Quote:
|
Originally Posted by debaser
Creatine is just muscle for the terminally lazy. It doesn't even build strength, just muscle mass, and it does that through water retention. Yeah, you may gain a bit of extremely short term strength from the sugars colocated with that water, but in the end you are just gonna be heavier and no stronger. If you want to get fit, do it the old fashioned way.
|
Creatine works as thus:
Your cells do all their functions by using little teeny tiny packets of energy called ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate), which are the products of the respiration of glucose (the breakdown into useable parts, otherwise it would be like putting crude oil into your car).
When any type of work is undertaken, ATP is broken down into ADP (adenosine DI-phosphate), releasing a little bit of energy which is used to do whatever needs to be done.
The clever bit is, your body then sticks another phosphate back on the ADP to form ATP again. Endless recycling basically.
Unfortunatly, this can only happen so fast before your cells have to stop their work to build back their energy stores.
What creatine does is enter your cells as Creatine BI-Phosphate, and if you were paying attention before, these phosphates are what we need. The ADP comes along, nicks the phosphate off the creatine, thus reforming back into ATP considerably quicker than before.
Creatine gives your cells a new 'energy' source for short burst work. What this equates to is a couple more reps/few more pounds or kgs weight. More lifting on your behalf equals more muscle building (simplified).
Creatine also has the knack of sucking loads of water into your cells, so you bloat up. The extra water in your muscles gives the illusion of super-duper muscle growth, which people get dispondant about when they stop the creatine and drop the water.
The strength loss is only the loss of extra 'energy' that your cells were using. Most people will find that after a good stint on creatine, they will work out using more weight and be a bit heavier. Good stuff for breaking through plateus.
I don't like creatine, i already hold loads of water for various reasons, and it makes me sweat like a pig even walking up the stairs.
NO2 acts as a vasodilator, opening up all your bloodvessels so they can accomodate more flow. More blood to your muscles means more glucose to be used to power the cells, so more work can be done. It also means that more nutrients go into the cells, so possibly more growth. The pumps stay longer because the vessels stay maxed open for longer.
As stated before, problems can arise when you get a cut. The wider blood vessels can make clotting difficult, leading to constant bleading. If this does happen, ALWAYS visit a doctor or accident and emergancy department, although it may be the NO2, there are lots of very nasty things out there that inhibit blood clotting.
Switching around your training can help your break through a hard training spot just as well as supplements. Not that i don't say use them of course
