Creatine And Cycling

brotobuns said:

I am already a fit cyclist and would like to increase my edge. Are there any cyclists out there taking creatine? I am afraid of that the 'muscle volumizing' effects of creatine might decrease my endurance and high cadence abilitys - ie less slow twitch muscle.
If you are taking creatine could you please tell me how it has affected your cycling.

not really beneficial for endurance events. If you are a track sprinter also using a gym program, that's a different story.

If you are a track or crit racer, then it can be beneficial for short term power output. But if you are a road racer, then you probably need to look at the length and terrain of the events you would be participating in in a 'loaded' state. You will gain some weight so you probably don't want to be lugging this up hills.

Being a vegetarian myself I've had some positive result with adding creatine to my diet during race season. As stated no gain in endurance, but an extra edge to attacks and short sprint-finishes...could very well be placebo, but it all helps :p.
I haven't experienced any noticably weight gain, but this is most likely due to the fact that I don't overload, but merely add enough artificial creatin to reach the "normale" creatine-level that meateaters has (perhaps).

I'm not convinced that I'll repeat my usage of creatine in 2005 though

one of my colleauges was recently on about wanting to try this.
Are there any health risks. How safe is it.

Creatine has been one of the most researched supplements since it came out. Some initial studies pointed to possible side effects, but how many years later and there are no signs of long term effects. Just follow the directions and dont over load.

ebola said:

one of my colleauges was recently on about wanting to try this.
Are there any health risks. How safe is it.

triguy98 said:

Creatine has been one of the most researched supplements since it came out. Some initial studies pointed to possible side effects, but how many years later and there are no signs of long term effects. Just follow the directions and dont over load.

Yep.

Google it....there are billions of studies out there.

triguy98 said:

Creatine has been one of the most researched supplements since it came out. Some initial studies pointed to possible side effects, but how many years later and there are no signs of long term effects. Just follow the directions and dont over load.

If you have bad kidneys then it probably isn't recommended. Other than that, it's pretty safe in moderation (as are most things).

And make sure you drink more and stay hydrated since it draws water into the muscles.

www.lef.org is a good sorce of nutritional supplement info

brotobuns said:

I am already a fit cyclist and would like to increase my edge. Are there any cyclists out there taking creatine? I am afraid of that the 'muscle volumizing' effects of creatine might decrease my endurance and high cadence abilitys - ie less slow twitch muscle.
If you are taking creatine could you please tell me how it has affected your cycling.

I've been doing a lot of researching as well and have been wanting to know the outcomes of the use of Creatine when Cycling...

So from what I'm understanding... short term, you'll notice the difference, but there are no long term improvements?

Might have to try this stuff out... i'll give you guys a report in the winter.