mickkeen

Hey all,

Firstly, im a newbie to this forum, so hello to everyone.

Stats;
Training for approx 3 years now.
Training 3-4 times per week.
Im just under 11 st.
Since i started training the only supps ive used have been Whey protien, and have recently just started using a weight gainer as i want a bit more size and i have also upped my cal intake to approx 3000 per day. And i have also recently started using Kre-Alkalyn creatine.

My question is about when the best time to take creatine is. I have heard different from various people, some people saying take before and after training, some saying only before and some saying only after.

To be honest ive been supping Kre-alkalyn at the suggested dose for about 3 months and havent really felt or seen anything significant. So there is the possiblility i am a non responder.

Or maybe that Kre-alkalyn isnt all its cracked up to be?

Im not entirely sure, and would love some advice if possible on when is the best time to use creatine and if there is anything better than kre-alkalyn.

If you need any more info about me just ask.

Thanks for your time.

Mick.

R1dd1ck

take it about 30 - 40 mins before u eat. Depending on what ur dosage is, if its two times a day, then i stick wi 1 morning, i mid afternoon, but if three then 1 mornin, mid then before tea. If u take it wi food tho it diminishin the effects.....cancels it out, i believe u can only have a certain amount of glutamine with this also. bout 5g a day or summet, i dont think i have much tho.

Conrad

One serving of Kre-Alkalyn creatine is typicaly 2g per capsule. Two servings a day is sufficient. Take two capsules 30 mins before training and two straight after. On non training days take 2 servings of 2 caps on an empty stomoch. One of these should be first thing upon waking before am cardio. Im going by the typical 2g per capsule here. If you tell us what brand your taking it will help.

mickkeen

Thanks for the replys guys.

The kre-alkalyn im taking is sci-fit.

Conrad

goodo ....my post was made with the sci fit Kre-Alkalyn in mind.

Liam

I have creatine i take one every other day, usually after training cause then just when i take it.

Conrad

Dosage depends on what type of creatine your taking mate... and what your using it to achieve.

shaz84

Hi there

Good luck with the creatine supplementation... just be careful with overdosing... I was taking 30g per day on a loading cycle and by the end of the week I couldnt breathe.

What's your workout routine like? You mention you havent seen any benefits of the creatine, but what is you diet and routine like and how hard on a scale of 1-10 do you feel you have worked yourself at the end of a session?

Shaz x

HouseOfPainUK

Stick with Creatine Monohydrate (creapure). The most researched and proven creatine out there. Read the following article which backs my statement.

The following is an article from Muscle and Fitness.

Creatine ethyl ester rapidly degrades to creatinine in stomach acid

Child R1 and Tallon MJ2

1Department of Life Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Rd, Kingston-upon-Thames, United Kingdom. 2University of Northumbria, Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, DrChild@CR-Technologies.net

Creatine ethyl ester (CEE) is a commercially available synthetic creatine that is now widely used in dietary supplements. It comprises of creatine with an ethyl group attached and this molecular configuration is reported to provide several advantages over creatine monohydrate (CM). The Medical Research Institute (CA, USA) claim that the CEE in their product (CE2) provides greater solubility in lipids, leading to improved absorption. Similarly San (San Corporation, CA, USA) claim that the CEE in their product (San CM2 Alpha) avoids the breakdown of creatine to creatinine in stomach acids. Ultimately it is claimed that CEE products provide greater absorption and efficacy than CM. To date, none of these claims have been evaluated by an independent, or university laboratory and no comparative data are available on CEE and CM.

This study assessed the availability of creatine from three commercial creatine products during degradation in acidic conditions similar to those that occur in the stomach. They comprised of two products containing CEE (San CM2 Alpha and CE2) and commercially available CM (Creapure?). An independent laboratory, using testing guidelines recommended by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), performed the analysis. Each product was incubated in 900ml of pH 1 HCL at 37? 1oC and samples where drawn at 5, 30 and 120 minutes. Creatine availability was assessed by immediately assaying for free creatine, CEE and the creatine breakdown product creatinine, using HPLC (UV)

After 30 minutes incubation only 73% of the initial CEE present was available from CE2, while the amount of CEE available from San CM2 Alpha was even lower at only 62%. In contrast, more than 99% of the creatine remained available from the CM product. These reductions in CEE availability were accompanied by substantial creatinine formation, without the appearance of free creatine. After 120minutes incubation 72% of the CEE was available from CE2 with only 11% available from San CM2 Alpha, while more than 99% of the creatine remained available from CM.

CEE is claimed to provide several advantages over CM because of increased solubility and stability. In practice, the addition of the ethyl group to creatine actually reduces acid stability and accelerates its breakdown to creatinine. This substantially reduces creatine availability in its esterified form and as a consequence creatines such as San CM2 and CE2 are inferior to CM as a source of free creatine.

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Kre-alkalyn? supplementation has no beneficial effect on creatine-to-creatinine conversion rates.

Tallon MJ1 and Child R2

1University of Northumbria, Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, 2Department of Life Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Rd, Kingston-upon-Thames, United Kingdom. DrTallon@CR-Technologies.net

All American Pharmaceutical and Natural Foods Corp. (Billings, MT, USA) claim that Kre-alkalyn? (KA) a ?Buffered? creatine, is 100% stable in stomach acid and does not convert to creatinine. In contrast, they also claim that creatine monohydrate (CM) is highly pH labile with more than 90% of the creatine converting to the degradation product creatinine in stomach acids. To date, no independent or university laboratory has evaluated the stability of KA in stomach acids, assessed its possible conversion to creatinine, or made direct comparisons of acid stability with CM.

This study examined whether KA supplementation reduced the rate of creatine conversion to creatinine, relative to commercially available CM (Creapure?). Creatine products were analyzed by an independent commercial laboratory using testing guidelines recommended by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). Each product was incubated in 900ml of pH 1 HCL at 37? 1oC and samples where drawn at 5, 30 and 120 minutes and immediately analyzed by HPLC (UV) for creatine and creatinine.

In contrast to the claims of All American Pharmaceutical and Natural Foods Corp., the rate of creatinine formation from CM was found to be less than 1% of the initial dose, demonstrating that CM is extremely stable under acidic conditions that replicate those of the stomach. This study also showed that KA supplementation actually resulted in 35% greater conversion of creatine to creatinine than CM. In conclusion the conversion of creatine to creatinine is not a limitation in the delivery of creatine from CM and KA is less stable than CM in the acid conditions of the stomach.


P.S. Creatinine is essentially the term used for when creatine (combining with your stomach acids) becomes a toxin in your system. And when that toxin induces itself, this is when you start to experiece side effects.