[mrjonathanr]

worse performance due to 'licencing bias'.

Sounds like something Lee Anderson would castigate the BBC for?

[User deactivated.]

Out of interest, how much do you take daily, Liam? And do you have a view on the merits of mono hydrate vs fancier versions? Asking for a friend. Thanks.

The fancier versions are just marketing. Well, they might offer the faster absorption that they promise, but this wouldn't actually be much of a benefit. Creatine taken daily builds up in the body to reach peak concentration in around a month and would similarly take around a month to leave the body after discontinuing use. This means that the rate of absorption isn't important for long term use. Just take the cheap monohydrate once a day at any time and let it do it's thing. I use 5g daily.

[mrjonathanr]

Thanks, I thought pretty much the same. I take less but might up the ante and see if it does anything noticeable for recovery.

[sirlockoff]

pretty interesting look into janjas training, contains things that I've never seen before

https://youtu.be/x5JWmHAukSo?t=430

[Fultonius]

I've never dabbled in supplements before, but give how much difference to my mood, energy and general well being 6 week of keto did for me, I'm considering all options.

Seems like low dose creatine is reasonably regarded for power aspects, and beta-alanine for the 1-3 min endurance. Does it matter where you get it from? Any good online shops to trust?

[AndyI]

I've never dabbled in supplements before, but give how much difference to my mood, energy and general well being 6 week of keto did for me, I'm considering all options.

Seems like low dose creatine is reasonably regarded for power aspects, and beta-alanine for the 1-3 min endurance. Does it matter where you get it from? Any good online shops to trust?

I'd suggest 'Myprotein' - Decent products, frequent deals, quick delivery. Never any issues for me. As well as power & endurance, I'd also suggest creatine may assist with recovery (along with the right carb / protein balance).... potential placebo-ic affect...

[Fultonius]

Thanks. Ended up buying from Bulk as they seemed to have a 80% off deal on some of the items so gave that a bash. I'll keep myprotein in mind for next time.

Bulking is *not* what I need so hopefully that's not the end result 

[teestub]

A lot of people put on 1-3kg on creatine due to water retention in the muscles, so a bit of bulking may ensue!

[Paul B]

A lot of people put on 1-3kg on creatine due to water retention in the muscles, so a bit of bulking may ensue!

For reference, I saw this in a recent video from the EF Coach (cycling) suggesting it was a % of bodyweight:

[Fultonius]

A lot of people put on 1-3kg on creatine due to water retention in the muscles, so a bit of bulking may ensue!

I believe the dose recommended now is much lower. I need to look more into how/when is best to use it. My original thought were more about using it during a heavy training block* to promote more adaptation and support recovery. Seem like the anecdotal is that it's not beneficial for sport climbing performance unless it's maybe a very bouldery route!


* the key bit that I actually pull the finger out and DO the heavy training blocks...

[jwi]

Anecdotically, I know a bunch of sport-climbers who've tried Creatine and I know no-one who concluded that it was worth it. But with a good double-blinded unsponsered study on a sport-climbing cohort where the outcome variable is measured in climbing grades I could be convinced to suplement it.

[Fultonius]

Anecdotically, I know a bunch of sport-climbers who've tried Creatine and I know no-one who concluded that it was worth it. But with a good double-blinded unsponsered study on a sport-climbing cohort where the outcome variable is measured in climbing grades I could be convinced to suplement it.

Hmmm.... glad it was cheap!

[jwi]

Yeah, there are not many downsides to try it. Maybe you are different than the people I know?

(I try to avoid as much ultraprocessed stuff as I can, and I am unlikely to make an exception for ultra processed stuff that is clearly not essential.)

[Duncan campbell]

In contrast to this I have taken Creatine for a few years (currently not) but I have felt the benefits of it… Redpointed my hardest routes whilst taking it, onsighted my hardest trad routes, bouldered my hardest also.

I have a manual labour job and it makes me feel better a lot of the time, less tired. Helps keep me feeling snappy. And certainly good when training. Might switch to using it more in winter and less in summer possibly…

[slab_happy]

Conversely, I found it really fucked with my head and made me intensely and miserably irritable, but I have a weird brain and a track record of paradoxical reactions to meds.

It seems like there's decent evidence that for a lot of people it's helpful for mental health and brain health.

[Fultonius]

Wowzers, seems like a real roll of the dice here!

[slab_happy]

Wowzers, seems like a real roll of the dice here!

Eh, wouldn't especially say so; I am prone to getting freaky rare reactions to things.

I've Googled and found a small number of other people mentioning that they found it increased anger and/or worsened depression, so it definitely can happen, but it's not super-common.

Seems to be much more likely to be positive for people, or positive but with the potential trade-off of some water retention, or at worst it doesn't do that much.

And it was a pretty rapid and obvious "oh wow I feel VILE, better stop taking that then" reaction, so no harm done except for a week of me feeling shit (and an extremely small expenditure of money).

I honestly wouldn't advise people not to give it a shot just because of my experiences -- just illustrating the diversity of responses.

Most things that can provide chemical support for mood stuff will also fuck with some people (e.g. every antidepressant ever), because brains are weird like that. So in that sense, it is a roll of the dice, but it seems like the odds with creatine are fairly decent; I'm just unlucky.