But when you get down to the nitty-gritty,
without the big names or "proprietary formulations"
behind the creatine products, there's two main ingredients
left - creatine and carbs (namely dextrose). I haven't actually
gotten around to do a review of EAS Phosphagen yet, but
like Muscletech Cell Tech, and most other carb (insulin)
based creatine delivery systems out there, it all comes
down to creatine and dextrose. (read my Cell
Tech review here.)
So, Why Dextrose (simple carb) and Creatine
Monohydrate?
Good questions. The answer is really simple
- insulin spikes. Whenever you eat food, your body release
insulin in response to the food that's consumed. It's a
well known fact that sweet stuff, especially simple carbs,
if ingested in large amounts, can cause insulin spikes.
Insulin is released in response to the
all the extra blood sugar, and it works hard to shove all
that extra blood sugar into the cells, and this is when
the creatine also gets shoved into the cells thus enhancing
creatine absorption. Our Muscletech
Cell Tech review part 2 talks about this in some detail,
so you can read it here.
Making Your Own Creatine Delivery System
So why spend all the money to buy expensive
stuff like CellTech or Phosphagen when you can make your
own creatine delivery system for a fraction of the cost?
I've been doing this for sometime now, and the results are
just as good, and my wallet even gained some weight. ;-)
In any case, if you wanna save some money,
then make your own Cell Tech or Phosphagen. Let's just see
how easy this really is. Below is exactly how I make my
own CellTech with the exact ingredients and costs involved,
you'll see how much you can save and how much extra servings
you'll get out of this method.
Ingredients Needed For Homemade
Creatine Delivery System
- Prolab Creatine Monohydrate - 1000g
($34)
- Dextrose - 10lbs ($2 per 2lb bag X
5 bags)
- Coolaid flavor paks - ($2 for 8 paks)
- One 4Litre container
Look at that, the total cost runs you
at $46 bucks, which will give you roughly 130 servings total.
If you do loading (4 servings a day for 1st week), this
will last you roughly 58 days, equivalent of a full 8 week
cycle.
On the other hand, if you were to buy
Cell Tech, the 7lb tub runs at $65 and has only 32 servings,
which will last you for only 30 days at most, and that is,
if you don't load during week one. Big difference huh?
With my homemade method, you spend about
$46 bucks for 130 servings compared to $65 for only 32 servings
of Cell Tech, or 42 servings of Phosphagen at $30. In the
end, you'll still have 350g of creatine left over from the
1000g tub. What a deal! See calculations below to understand
this a bit more.
1lb has 454g X 2bags = 908g (this is the
amount of dextrose used to make 4 litres
908g / 35g per serving = 26 servings per
4L (aim for 35g of dextrose per serving)
26 servings X 5bags of dextrose = 130
servings total
Creatine used = 130 X 5g = 650g
Creatine leftover = 1000g - 650g = 350g
Simple and straightforward math. ;-) If
I messed up, let me know.
Simple Instructions To Making Your Own
CellTech, Phosphagen
I'm starting another cycle tomorrow with
homemade stuff (by the time you read this, I probably will
have started my cycle). So I made my Cell Tech today. Here's
how:
- Save those 4litre milk jugs you have
- wash it and let it dry
- Get a funnel, and pour one full bag
(2lb) of dextrose in
- Add in 2 paks of coolaid flavoring
of your choice (I like lime and orange)
- Fill the milk jug 1/3 full with cold
water, then shake hard to make sure the dextrose and coolaid
dissolves and mixes
- Fill the milk jug all the way
to the top, throw it in the fridge and you're done!
Important: Do NOT mix in your
creatine at this time, unless you want creatinine, which
is useless. Only mix in creatine at the time of each use.
(Note: the mixture above tastes awesome,
maybe a little on the sweet side. I'd say it tastes just
as good if not better than Cell Tech with coolaid!)
Now, the question you're probably wondering,
is "how much do you take each time?" I've done
the math for you already, so no worries. ;-) Generally,
you want to get around 35g of dextrose with 5g of creatine
per serving, and for after workouts, I prefer to get a full
70g of dextrose with 10g of creatine (2 servings).
4L (4000ml) / 26 servings = 154ml per
serving
So, every serving size should be 154ml
of the drink you just made, which will contain 35g of dextrose.
1 cup is 250mls, so fill 1 cup to about 60% full, and that's
a full serving.
What About The Extra Ingredients?
You'll see a few other ingredients like
Chromium Picolinate and Alpha Lipoic Acid in Cell Tech.
They work to help make the receptors more receptive to insulin
and enhances the insulin action. You can get these extra
ingredients like Chromium and ALA for relatively cheap.
Personally, I didn't go thru all the trouble
to get these two extra ingredients, but its up to you whether
you wanna get them or not. Follow the links below to get
all the ingredients you need for homemade Cell Tech.
>>
Click here for Prolab Creatine
>>
Click here for American Creatine
Or if you wanna shell out an extra $3
bucks, you can get the AST
Micornized Creatine here.
>>
Click here for Dextrose
>>
You can get chromium picolinate here
>>
Get alpha lipoic acid here
As far as chromium
picolinate and alpha
lipoic acid goes, I got articles on both of these on
the site, and its really up to you if you want to take it
all the way and get these two as well. I didn't myself.
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