On another note, it's been a tough year for me, and I've hit the beer pretty hard on more than a few occasions. But creatine seems to dramatically decrease alcohol cravings. This was unexpected.
Please keep us posted. Are you presently loading or just taking the cruising altitude dose? Also, I recall you said not too long ago that you were no longer looking to add size but only maintain. So...?
I'm just doing the regular daily dose. I doubt that creatine is going to put a bunch of new muscle size on me so I'm not really worried about getting a lot bigger on it.
Baron, do you mind if I ask how old you are? One of the reasons I'm taking it is because I am 51, and I need all of the help I can get to do those extra reps and get more toned.
Don't think that because your age starts with a 5 it means that you're an old man, going for the exit. Age is only a number. Please define "toned". I have the impression that it is one of those words where nobody is really sure what it means.
I'm on my way to getting the six pack abs I've never have. I want to finally get there. I don't have a percentage of body fat in mind. And i'm not concerned about my weight anymore, because I know I'll gain more weight as I build muscle mass. I just want to see progress in the mirror.
I was pretty much chronically sore this past week. The sorest I have ever been to be honest with you. My legs were sore for 7 days straight. My chest and back were abnormally sore for many days as well. After doing some digging, I've concluded that the increased soreness was caused by creatine. I found this on Clarence Bass' website: "After three weeks of either creatine or placebo supplementation, 40 male varsity athletes were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire detailing all side effects during the double blind study. Two side effects showed the greatest difference between the creatine and placebo group: sleep irregularity (creatine 47%, placebo 7%) and muscle soreness (creatine 53%, placebo 14%). The researchers didn't attempt to explain how creatine might cause soreness, but my speculation is that muscle fibers packed with creatine may be more subject to damage as a result of heavy weight training. It also seems logical to assume that muscle soreness might cause restless sleep. Personally, I don't sleep as well when I'm sore after a hard training session. The next question, of course, is whether the resulting soreness is harmful. I doubt that anyone knows the answer at this point. This does, however, strengthen my resolve not to train again until a few days after soreness subsides. Remember, Dr. Smith believes soreness "occurs to reduce activity during a critical time of healing." I'm not stopping the creatine, but I'm glad I have a logical explanation as to why I've been so sore.