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I've worked out my whole life (since around age 14, now over 35) and had periods where I did a lot of supplements like creatine or pre-workout. I no longer bot

by diob 2y ago

I've worked out my whole life (since around age 14, now over 35) and had periods where I did a lot of supplements like creatine or pre-workout. I no longer bother with them, although creatine is one of the more well researched / "real" supplements, so you're better off with that than lots of others. To me though they've never really done anything (besides cost money). In my opinion the best bang for your buck is drinking a coffee before or during your workout. That and make sure you get enough sleep and eat nutritious food.

mdorazio 2y ago
If we’re sharing anecdata, Creatine has very noticeable positive impact on recovery time for me. Without it, I basically have to take an extra rest day between workouts.
- diob 2y ago
  I'm at the point where I weight train about once every two weeks, over the course of two days (around 5 hrs each day, super focused on good form / slow movements). Cardio everyday though. Been doing this for almost two years at this point. Used to do the more normal splits, but this has resulted in the best results / workouts of my life. I don't recommend it necessarily, since I'm a sample size of one. I wish there were studies on this sort of thing.
grecy 2y ago
Keep in mind every body is different, and responds differently to inputs. Creatine may not have done much for your body, but that absolutely does not mean it won't be very beneficial for others. FWIW, coffee destroys me - I get the sweats, by heartbeat goes jittery and later in the day I crash HARD. It makes my stomach churn and grumble too. So for me, coffee is terrible advice.
- stemlord 2y ago
  Try tea instead of coffee, sounds like you're just taking too much caffeine
  - grecy 2y ago
    I get the same results from regular black tea, now I'm on decaf. Even decaf coffee messes with me.
- atmanactive 2y ago
  For me personally, coffee is true poison. I bless the day I decided to stop drinking it. It is a proper addictive substance messing with everything in your body. I'm sure studies will slowly but surely find correlation between coffee daily intake and a myriad of diseases plaguing humanity today.
  - grecy 2y ago
    100%. I had no idea I was living life through a fog, and it wasn't until a week or two after I got off coffee that the world got more vibrant. Almost like I'd been wearing dirty glasses and thick gloves and slight sound muffling headphones. I find life is much more enjoyable now - that drug was really messing with me.
  - diob 2y ago
    It really depends on your CYP1A2 gene. For me I'm a fast processor. For slow processor folks it is definitely poison.
- diob 2y ago
  Yes, absolutely. I have the "processes caffeine fast" gene according to 23&me. For those on the other end, they should avoid it at all costs.
nightowl_games 2y ago
I know caffeine is detrimental to my workouts because it dehydrates me and raises my heart rate. I have clear personal data on this. Creatine is well established as a substance that has a real measurable positive impact on people.
- chaostheory 2y ago
  It depends on your goals and heart health. If you want to burn through fat fast, then caffeine before heavy cardio workouts is the way to go (assuming your heart is in good condition)
  - nightowl_games 2y ago
    Sure. My heart is very healthy and I am seeking to maintain a very low body fat percentage. However, my raw performance is better if I have low/no caffeine.
- diob 2y ago
  If you have 23&me you can check your result for CYP1A2. I have the fast processing version, but those with the slow processing should avoid caffeine at all costs.
  - shrimp_emoji 2y ago
    And if you lost your report, you can try searching for it on the dark web.
maxglute 2y ago
Creatine for responders slightly improves your leverages by increasing water in muscles, which translates to a few % more weight or few more reps. Guestimate, 5% for weight, 10% for reps on higher rep sets. Which is to say it gives a little more headroom for intermediate/advanced lifters who needs to start dialing in program /volumes/recovery/diet in to progress. A few % of intensity or reps per set across training block makes all the difference. Which makes creatine pretty good no shit supplement if you taking lifting remotely seriously as a hobby when it cost $30-60 per year when bought bulk. Ultimately it's deciding if you're willing to shell out $5 a month to look a bit more swole, have slightly more headroom programming/dietting, or if programming and diet on point, lift slightly more than you otherwise would with the extra water balloon leverages. It's like the cheapest pay to win, pay for slight boost in gym ego/self esteem supplement along with a caffeine, which for many is enough.
oarfish 2y ago
You are not alone in finding no benefit, and apparently about 1/3 of people are actually non responders.
- memen 2y ago
  Interesting! Do you have sources/studies that show this?
ricc 2y ago
Maybe because you have been working out since 14, that's why the effect has been negligible or minimal?
- diob 2y ago
  Really could be, it's hard to know if my routines work because I have such a huge base, or if they're effective for everyone.
hansvm 2y ago
That's a somewhat expected result (in the sense that averaged over the whole population I'd expect results like yours more than half the time, and averaged over the subset prone to taking pre-workout supplements I'd still expect a 20+% rate of creatine doing almost nothing). Creatine has a gender bias, doesn't work for everyone, has effects that overlap non-cumulatively with extra red meat consumption (lessening the relative effect size), and is most helpful when taken 1-2 times daily rather than just pre-workout. If it doesn't work for you, by all means don't waste your time and money. Other people reading might still want to give it a shot. Proper size experimental design is a bit hard, especially if you start taking creatine as you also start working out more, so keep that in mind when evaluating results.
- diob 2y ago
  Yes, in terms of supplements it is one of the few I'd recommend if folks want a bit of a boost.

by diob 2y ago

mdorazio 2y ago

If we’re sharing anecdata, Creatine has very noticeable positive impact on recovery time for me. Without it, I basically have to take an extra rest day between workouts.

diob 2y ago
I'm at the point where I weight train about once every two weeks, over the course of two days (around 5 hrs each day, super focused on good form / slow movements). Cardio everyday though. Been doing this for almost two years at this point. Used to do the more normal splits, but this has resulted in the best results / workouts of my life. I don't recommend it necessarily, since I'm a sample size of one. I wish there were studies on this sort of thing.

grecy 2y ago

Keep in mind every body is different, and responds differently to inputs. Creatine may not have done much for your body, but that absolutely does not mean it won't be very beneficial for others. FWIW, coffee destroys me - I get the sweats, by heartbeat goes jittery and later in the day I crash HARD. It makes my stomach churn and grumble too. So for me, coffee is terrible advice.

stemlord 2y ago
Try tea instead of coffee, sounds like you're just taking too much caffeine
- grecy 2y ago
  I get the same results from regular black tea, now I'm on decaf. Even decaf coffee messes with me.
atmanactive 2y ago
For me personally, coffee is true poison. I bless the day I decided to stop drinking it. It is a proper addictive substance messing with everything in your body. I'm sure studies will slowly but surely find correlation between coffee daily intake and a myriad of diseases plaguing humanity today.
- grecy 2y ago
  100%. I had no idea I was living life through a fog, and it wasn't until a week or two after I got off coffee that the world got more vibrant. Almost like I'd been wearing dirty glasses and thick gloves and slight sound muffling headphones. I find life is much more enjoyable now - that drug was really messing with me.
- diob 2y ago
  It really depends on your CYP1A2 gene. For me I'm a fast processor. For slow processor folks it is definitely poison.
diob 2y ago
Yes, absolutely. I have the "processes caffeine fast" gene according to 23&me. For those on the other end, they should avoid it at all costs.

nightowl_games 2y ago

I know caffeine is detrimental to my workouts because it dehydrates me and raises my heart rate. I have clear personal data on this. Creatine is well established as a substance that has a real measurable positive impact on people.

chaostheory 2y ago
It depends on your goals and heart health. If you want to burn through fat fast, then caffeine before heavy cardio workouts is the way to go (assuming your heart is in good condition)
- nightowl_games 2y ago
  Sure. My heart is very healthy and I am seeking to maintain a very low body fat percentage. However, my raw performance is better if I have low/no caffeine.
diob 2y ago
If you have 23&me you can check your result for CYP1A2. I have the fast processing version, but those with the slow processing should avoid caffeine at all costs.
- shrimp_emoji 2y ago
  And if you lost your report, you can try searching for it on the dark web.

maxglute 2y ago

Creatine for responders slightly improves your leverages by increasing water in muscles, which translates to a few % more weight or few more reps. Guestimate, 5% for weight, 10% for reps on higher rep sets. Which is to say it gives a little more headroom for intermediate/advanced lifters who needs to start dialing in program /volumes/recovery/diet in to progress. A few % of intensity or reps per set across training block makes all the difference. Which makes creatine pretty good no shit supplement if you taking lifting remotely seriously as a hobby when it cost $30-60 per year when bought bulk. Ultimately it's deciding if you're willing to shell out $5 a month to look a bit more swole, have slightly more headroom programming/dietting, or if programming and diet on point, lift slightly more than you otherwise would with the extra water balloon leverages. It's like the cheapest pay to win, pay for slight boost in gym ego/self esteem supplement along with a caffeine, which for many is enough.

oarfish 2y ago

You are not alone in finding no benefit, and apparently about 1/3 of people are actually non responders.

memen 2y ago
Interesting! Do you have sources/studies that show this?

ricc 2y ago

Maybe because you have been working out since 14, that's why the effect has been negligible or minimal?

diob 2y ago
Really could be, it's hard to know if my routines work because I have such a huge base, or if they're effective for everyone.

hansvm 2y ago

That's a somewhat expected result (in the sense that averaged over the whole population I'd expect results like yours more than half the time, and averaged over the subset prone to taking pre-workout supplements I'd still expect a 20+% rate of creatine doing almost nothing). Creatine has a gender bias, doesn't work for everyone, has effects that overlap non-cumulatively with extra red meat consumption (lessening the relative effect size), and is most helpful when taken 1-2 times daily rather than just pre-workout. If it doesn't work for you, by all means don't waste your time and money. Other people reading might still want to give it a shot. Proper size experimental design is a bit hard, especially if you start taking creatine as you also start working out more, so keep that in mind when evaluating results.

diob 2y ago
Yes, in terms of supplements it is one of the few I'd recommend if folks want a bit of a boost.