Creatine makes you impotent

[4banger]

Originally posted by Steve


I can only speak for Uberlandia, but yeah, the sups are expensive. especially WHEY. You won't pay less than R$100 for a tub. That's why I stay mostly with albumin and soy. I also visit the churasco restaurants frequently. God, all that meat! R$10 and you eat as much as you can. Other sups like Vit C, you can get cheap....just have to look around.

Anabolics are easy to find, as you probably know.

Steve

Man you made me jealous, there's a Brazilian Churrascaria that's about to open here in Richmond, they'll charge $18 othrerwise we have to go to D.C. to eat churrasco it it costs $27 on the weekends and $16 during the week per person and you're paying about $4, you suck!!!
As far as I remember eggs are pretty cheap in Brazil here it costs about $1.80 per dozen.
Dude, I'm happy today, I weighted myself at the gym today and I got my lowest weight so far, 217pounds, I started to workout 6 months ago and I was about 246-247 pounds...

[Gaffer]

Originally posted by Steve
You should experiment with different techniques to find out which cycling technique works best for your body. Below is a sample 8-week creatine cycle:

Week 1 Load with approx. 20 grams a day

Week 2 - 4 Maintenance dose of 10 grams a day

Week 5 Load with approx. 20 grams a day

Week 6 - 8 Off

Repeat Cycle

Judging by my own use of creatine (and results) I think that the above cycle would work well for me.

I've been lifting for 10 weeks, using creatine for the first 8 weeks, and I've been off creatine for 2 weeks.

How much longer do you lot think I should stay off creatine before starting the above cycle?

What other cycles do you'll find that work for you?

Cheers,

Gaffer.

[heibrin]

I break for at least a month. Not purely for the maximum building potential, but also to give my body a chance to run his natural course.
I do not want to jeopardise my body’s ability to develop and store creatine naturally.

[Fudomyo]

Cycling creatine is like cycling protein. You ingest nearly all the creatine you need. Any made by the body is minimal.

Creatine provides much better workouts, and is actually helpful in increasing protein synthesis.

Cycle if you want, but you are wasting your time.

Fudo

[heibrin]

I quote:
(Mol Cell Biochem 1998 Jul;184(1-2):427-37), Guerrero-Ontiveros ML, Wallimann T.
Institute for Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Honggerberg, Zurich...



These researchers studied the in vivo effect of dietary creatine as well as 3-GPA (a creatine analog that is a competitive inhibitor of creatine entry) on the expression of the creatine transporter (creatine T). Long term feeding of rats with 3-GPA has been previously shown to decrease creatine levels in skeletal muscles without effecting creatine T expression. In this study, the expression of the creatine T was examined in rats chronically fed either 4% creatine or 2.5% GPA. Dietary creatine administered for 3-6 months, significantly lowered the expression of creatine T polypeptides. The rats fed the creatine analog GPA showed virtually no change (perhaps even a slight increase) in creatine T polypeptide expression.

The wide spread use of creatine among athletes and bodybuilders has raised concerns about possible negative side effects. Of course most of the nay sayers are looking to control its availability with little real concern for the well being of those who use it. This study has answered a question that has rested on the minds of many, which is, "Is there any reason to cycle creatine?" From the study above we see that the abundance and activity of the creatine transporter is negatively effected by long term creatine ingestion. The creatine transporter is down regulated with continued exposure to extracellular creatine.

Human skeletal muscle has an upper limit of creatine that can, or will, be contained within the cell. This limit is around 150-160 mmol/kg of dry muscle.

As the intracellular concentration of creatine approaches this level, the synthesis of creatine transporters declines and even stops depending on the amount of creatine ingested over time. In the study above, it was shown that the creatine transporter is regulated by the content of creatine in the cell rather than by the interaction of creatine, or it’s analog 3-GPA, with the transporter.

The authors of this study recommend not using creatine for over 3 months at a time. To truly cycle creatine you will have to take at least 4 weeks off. Creatine levels take at least one month to return to pre-supplement levels. It may be important to take the entire month off because one speculated mechanism of creatine transporter downregulation is that when the intracellular levels (levels inside the muscle cell) are increased the creatine transporters are taken down and not replaced as long as creatine levels remain elevated. Thus it might take as long as a month for creatine transporters to return to normal after chronic creatine supplementation.

[TommyD]

Could someone explain the advantages and disadvantages of cycling creatine? Will you lose the weight you gained if you stop taking it?

[Chain]

Steve you scared the crap out of me. hehe.