Creatine vs. Whey Protein

I have just ordered some whey protein in the UK. It's Promax by Maximuscle ( www.maximuscle.co.uk ). Glad to here that it seems pretty good. I do exercise everyday, 1 day cardio, 1 day weights. Have done so for about three years. Now I am a vegitarian and don't think that I'm getting enough protein in my diet, hence the whey.

This is my take on whether to take creatine or protein...Creatine works period. I've had horrible skin reactions in the past which I have finally beaten now...no acne whatsoever and clear skin again...god it feels good. (I stay away from it obviously)Anyway while creatine does work one should look into the brand of the creatine. Cell Tech I gained a good amount of weight on it and I stacked it with Nitro Tech also. After 3 months I was up 15 lbs or so. Funny thing is I never moved up in weight in terms of lifting. I had the energy to complete my workouts easily, but the one thing I should have done but didn't know about was to lift for power every few months...I was working on hypertrophy at the time apparently but quit after I broke out real bad...With creatine LOTS of water should be drunk. 12 8 oz glasses of water is sufficient IMO plus the water drunk during workouts. If you want to gain use both protein and creatine but be weary of the brand. Some creatines actually all except a few types of creatine uses simple sugars to upload into your system and that really is not the most efficient way available on the market now. And protein powders while they do work need to be used with precision. If you take too much (like say enough for a huge ass bodybuilder type guy who's been at it for years) then you'll store fat quickly and if you don't take enough then what the hell is the point. However, creatine needs to be cycled off and on like say 3 months on 1 month off...and one or two cycles won't do anything for anyone. You'll lose the weight and muscle. Most of the gains people make are srtictly in the form of muscle water, but the way creatine gives people nice gains over time is that the muscles over time adapt and allow for more retention of this muscle water. At least that's what I have always thought.

Creatine is good for energy and if used for a prolonged period will give way to bigger muscles and protein is good for building and sustaining actual muscle. Either way when you are bulking up though you aren't worrying about the way your muscles look right so I say creatine is best to use to get quicker results and is best if you can't really afford to be on both. That's just my opinion though of course.

Creatine isn't something bad. If it was, it would be illegal.
If you want to build muscle, use both.

What I read in Men's Health was that if creatine is taken with whey protein after your work-out, you get really nice results.

It's not so much that it's bad...it's just that it isn't as effective when it comes in that sugar powder shit like in Cell Tech...Plus that kind of creatine needs to be cycled as well. about 3 months on 1 off otherwise you won't get results for your efforts.

Some say the sugar is essential, because you need to spike your blood sugar for it to be effective. I have no idea what to think. I haven't used creatine since 2001.

Hydromaxmm..haven't heard that one before as being a positive. You are talking about the glucose levels and the subsequent insulin spike right? It's good for absorption, but I don't understand how some will say that makes it effective thus efficient. Certain people will tell you it is a good thing and then fail to mention that such a spike can cause damage eventually to the pancreas. I think the E-Creatine is the best kind out there right now because more of the creatine gets into the body more efficiently. I can't stand taking supplmements though. It gets too expensive and most people don't have the time or genetics to look as good as we all wish.

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/CreatineMeta-analysis.php

Creatine is a perfectly safe substance as it is created naturally in your muscles anyway. This article has all you need to know

Why did you break out from creatine??? I've read in double blind studies done on MuscleTech and Celltech the results were good, but the interesting finding was in the materials they found andro substrates in the powders. Very interesting that you mention breaking out from using it, which would explain the breakouts, since any increase in test production in some males causes breakouts, most cases causes breakouts but on varying levels.

There is a little known company Beverly International that makes great products. From their multivitamin, protein powders, creatine select, or glutamine select. Best quality on the market. You can stay on creatine year around if you want, it doesn't really matter. The research doesn't point to a need to cycle, as it does not effect hormone secretions and does not directly correlate to anabolism.

I only read a couple of posts, so i'm sorry if this was already mentioned

That being said.. I don't how you can put protien versus creatine.... they are both very different things

Protien obvoiulsy helps you rebuild muscle, with out enough of it, you aren't going to rebuild anything, period. So if you are serious about adding extra muscle then protein is essential. You don't need whey protein.. but if you would rather have a glass of water, with powder, than a 5oz stake, then Whey is your best bet.

Creatine- As your muscles are working their are motor units that help contract, the thing that powers the contraction is ATP. Once the ATP has caused a contraction it becomes ADP. You have a certain amount of ATP already made in your body, and you make more when you are working out, but eventually the sources will run out, and thats where creatine comes in, the creatine turns ADP back into ATP. So your muscle can use the ATP and keep on contracting. Your body already has creatine, it makes it naturally in your body, just not a whole lot. So once the creatine runs out, you start to run on lactic acid, and then you are out of energy and you can't do anymore reps.

By taking more creatine you will be able use your muslces longer, and in effect you will have a more complete workout and you will gain more eventually.

So one is not better than the other.. They do different tasks. I think that Protien is essential for people trying to build muscle, while takign creatine is more optional, and it will help your work out, but taking it and laying on your fat ass will not help you build muscle.

There are certain foods like red meat and such that will have creatine sources in them aswell, so thats an option too.

Hope that helped a bit, although, I have a feeling this was already talked about in the 3 pages I didn't read.

iwant8inches said:

Hydromaxmm..haven't heard that one before as being a positive. You are talking about the glucose levels and the subsequent insulin spike right? It's good for absorption, but I don't understand how some will say that makes it effective thus efficient. Certain people will tell you it is a good thing and then fail to mention that such a spike can cause damage eventually to the pancreas. I think the E-Creatine is the best kind out there right now because more of the creatine gets into the body more efficiently. I can't stand taking supplmements though. It gets too expensive and most people don't have the time or genetics to look as good as we all wish.

Click to expand...

Well, I was looking for pure creatine a couple years ago, without the sugar, while on a carb-cutting diet. A couple nutritional stores told me that the effect would not be nearly as great without the sugar.

Probably not...without the sugar I mean, but creatine ethyl ester is most likely better to take if you want creatine that works for you as efficiently as creatine can.

millionman said:

Why did you break out from creatine??? I've read in double blind studies done on MuscleTech and Celltech the results were good, but the interesting finding was in the materials they found andro substrates in the powders. Very interesting that you mention breaking out from using it, which would explain the breakouts, since any increase in test production in some males causes breakouts, most cases causes breakouts but on varying levels.

There is a little known company Beverly International that makes great products. From their multivitamin, protein powders, creatine select, or glutamine select. Best quality on the market. You can stay on creatine year around if you want, it doesn't really matter. The research doesn't point to a need to cycle, as it does not effect hormone secretions and does not directly correlate to anabolism.

Click to expand...

I never had one zit in my life until I took Cell tech and Nitro Tech. It was horrible. I was on both from the fall until December of that year. Then after a few months of being off it with the help of ProActive it went away. Then about a year and a half later I got on GNC's monohydrate creatine in the small individual packets and within 3 weeks I had it about as bad if not worse (because it lasted longer than the previous time...the first time wasn't even like acne it was like boils or something they were so dark and huge...like bubbles or something...I was scared). So while I can't say it is because of creatine for certain I never had one zit or skin problem before I tried it and while I was off it my skin was nice and clear and then when I tried it again I broke out again. The first time was when I was 16 and the next time I was 18. I don't have it anymore thank goodness...after a year of seeing a dermatologist. Now everything is cool, but I know if I tried creatine again...boom.

I've never heard of anything like that before. Since creatine doesn't affect your hormonal secretions I don't understand why it would cause you to break out. That's interesting. It may have something to do with an increase in hormone production due to greater force output or more productive training sessions. At the same time you could be alergic to it. I have a friend of mine who is allergic to peanuts and he breaks out throughly if he eats anything with peanuts or peanut oil.

creatine does a lot more in your body than just the muscle aspect.

Its everywhere

so I almost wouldn't be suprised about the break out, all though I have never heard of it.

millionman said:

I've never heard of anything like that before. Since creatine doesn't affect your hormonal secretions I don't understand why it would cause you to break out. That's interesting. It may have something to do with an increase in hormone production due to greater force output or more productive training sessions. At the same time you could be alergic to it. I have a friend of mine who is allergic to peanuts and he breaks out throughly if he eats anything with peanuts or peanut oil.

Click to expand...

yeah I don't know either...I'm supposed to see my dermatologist this coming friday and I'll ask her exactly what she thinks was the cause of all what I had...it's all gone now ...I can't even believe the improvement. She never did really tell me what I had...I never really asked I was just desparate for a solution rather than an explanation...like I said though I don't condemn the product altogether...it works...I just am not going to use it anymore...

From what I have read,

Creatine is supposed to give you energy and extra strength to lift harder and it also aids in faster muscle healing.

weight gainer proteins are basically a bunch of proteins bundled into high calorie shakes that substitute meals because in order to gain weight you need to eat eat and eat more and food is expensive if you eat a medium sized meal 6 times a day and not many people have the appetite to do so, esp. me.

iwant8inches said:

Most of the gains people make are srtictly in the form of muscle water, but the way creatine gives people nice gains over time is that the muscles over time adapt and allow for more retention of this muscle water. At least that's what I have always thought.

Click to expand...

People, you are over complicating things here...

Creatine gives the muscle the extra energy. It's made naturally in your body and you even eat it in your favorite steak.

Now, if you take more, the more the energy right? ( up to a maximum value of course)

So if you have more energy, that means you not necessarly lift more weight, but you can workout longer, or at least have shorter rest time between the exercices. That means you can do more in less time. that's GREAT.

So can someone explain how is this logical to say that you will LOOSE your gain when stopping creatine?? creatine lets you workout harder, straining your muscle harder ( which is a good thing, more micro fissures to heal, meaning more protein needed, meaning, bigger/stronger muscle)

If you can work out the gym harder, that means you will get greater results in less time. If you lifted 10 lbs at benchpress instead of your maximum capacity of, say, 150 lbs, you would not gain much I'm I right... Now with creatine you can continue to lift 150 lbs, but for more reps, with less restbetween each rest.

You all know that.

How the hell stopping creatine will LOWER your current muscle mass... water , yes, but not the muscles. They do not depend on creatine to keep alive.

Creatine will help grow more muscle on the same workout by letting you do more reps, which is destroying your muscle, which is good :s


P.S.You all know that training your muscle means to micro fissure them in order to fit in those fissures some new muscle cell, which makes the muscle bigger after.

wow we got the master of reviving dead threads....anyway you cannot compare whey and creatine....Whey is literally essential. Without it your body will eat at your muscles. Creatine is a choice, bad choice at that. Creatine will give you 1 to 2 more reps thats it. Protein whey is the whey to go lol

im2manly said:

wow we got the master of reviving dead threads....anyway you cannot compare whey and creatine....Whey is literally essential. Without it your body will eat at your muscles. Creatine is a choice, bad choice at that. Creatine will give you 1 to 2 more reps thats it. Protein whey is the whey to go lol

Click to expand...

wow we've got the master at telling jokes ... anyways blame it on REDZULU2003, for indexing all the good threads on 1 sticky thread.

Some old threads are still good :s

ggogeta said:

...How the hell stopping creatine will LOWER your current muscle mass... water , yes, but not the muscles. They do not depend on creatine to keep alive...

Click to expand...

You have a very rudimentary understanding of anabolism and muscle hypertrophy... but to answer you question, gains from creatine is mostly from intra-cellular water gain (water within the muscle). This is not the same as bloat, which water outside the muscle. Once you stop taking creatine, you lose that ability to carry so much intra-cellular water and lose size.