Anssi Saari said:Chris Braun said:When I was lifting competitively I took creatine in a 3 weeks on, 1
week off cycle. It did make a difference in how much I could lift
when training, but yes, the gains are lost after you go off it.
If creatine supplementation allows one to lift X% more weight, then
what would be lost is approximately X% of the gains. For example if
one progresses from benching 100lb to 300lb while on creatine, he
wouldn't fall back to 100lb, but more like to 280lb. The argument for
taking it is that if you don't take creatine, you might only progress
to a lower weight in benchpress than 280lb, given the same time. So
you'd still have the net gain.
Quoted message said:I thought the main reason to use creatine with any kind of sports is
that it helps with recovery?
It mostly helps to pack more volume and intensity into each training
session. Check out these as well -
http://www.brinkzone.com/creatine-supplement.html
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/apr2005_report_creatine_01.htm