don't work it might for a while but you lose it. it tried it several times not a good product in my mind. the best most consistant thing i have found is a good diet a daily vitamin and a good protien powder. i use isopure but have had good results with others. as far as your goals thats really what makes a differance. my goals when i was in the military and lifting where probally differant than yours. with that said how many dead lifts do you do per set at 220? heres the thing i personally have never used wirst straps they put alot of stress on your arms in a differnt way. i never used gloves either but that was a personal thing. now if your havng problems with your hands going out at 220 then i wouldn't sugest straps unless your doing them for some crazy reps then i clound understand the hand thing. but as far as useing them to go up in weight i wouldn't when i was lifting alot if my hands couldn't go up then i didn't go up. until you get real heavy then you almost have to have them. real heavy i consider in the 450 lbs range and up. of course you look like your smaller build than me that could play part. and if youv'e had hand problems before then i would switch my DL to a rear squat frount squat routine. and also do jump squats. DL really isn't where it's at if your looking for just leg strength. just legs i would do jump squats front and rear squats. and deep squats. the deep squats are going to hit the same area as DL which is the glutes. these will be alot easier on your hands. and on your back too if you do them right.
just my 2 cents so that way less chance of hurting your hands.

just my opiton though some thing to think about .
later

 

[mikesbytes]

Are you using an over/under grip? (One palms away; one towards you) Straps are good for overall body strength but since they're not aloud in Competition your 1 rep max will be dependent on hand strength. I do 365lbs overhanded bar hangs (palms towards me) for 60 seconds 3 reps with about 5-8 minutes inbetween for recovery. Pull it off a box so you don't have to deadlift it. Just a few inches to focus on your grip & not the lift. Whatever weight amount you use do it AFTER your normal workout 'cause your grip will be spent for hours afterwards. Sometimes I can't even open a door shortly afterwards so you'll be going to your happy place during you second set if the weight is where it should be. Only do it once a week or every other week. Once your grip improves your DL with skyrocket!
P.S. I'm in USA
Shawn

Thanks Shawn, hold for 60 seconds, thats a good idea, I'll try it with say 120kg/264lbs.

 

[mikesbytes]

my personal 2 cents on creatin is the **** don't work it might for a while but you lose it. it tried it several times not a good product in my mind. the best most consistant thing i have found is a good diet a daily vitamin and a good protien powder. i use isopure but have had good results with others. as far as your goals thats really what makes a differance. my goals when i was in the military and lifting where probally differant than yours. with that said how many dead lifts do you do per set at 220? heres the thing i personally have never used wirst straps they put alot of stress on your arms in a differnt way. i never used gloves either but that was a personal thing. now if your havng problems with your hands going out at 220 then i wouldn't sugest straps unless your doing them for some crazy reps then i clound understand the hand thing. but as far as useing them to go up in weight i wouldn't when i was lifting alot if my hands couldn't go up then i didn't go up. until you get real heavy then you almost have to have them. real heavy i consider in the 450 lbs range and up. of course you look like your smaller build than me that could play part. and if youv'e had hand problems before then i would switch my DL to a rear squat frount squat routine. and also do jump squats. DL really isn't where it's at if your looking for just leg strength. just legs i would do jump squats front and rear squats. and deep squats. the deep squats are going to hit the same area as DL which is the glutes. these will be alot easier on your hands. and on your back too if you do them right.
just my 2 cents so that way less chance of hurting your hands.

just my opiton though some thing to think about .
later

At 100kg/220lbs, this week I did 8 romanian deadlifts straight grip before the hands gave out and 7 romanian deadlifts twist grip at 120kg/264lbs. Doing conventional deadlifts I can do more reps as you can reset your hands when you have put the bar down on each rep.

Sorry, I'm not sure what a rear squat / front squat is. I've only started doing real squats this year, currently I'd doing AFT squats and conventional 90deg ones, so I'm keeping the weight low until I've got good technique.

 

[izatt82]

yep that the way you have to do it tonight i'll find a link for ya on the squats. there great if your looking for leg power.

 

[McSpin]

My experience with creatine:

I'm in my 50's and wanted to increase my energy during weight training workouts. Within 2 weeks, I was 6 pounds heavier (water). I most definitely had more energy and better workouts. The downside was that I couldn't sleep when I took it. I felt like I was jacked on caffine. As for increasing strength - better workouts equals stronger. No doubt, I made my fastest increases while taking it. For a cyclist, the weight gain would cancel out any strength gains, so I doubt it would show much use other than maybe for a track cyclist or sprinter.

 

[izatt82]

okay i got some links for ya on the squats.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html

there ya go thats pretty good form for ya
good luck

 

[mikesbytes]

okay i got some links for ya on the squats.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBFrontSquat.html

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html

there ya go thats pretty good form for ya
good luck

You would think that after 7 years of doing weights (mainly casual) that I would know the proper names for exercises, slack ain't I.

BBSquat is the one I'm currently doing and I'm focusing on getting the form pretty much identical to the animation, before going past 1X weight.

Haven't tried front squats, will try next week. In the animiation he goes down slightly below 90deg, but nowhere near an AFT.

I'll get there, all of the leg and back muscles have good strength, so its mainly about getting use to doing squats and doing them right.

 

[mikesbytes]

My experience with creatine:

I'm in my 50's and wanted to increase my energy during weight training workouts. Within 2 weeks, I was 6 pounds heavier (water). I most definitely had more energy and better workouts. The downside was that I couldn't sleep when I took it. I felt like I was jacked on caffine. As for increasing strength - better workouts equals stronger. No doubt, I made my fastest increases while taking it. For a cyclist, the weight gain would cancel out any strength gains, so I doubt it would show much use other than maybe for a track cyclist or sprinter.

Hi McSpin, I'm a cross trainer and started this thread to see if a weight lifting custom, ie creatine put me outside the rules for cycling, which it doesn't as cycling and powerlifting rules in Australia are the same rules and refer to the same web pages.

The weight gain is a concern and if I do decide to take it, I'll monitor that carefully. I hadn't heard of sleep problems, my sleep is bad enough as it is, for example last night I went to bed at 12.45am and was suppose to get out of bed at 6.00am to make it to a gym class at 7.00am (40 min commute on a bad day). Woke up at 6.08am and had to gun it on my pushie to get there on time, as it was, it was a pump class (cardio using light weights) and I missed some of the warmup, then I suffered cardio death. Anyway just trying to say that I need to sleep better not worst.

 

[izatt82]

and with those squats make sure your heels stay on the ground . if they dont you can use small weights under your heels if you just cant do it. and the front squats go real light at first if you have never done it. there going to feel very weird at first just give it time when i used to do my squat routine i go something like 3 sets of both squats alternating. so rear then front and so on. they used to really woop me. so if leg power what your looking for thats an option for ya. now if you use DL mostly for working your glutes and dont want to put undue stress on your hands. then i would suggest a cople of sets of deep squats basically a BBsquat but go almost as deep as possible. so almost your butt to your heels. that is a glute burner right there. so work in a set of deeps every once and a while to replace your normal bb squat. just some options.

this is some good info to read on squats
http://www.cbass.com/Squats.htm

 

[McSpin]

Anyway just trying to say that I need to sleep better not worst.

It may have just been me. I haven't read that it is a normal side effect. I started taking it only on weight training days, then cut the dose in half, then thirds. Finally, I started taking it only in the mornings and that helped a lot. Another side effect, that many experience, is the bloated feeling it gives you. In the end, I quit taking it because of the water retention and the bloating.

Body builders like bigger looking muscles, but I didn't care. The extra energy and strength weren't worth it.

 

[mikesbytes]

Are you using an over/under grip? (One palms away; one towards you) Straps are good for overall body strength but since they're not aloud in Competition your 1 rep max will be dependent on hand strength. I do 365lbs overhanded bar hangs (palms towards me) for 60 seconds 3 reps with about 5-8 minutes inbetween for recovery. Pull it off a box so you don't have to deadlift it. Just a few inches to focus on your grip & not the lift. Whatever weight amount you use do it AFTER your normal workout 'cause your grip will be spent for hours afterwards. Sometimes I can't even open a door shortly afterwards so you'll be going to your happy place during you second set if the weight is where it should be. Only do it once a week or every other week. Once your grip improves your DL with skyrocket!
P.S. I'm in USA
Shawn

Tried it today Shawn. I'd just done 2 hours carido including pump, which is cardio using weights and I thought I have a go. Someone has wrapped sticking plaster in this particular bar, so it has a more grip. I did 120kg/264lbs * 30 seconds * 3 and see the potential benifit. Will do each week.

 

[Lionfish]

mikesbytes,
See if PowerliftingUSA magazine is available in your part of the world. If not Amazon.com has the subscription available. It's a mainly black & white mag with AWESOME articles FROM the guys who compete & break world records AND hold a day job. Nothing beats squat advise from guys who are doing 1100-1200lbs in meets. It's unorthodoxed compared to Muscle & Fitness magazines which don't deserve their title IMO. Adapt to the styles the record breakers use & watch your lifts skyrocket. Example: My bench went from a "stuck-at" 315 X 1 to a 435 X 1 in 1 year & following the Pro's advice. It works & no more joint pain.

 

[izatt82]

yeah good point lion. yea that ones pretty good

 

[mikesbytes]

Good point, a bit of research is definently going to help. My legs are much stronger than my results. Based on a DL of 160kg/352lbs (1 rep), I guess I have a potential squat around 130kg/286lbs (1 rep) in me just waiting for the technique to catch up.

What kind of freaked me out was calf raises, I did 220kg/484lbs (10 reps) on the smith machine this week, I'm going to switch to doing single legs. But how the hell did my calfs get so strong? Cycling? Lunges? Anyway its a represensation of how I'm out of proprotion and need to focus specifically on my weakness's to bring them in alingment with my strengths.

 

[mikesbytes]

Not a lot of progress this week.

On squat day, I simply couldn't get a go on the rack, so in the end I decided to pick a bar off the ground. By this time I was tired, so I limited the bar size to a measly 45kg/99lbs and spent some time experimenting. What I did learn was that I was much better with my feet closer together, with the feet wider apart I seems to get stuck on the side of my hips, some sort of flexibilty issue. Anyway, the light bar let me play with different postions to see and feel the differences. The gym could well do with a cage to compliement the rack and smith machines, there's enough usage to warrent it.

I've hurt my right wrist flexor on back day (same day as squat). Its more like an overuse soreness, but it would now be stupid to do static holds Friday as planed.\