Quote:
Originally Posted by SCWolf
Protein and that's really it. The actual effects of creatine are pretty negligible to be honest. I've taken creatine many times in the past and have noticed little difference, or at most, the effects were placebo. I know this because upon discontinuation of creatine, I saw no loss in strength or overall performance.
Northstrong doesn't really feel anything from creatine either.
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I've tracked most of my workouts and supplements in a document over the last two years and in that time I've been on and off creatine a few times.
I can say with great consistency that my weight goes up about 3-4 lbs ~1 week after starting creatine.
Also, I lose about 3-4 lbs when I come off creatine. AFAIK this means I am definitely someone that responds as intended to creatine.
Adding creatine appears to add at best 1 additional on most major compounds (especially bench press) after being on it for about 2+ weeks. It's hard to tell if it was just an effect of bulking or not, but it appears to be extra on top of what I gained normally.
Coming off of it appears to cause no loss in strength. Every time I've always gained or maintained strength on all compounds.
Anecdotal verdict? Strength gain is minimal and appears to be a passive gain of about 1 rep over several weeks that isn't lost if you come off. Whether or not the passive gain stacks though over time I cannot tell. Seems unlikely to be significantly more than a rep gained here and there over months of bulking.
And it causes you to gain a couple lbs of water consistently.