Creatine
Sex:
Male (18)
Female (1)
| How often do you use
Creatine?: Haven't used it (2) Used it once or twice (15) I'm a regular user (2) |
What do you think of the
results?: Not much, didn't notice anything (0) I climbed better (9) I climbed worse (10) |
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| What was the duration of your
usage?: Less than one loading cycle (5) One loading cycle (9) More than one loading cycle (3) |
How much water did you drink while
using Creatine?: Less than one gallon per day (0) About one gallon per day (5) More than one gallon per day (14) |
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| How often do you climb?:
Less than once per week (1) Once per week (0) Two times per week (5) Four times per week (7) More than four times per week (6) |
How long have you been climbing?:
Less than six months (4) about a year (1) two years (1) three years (2) four years (2) more than 5 years (8) |
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Comments (some edited for clarity and
length):
"I found I get headaches when I take creatine. Perhaps this is
dehydration. I felt I had more power and could do more pullups after creatine
loading but couldn't really crank any harder. I haven't tried the stuff since.
"
"You beef up, and my sex drive increased but not my performance. Your body holds a lot of water to your disadvantage. It is a waste of time for climbers."
"During loading phases I noticed increased strength, but then after a couple of weeks, I seemed to return to normal strength, but retained the gained weight. Eventually, I got sore in elbows and shoulders so stopped, now I quit using it and I am doing fine without it."
"I'd have to say that perhaps it did help me send a very difficult boulder project my first week of experimenting with it. I felt like an animal when I was climbing it, like a big powerful cat with claws, and to this day the problem has repelled every climber since, myself including as I tried to do it again....If you can time it right (for me I felt the strongest about 4 days after loading) you might just get that extra bit of power to crank it [a hard project] out. There are a lot of contributing factors to sending a hard project i.e., weather conditions, bio rhythms, knowing the moves, and a little bit of karma that also make up a good effort. Creatine alone will not get you up it. But hey, it's still legal..."
"Creatine can allow your body to get way strong, way fast. Enabling a lot of your flexor muscles to rip your tendons out of place. Their is no substitute for climbing often and resting often. "
"I used creatine for a little and the results were great at first. My endurance went up (I could boulder forever). And my performance went up a solid grade on the V-scale. But it was short term. I put on 10 pounds of worthless weight. I used it for two six week cycles. After the last I quit it."
"I can't say that it is cheating but why can't a climber take his body that he was so granted with, and use it in the best way he or she can without any help. The muscles for climbing are easily obtained by just plain climbing. Besides, the biggest muscle you need for rock climbing is in your head...your brain. I say that I will go without creatine. I don't disapprove but I don't think it is necessary for our beloved sport of climbing."
