Hi! I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice. I'm a 22 yr old female and weight 114pds. I used to be really active in sports, but I've been slacking off for a couple of yrs now and just took for granted my body being fit. I'm back at the gym now and it just seems really hard to gain muscle so I was interested in taking creatine. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of creatine? Side effects? Thks

creatine does build muscle faster.... but it can enlarge the heart if you do aerobic exercises while using it... it also can cause massive dehydration
that's all i know

It will cause you to grow hair on your back and give you horrible acne. Otherwise the stuff is great!

I'm kidding. Seriously the only known side effect is the possibility of muscle cramps which usually will only occur in those that do a lot of endurance type stuff like distance runners and only occurs in those that don't drink enough water. You see creatine puts more water into your muscles thus making you stronger and giving your muscles a more "full" or "pumped" look especially right after and during working out.

So the pro would be increased strength and more strength means lifting more means building more muscle thus weightlifters use it quite a bit. The pump look is an obvious pro to most men but I don't know if a woman would consider that a plus or not. It's not like it will blow you up like a balloon but it will make the muscles look fuller.

Really in like 20 years of studies on creatine there have been no adverse side effects other than the cramping in a very few cases of people that don't drink enough water and do lots of endurance stuff.

Also in men 3 months of creatine will usually help a guy pack on 10 pounds of muscle. If it does that for a woman or to a different extent I really don't know.

Look it up in a search engine such as Yahoo,
and you'll get all the info you need, happy
reading!

I've been using it for ages and haven't had any bad effects. No cramping, no water retention, nothing. Gave me a bit of a stomach ache for a few days when I started but once my digestive system got used to it, there were not problems there either.

As a side note, has anyone tried San Nutrition V12? I've just bought some and it's supposed to be very good stuff. It contains Tricreatine Malate, which is supposedly mych better taken up by the body, and glucosyamine, which is supposed to boost the effects of creatine, plus a few other things ("NitroArginine" (similar to NO2 I believe), N-Acetyl-L-Glutamine (supposedly more stable than L-Glutaime), and Taurine). Kind of like super creatine by the sound of it and by what I've heard. Also supposedly gets results in people previously unable to get any through creatine supplementation, due to the glucosyamine. I believe there was an article on glucosyamine in last months Flex (not sure if the UK edition is different to the US) which highly recomended it. Costs about £40 over here for 1 months worth. Probably less in the US.

THAT may explain what happened at the end of my workout a couple nights ago. I was doing straightbar curls and was on my 3rd set when my back started cramping terribly. I had to quit the set after a few reps of this, and then when I tried to do the 4th and last set it happened again, and I again had to quit the set prematurely. I have never had that happen before. Maybe it was due to the Creatine and I didnt drink much water that day or something...?

In any event, another advantage to Creatine that I have seen is the gains in strength. I have had absolutely NO negative side affects.



[This message has been edited by vanne (edited 02-07-2003).]

Great! Thanks alot guys! I think I'll give it a try, but I am afraid of gaining too much bulk, so I think I'll use it just to get started. I want nice toned muscles especially in my legs & butt, but I don't want to look masculine. I am a little worried about my heart also from what Safahasa mentioned. Will this affect me even if its only temporary? I guess I should use the search engine. Thanks again!

I've not heard anything about an enlarged heart problem. As widely used as creatine is I would think if that was truly a side effect of creatine it would be highly publicized in my opinion.

Take it from me that you better keep yourself hydrated when taking Creatine. About 5 years ago I was taking Creatine and definitely added strength. I play tournament softball and noticed a significant power increase in my hitting within 2 weeks of taking it. However, we played in a tournament and I didnt keep my water intake at a level needed while taking Creatine. I drank the same amount of water that I had before taking it and thought I would be fine because Id never had any problems with dehydration. It was about 100 degrees on the field, and we had to play 3 games in a row. About the 4th inning of the second game I fell out. Im not talking about a cramp. I had a heat stroke type episode. Im had the full body cramps, vomitting, dizziness, and everything else that goes along with a heat stroke(although they called it something other than a "heat stroke"). When I got to the hospital my temp was 107 degrees, and I took 6 bags of fluids via IV without peeing a drop. Now let me say this, it was not the Creatine that did this. It was the fact that I didnt drink enough to keep my body hydrated while using it. So be very careful about your water intake when using Creatine. Its great stuff and I would use it again. Id just drink 2 gallons of water instead of 1.

[This message has been edited by Beav (edited 02-07-2003).]

I find that cell tech is the best creatine to take. Have experienced very minimal stomach aches etc. i think it works well

Thanks again, you guys have been incredibly helpful. I'm new to the boards and just can't get enough. I think this is such a great resource for people. But just one more question. Is there a cerain brand of creatine that I should take as a girl or just the same for guys? What about cell tech?

Any brand really. Cell tech is the most popular. I've never taken it though. Currently I take a product by a company called Sci-Fit which is called Cell Fit. I used to take EAS Phosphagain HP. All three of the mentioned creatines are essentially the same (nutritional labels are almost identical). If you do have stomach problems with creatine you can try the efervesant brands. They have that efervesances like alka seltzer and are supposed to be easier on your stomach although they are a bit more expensive.

Also if I recall correctly creatine does have an impact on your liver making it work a little harder. I can't explain the science behind this. I've forgotten but if you do have liver problems you might want to really check that out otherwise no worries.

if i was a girl all i would do to stay in shape is run. If my arms were a little fat i would curl 5lb dumbells like 1,000 times lol.