Is using Creatine supplements 'natural'?

[amazing-spiderman]

I'm just wondering because I've never used the stuff because I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, creatine is a drug that helps a person build muscle faster or better. What's the difference between creatine and steroids? Is creatine simply a safer, more moderate drug? Just curious don't flame me or anything.

[NPayette]

Originally Posted by amazing-spiderman

I'm just wondering because I've never used the stuff because I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, creatine is a drug that helps a person build muscle faster or better. What's the difference between creatine and steroids? Is creatine simply a safer, more moderate drug? Just curious don't flame me or anything.

We have a sticky about creatine in the supplement section go read.

Steroid is not the same thing, it's illegal and it directly affect your testosterone level a lot.

[kovalaybolt17]

creatine isnt a drug either, it has nothing to do with your hormones

[NiteHawk]

Originally Posted by kovalaybolt17

creatine isnt a drug either, it has nothing to do with your hormones

Bump. Creatine is produced naturally in your body and its a natural supplement. There is a big difference in anabolic steroids and creatine. Read my sticky in the supplement forum.

[jlozan84]

Test also occurs naturally in the body..........hmmmm

[Papasmurf]

Yes, but with creatine, you are simply supplementing an amino..... With test, you are altering your bodies hormones. big difference.....

[Fonz]

creatine is used as an energy store in the body and doesnt contribute to growth directly. You used that extra energy and strength to lift more and that should cause muscle growth. steriods which affect hormones cause all sorts of things to go on with the body one of them is muscle growth

[mitchcumstein]

When you take test its synthetic. Creatine occurs in meat naturally so theres nothing unnatural about reducing it to powder form and taking it directly.

[Traps]

Originally Posted by Papasmurf

Yes, but with creatine, you are simply supplementing an amino.....

creatine is not an amino acid

Originally Posted by Fonz

creatine is used as an energy store in the body and doesnt contribute to growth directly. You used that extra energy and strength to lift more and that should cause muscle growth. steriods which affect hormones cause all sorts of things to go on with the body one of them is muscle growth

creatine recharges the atp bond when it is broken and it does directly contribute to muscle growth

An increase of creatine stores can offer therapeutic benefits by preventing ATP depletion, stimulating protein synthesis or reducing protein degradation, and stabilizing biological membranes. Evidence from the exercise literature has shown athletes benefit from supplementation by increasing muscular force and power, reducing fatigue in repeated bout activities, and increasing muscle mass.

YES!!

I'm just skimming through pubmed....I'm sure theres studies on anabolic properties of intracellular water retention as well...

[Fonz]

Originally Posted by Traps

creatine recharges the atp bond when it is broken and it does directly contribute to muscle growth

how does that directly contribute to growth?? That line only proves what I am saying. recharging the atp bond is needed for cross-bridge cycling aka muscle movement/contraction. It just helps you exercise more effectively and that is what stimulates the muscles to grow, the more effective exercise. Lets say you are an inactive person who doesnt lift or exercise If you take creatine nothing will happen to your body except gainning water weight. It would not cause you to spontaneously grow muscles. If you took steroids and were inactive it would still cause you to develop more muscle along with other side effects.

[jlozan84]

Originally Posted by Papasmurf

Yes, but with creatine, you are simply supplementing an amino..... With test, you are altering your bodies hormones. big difference.....

Good point, never thought about it that way..........

[Papasmurf]

Originally Posted by Traps

creatine is not an amino acid

Maybe i didnt word it right, or maybe i have bad info.

Creatine is a compound that can be made in our bodies or taken as a dietary supplement. The chemical name for Creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. That sure is a mouth full - which is why it is much easier to just call it creatine. Here is the chemical makeup of creatine -

Creatine is made up of three amino acids - Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. Our liver has the ability to combine these three amino acids and make creatine. The other way we get creatine is from our diet.

[Traps]

Originally Posted by Papasmurf

Maybe i didnt word it right, or maybe i have bad info.

Creatine is a compound that can be made in our bodies or taken as a dietary supplement. The chemical name for Creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. That sure is a mouth full - which is why it is much easier to just call it creatine. Here is the chemical makeup of creatine -

Creatine is made up of three amino acids - Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. Our liver has the ability to combine these three amino acids and make creatine. The other way we get creatine is from our diet.

Good post, I stand corrected .......sort of ....

Here' another quote about creatines ability to add muscle

Also, research has shown that creatine increases the activity of myogenic cells. These cells, sometimes called satellite cells, are myogenic stem cells that make hypertrophy (increase in size of cells) of adult skeletal muscle possible. These stem cells are simply generic or non-specific cells that have the ability to form new muscle cells following damage to the muscle tissue, or to fuse with the existing muscle fibres in the case of exercise to permit growth of the muscle fibre. Following proliferation (reproduction) and subsequent differentiation (to become a specific type of cell), these satellite cells will fuse with one another or with the adjacent damaged muscle fiber, thereby increasing myonuclei numbers necessary for fiber growth and repair. The study, published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine was able to show that creatine supplementation increased the number of myonuclei donated from satellite cells. This increases the potential for growth of those fibers. This increase in myonuclei probably stems from creatine's ability to increase levels of the myogenic transcription factor MRF4 (Hespel, 2001).

Supports my belief in taking creatine in the morning and post workout rather than pre workout

[Traps]

Originally Posted by Fonz

how does that directly contribute to growth?? That line only proves what I am saying. recharging the atp bond is needed for cross-bridge cycling aka muscle movement/contraction. It just helps you exercise more effectively and that is what stimulates the muscles to grow, the more effective exercise. Lets say you are an inactive person who doesnt lift or exercise If you take creatine nothing will happen to your body except gainning water weight. It would not cause you to spontaneously grow muscles. If you took steroids and were inactive it would still cause you to develop more muscle along with other side effects.

I moved my response to here http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/fo...ad.php?t=29064