Creatine For tennis

[r2473]

My weight has not changed that much..my body has..my body fat has as well. I have worked out under multiple coaches and played collegiate athletics..I know whats going on.I went from a 33 waist to a 31 and am more muscular.

What is your height, weight, and before / after bf%?

 

[r2473]

This is coming from an already developed bodybuilder.

don't leave us in suspense. what does "developed" mean? are you competing?

 

[kishnabe]

According to the research I've read, creatine does nothing at all in the short term like that. Creatine mid-match is pointless.

Fast-digesting protein, however, is a halfway decent idea. A little Gatorade or Cytomax is even better.

Well the course I took on Exercise Physiology says otherwise.....

And I tried it and I felt the boost.

 

[jonnythan]

Relatively untrained indviduals can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. It's quite possible - this idea that you need to either 'bulk or cut' is the real myth that hurts people IMHO. You get to a point where its very difficult to add muscle without adding fat - but that's far off in most people.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_carb_cycling_codex

Here is a primer on how to do it. its diet related - of course. Short answer - carbs should be taken before and after your workout to stimulate anabolic growth. But they should be restricted on non workout days to prevent fat growth. This is why for sedentary office workers - and the like low carb is awesome. But I digress..

This is coming from an already developed bodybuilder. Its even easier to do without being trained IMHO.

Pretty hard to take anything on T-nation seriously. That site is juice central.

The way to convince me is to show independent studies.

 

[Power Player]

What is your height, weight, and before / after bf%?

5'8 177 17%
Now 180 at 12% waist size down 2 sizes.

So gained weight but physique is leaner and much more defined. I can get my BF to 9or 10 if I stop boozing with friends and girls, but that is too fun.

 

[r2473]

5'8 177 17%
Now 180 at 12% waist size down 2 sizes.

Going by your numbers, your 147 LBM at the start would put you about 12 LBM over "untrained". So you were not starting out undersized at all.

You finished with 158 LBM or 23 LBM over untrained and in very lean condition.

Just for reference, champion bodybuilder Dave Goodin has added about 30 lbs. LBM (7 more than you) in 20 years of dedicated lifting. Listen to him tell you himself.

Dave Goodin: 20 Years To Put On 30 Lbs Of Muscle.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/insidethelife18.htm

Just 7 LBM more and you will have an FFMI of 25 (as they say, about the highest a drug free athlete can achieve):

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/28/fat-free-mass-index-ffmi

Not saying you are not right, but just some frame of reference for you reported numbers.

It's really, surprising how hard it is to really build muscle. Its also surprising what 15 lbs. of added actual muscle looks like on a man. You quickly realize that few people really even add that much without using drugs. If you ever seen a guy that has added 20-25 lbs. of muscle, if he's relatively lean, he will really stand out in gyms that aren't filled with juice heads.

 

[Power Player]

Yeah I don't want to sound arrogant but I have always had muscle easily. Like freakishly easy where my friends hated me...lol. I get results very fast and am not a great example of the norm in this situation.

I added 20 pounds of muscle from 18-20 and literally everyone swore I was on roids. But I just went from 140 to 160 so fast and kept my abs and everything. It looked like I was on something, but I have never taken anything like that.

 

[Power Player]

Also, I have always been skeptical of bf calipers so we can not use that as gospel. I can say my abs got much more visible and defined now.

 

[r2473]

It doesn't really matter to me. I was just putting your numbers into some sort of perspective. Mostly just because I like to fiddle with numbers.

I wish I added muscle easily like that, but everytime I go to the bod pod machine full of hope, that evil thing dashes my illusions with a harsh dose of reality (and a bodyfat% a few points higher than expected). Oh well.

 

[Power Player]

I got lucky in that aspect, but don't take it for granted.

 

[GuyClinch]

don't leave us in suspense. what does "developed" mean? are you competing?

I meant the bodybuilder who wrote the article..not me. Though I believe I am losing fat and gaining muscle because my waist line is shrinking and my lifts are going up..

But relative to a pro bodybuilder I am untrained - so its not really a big deal..

 

[kabrac]

Alot of these statements are people telling you what has or has not worked for them with creatine. There are a few facts that I've read that are correct.

First of all everyone is not the same nor does their body operate the same as yours. Some of these people are young, some are old, some haven't even tried it and are just posting things that they have read about it.

It has worked for me. I drink some right before I pick up the weights, during, and after. I sip it on changeovers during tennis.

Basically the only time I drink it is when I train and play tennis. I don't do the whole load faze thing.

If you're doing load faze, you're just drinking sugar water which is why you gain weight probably from the unused sugar that you are using in the creatine.

If you sweat, you're not going to retain water.

This is how I use it and it has worked for me for endurance, stamina, when doing strenuous exercise or work. This does not mean my method will work for you, just experement yourself, just not too much. Hope that clears some things up.

 

[jugador.de.tenis]

This thread took on a life of its own. A lot of the information presented here is just people guessing and reading magazines and generally making broad judgments from too little information...

Did the original poster ever find the answers you were looking for?

And has anyone brought up the idea that Creatine is primarily employed in order to increase the body's ability to perform repeated bouts of high intensity exercise. In short, it allows you to perform a higher volume of work in a shorter amount of time; thus, your time to improvement (whatever it is) is reduced. It's not magic. It's very, very well researched.