I'm thinking about running Mono to supplement Rugby as I feel it may benefit the start/stop explosive nature even though I consider myself a non responder in the past but I could put that down to simply under dosing and definately not loading.

Thoughts are possibly to simply load 20g daily for 10 days follwed by 5g daily maintenance unless others have different suggestions. Timings are the other issue as some say pre but not post and vice versa.

As a side note I'm thinking of making this part of a small energy formula made up of OKG (which I have but not used yet) and D Ribose.

I think that the effects of creatine are so subtle its hard to seriously pin it down and say that..yes the creatine has made a difference...when there are so many other variables. I think that loads of supplements are in the same boat if not most.

With it being cheap as chips though its defo worth adding to a formula...thats where you can feel something happen imo.

Rab, I think you're right.

Formula idea is just for something very simple to try and aid energy so I've not included the likes of Citrulline Malate or Beta Alanine which I find can work well in the gym but perhaps not so well on the pitch where I can find Beta Alanine can make me feel sluggish.

I think the 3 ingredients complement each other well.

Have not research this but have read that you can achieve over compensation and super saturation of creatine stores by aggresive loading... increasing your capablity to store more and upregulating the activity of the enzymes it uses.

it's certainly an important fuel and optimised stores would be essential for optimum performance, particularly when exercising in a way which requires bursts of explosive energy.

Most people who eat enough protein from animal sources though will most likely have pretty full stores of creatine from this alone... i think this is why creatine supplementation often doesn't seem to do much in some people as they are already getting enough from diet. In this case I'd suggest trying the loading and super compesation to see how that pans out.

Just be careful not to overdo as I got the shits once - which isn't fun during a game....

i haven't bothered loading creatine for a couple of years now. i tend to take 3-5g pre and 5g post. then just 5g on non-training days. works fine imo.

simon m wrote:Just be careful not to overdo as I got the shits once - which isn't fun during a game....

Yeah, I remember those days!

health4ni wrote:i haven't bothered loading creatine for a couple of years now. i tend to take 3-5g pre and 5g post. then just 5g on non-training days. works fine imo.

I assume you cycle? That is the other train of thought that over a short period of time that body will gradually load anyway with doses above 3g-5g daily.

nah, I don't think you need to cycle with creatine. Now that I hardly eat animal protein it's an even better idea to stay on it.

health4ni wrote:nah, I don't think you need to cycle with creatine. Now that I hardly eat animal protein it's an even better idea to stay on it.

Do you not worry about creatine deposits in the Kidneys over time? I never could tell if this was fact or an old wives tale in the early days of Creatine when it was considered to be bad for ones health.

If you have healthy kidneys and don't take 20g every day then I don't see it's a problem.

Some days I forget to take it. And I've not been using creatine the entire 2009 year (first three months I think I didn't at all).

I've always though that creatine loading doesn't make a difference other than that you fill your stores quicker when you load and more graduallly otherwise... but someone posted something on another forum claiming that loading upregulates the creatine transport enzymes and so it can improve utlisation above that of a gradual intake.

Could be just theory though... will try and find the article.

health4ni wrote:i haven't bothered loading creatine for a couple of years now. i tend to take 3-5g pre and 5g post. then just 5g on non-training days. works fine imo.

same here

Here's a good un - http://www.clinsci.org/cs/104/0153/1040153.pdf .

Quite an interesting study thats proves that there are non repsonders to Creatine and it's application is suited to short bursts of activity.

I think it was a little obvious that 2g maintenance would be too low as most would opt for 5g but again this proves the case. I think there is something in the case for the body down regulating natural Creatine production due to a higher dose external supplementation in a similar way to AAS usage and shutdown in that if you over compensate the body will decrease or stop it's production altogether. If were to be the case for natural Creatine production then perhaps a week of tapered dosing could be applied.