I have been working out with Cathe videos for quite some time and have the STS series. I am on my 5th time with the STS and still do not feel like my arms are where I want them to be (not quite seeing the "cap"). I have been researching supplements (I take whey protein only after my weight workouts, I was drinking 1 shake before and 1 after but my Dr. advised me to cut down to 1) and I keep reading about creatine to help with endurance and building muscle. I have found a product called Femme Advantage Creatine Serum and was wondering if anybody has tried this and if it helped. I do watch what I eat, eat 4-5 meals/snacks a day that include protein and carbs & drink alot of water and I am just frustrated that I am not seeing the definition in my arms like I think I should. I am 46 and have high blood pressure (hereditary) and just want to know if anybody has any suggestions if creatine is not the healthy choice because of high blood pressure. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Creatine Use
- Thread starter tuck92
- Start date
tralaiven
Cathlete
Well, I am not a dr., but if you are asking, I will tell you my experience (or rather my husband's) with creatine.
He was a police officer and member of a SWAT team in a very high-crime city, and he worked out faithfully and was very fit...but he was preparing for the SWAT olympics for his geographic area and wanted to amp up his fitness, so he began to use creatine faithfully. (He has and was always been athletic) If memory serves correctly, he used it faithfully for about one year, and boy, did he look hot! and buffed! However, towards the end of his faithful usage of the product, he began to experience health issues which he had never experienced before, which I believe was brought on by the creatine usage. They weren't debilitating, but they were painful and he has just never been the same physically after using it. I think it is hard on the kidneys and the body. If you are asking me, I would say, please do not use it....Yes, you may see results, but you just may not know exactly what your body can handle and what you are asking it to do. Just my opinion and experience.
He was a police officer and member of a SWAT team in a very high-crime city, and he worked out faithfully and was very fit...but he was preparing for the SWAT olympics for his geographic area and wanted to amp up his fitness, so he began to use creatine faithfully. (He has and was always been athletic) If memory serves correctly, he used it faithfully for about one year, and boy, did he look hot! and buffed! However, towards the end of his faithful usage of the product, he began to experience health issues which he had never experienced before, which I believe was brought on by the creatine usage. They weren't debilitating, but they were painful and he has just never been the same physically after using it. I think it is hard on the kidneys and the body. If you are asking me, I would say, please do not use it....Yes, you may see results, but you just may not know exactly what your body can handle and what you are asking it to do. Just my opinion and experience.
Creatine retains water and it is only a temporary increase
in body mass. Most supplements are useless and even dangerous. They are nothing but a money making scam. Just get protein the natural way by eating meat and eggs and you body will appreciate it.
How much visible muscle definition one can achieve, is first dependent on genetics. Secondly it depends on the amount of body fat. Women with very defined muscles usually have an unhealthy low amount of body fat, mainly below 10 %.
If you compare yourself to fitness competition athletes, keep in mind that they work out A LOT MORE than just an hour a day, no matter how heavy you go on STS. You could try to do the shoulder exericses of STS three times a week (just tag on another 30 minutes on the the weight lifting days) for six weeks and see if you can see more results. Especially for shoulder strength: It matters if one can do pull-ups! So if you cannot do a pull-up yet, I would focus on achieving pull-ups.
If you look at magazine pictures, keep in mind that they are usually enhanced, have great lightening and the models take drugs to make the muscles pop out. The models do not look like that in real life and they do a lot of yo-yo dieting. If you compare yourself to Cathe's muscles: Cathe has been working out with weights for at least 25 years and it is her job to look great. She most likely works out more than one hour a day and has great genes. During movie shoots, Cathe and crew are usually tanned and have great lightening and that helps with visible muscle definition.
Supplements will wreck the body in the long run and for achieving an "illusion," it simply is not worth it.
in body mass. Most supplements are useless and even dangerous. They are nothing but a money making scam. Just get protein the natural way by eating meat and eggs and you body will appreciate it.
How much visible muscle definition one can achieve, is first dependent on genetics. Secondly it depends on the amount of body fat. Women with very defined muscles usually have an unhealthy low amount of body fat, mainly below 10 %.
If you compare yourself to fitness competition athletes, keep in mind that they work out A LOT MORE than just an hour a day, no matter how heavy you go on STS. You could try to do the shoulder exericses of STS three times a week (just tag on another 30 minutes on the the weight lifting days) for six weeks and see if you can see more results. Especially for shoulder strength: It matters if one can do pull-ups! So if you cannot do a pull-up yet, I would focus on achieving pull-ups.
If you look at magazine pictures, keep in mind that they are usually enhanced, have great lightening and the models take drugs to make the muscles pop out. The models do not look like that in real life and they do a lot of yo-yo dieting. If you compare yourself to Cathe's muscles: Cathe has been working out with weights for at least 25 years and it is her job to look great. She most likely works out more than one hour a day and has great genes. During movie shoots, Cathe and crew are usually tanned and have great lightening and that helps with visible muscle definition.
Supplements will wreck the body in the long run and for achieving an "illusion," it simply is not worth it.
I don't have any experience with it myself, but just wanted to mention that I had a patient (I'm a CT tech) who told me he had to stop taking creatine because his creatinine level (blood test for kidney function) was elevated which means he had a decrease in kidney function. So yes, I guess it is hard on the kidneys.
DirtDiva
Cathlete
Where is your proof that ALL supplements are bad? I do recall that Cathe uses Optimum Whey Protein. That is a really broad brush you are using.
Here is what WebMD says about whey protein, notice that whey protein interact with certain medication. One does not have to buy protein powder to get sufficient protein through diet. Additionally, supplements are not regulated, so who knows what is really in that stuff. Too much protein is hard on the kidneys. Cathe is probable using the protein as a meal replacement, not additionally to her meals. The average American diet has plenty of protein in the diet and that makes supplementation obsolete.
WHEY PROTEIN: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions and Warnings - WebMD
Just because one spend extra money on supplement does not mean the supplement are effective. Here are a few examples: Lysine, arginine and omithine are costly and ineffective. Antidioxidants are usually supplied by a varied diet and make a multivitamin unnecessary. beta hydroxy and beta methylbutyrate is expensive and has little benefits, Chromium may be dangers, vanadum can have serious side effect, baron is not needed because it is supplied by the diet, dhea increases estrogen levels and has no effect on strength or muscle mass and decreases HDL, androstenedione has no effect on strength or muscle mass and decreases HDL and Carnitine is already supplied by diet. (Source: Exercise Physiology, 7th edition, Powers & Howley)
Supplements do not do much good anyways if ones diet is crappy. Nothing can substitute a nutritious, well balanced diet, which is so important for recovery and rebuilding.
DirtDiva
Cathlete
I can link you to a zillion sites that tout the benefits of certain supplements. WebMD also has a link about the benefits of whey protein, so go figure. Whey protein and glutamine are given to people in burn units, and who have wasting disease or intestinal cancer. There will always be studies that claim certain things are useless, and then just as quickly refuted in 5 years. Overdoing anything isn't good either, I agree.
There is no way I can get all my protein requirements (amino acid profile) strictly from food. I like my body size the way it is. Fish and meat have contaminant problems, eggs if they aren't organic aren't the best choice, beans give me gas and I hate them anyway, I'm not a big red meat eater except for the occasional burger after a long ride. I like sockeye salmon, but that gets to be expensive. I would think its even harder for a vegan or vegetarian. Even peanut butter has issues since its a magnet for mold and salmonella and it depends largely on the manufacturer to weed out bad peanut supply. The info that has been going around about heavy metals in whey protein were limited to meal replacements and even then you had to be existing on those, which means over two replacements a day. Unfortunately, there are heavy metals in everything you ingest. Its all around us and you can't escape it. Lots of your veggies are grown on the side of highways. Lead in gasoline used for decades is sitting in that soil. But no one is going to do studies on that, cuz we are all screwed then. Not to mention all the vegetables, fruit, fish and meat that are now imported from overseas.
Natural whey proteins that are formulated without aspartame or artificial colors/flavors and depending if the milk was gained from organically fed cows (free range on organic fields) is one of the most complete forms of protein you can get in your diet. There are always going to be websites and studies that negate the benefits of supplements and vitamins. Sometimes I watch Dr. Oz, and he is a big proponent of multivitamins, along with Vitamin D3, and a few others. There are plenty of gurus out there that realize one cannot get everything they need from their diets because veggies and fruits today are not the same as they were decades ago resulting from agricultural depletion of soil fertility and pesticides. Your potato today has 50 percent less vitamin c for example. You can read this link and see if you believe the sources from Time Magazine.
Eating Your Veggies: Not As Good For You? - TIME
So there are large amounts of the population that cannot afford to go organic. Organic meat is impossibly expensive. Comparing a 2.5 month supply at $36 to $40 of organic whey protein is a prudent choice.
Regarding creatine...
Its helpful to first understand what creatine is and what it does. Creatine is a natural part of meat, mainly red meat. Its made in the body with amino acids and takes place in the kidneys and liver. What it does without getting too technical, is it drives muscular power or energy. Creatine turns into Creatinine in the body and that's the bad guy that is monitored in kidney function. Mostly people who have existing kidney problems are going to be aggravated by taking creatine. Its not a good thing. Not to mention it also depends on who is making the creatine since its manufactured with various contaminants (Chinese products). I would only buy German pharmaceutical grade Creatine. In short, Creatine supplementation has been around for decades and there are way too many medical studies that say its safe for HEALTHY individuals that are not overdoing it, such as in a typical loading phase that men do for a period of several weeks, then they taper down. Personally, creatine makes me bloated and it does retain water because it needs water to work in (hence the dreaded creatine gut some bodybuilders have). For the large majority of the population, especially endurance athletes, creatine isn't doing to make a lot of difference, that is amplified if you eat a lot of red meat and have a good protein number. There are lots of studies out there that say protein is hard on the kidneys, but there are so many viewpoints and reasons why.
I don't want to be seen as pushing supplements or saying everything is fine and dandy, because everyone is different and may have constraints. One should research.. and not just typical places like Web Md which I view as owned by the FDA. If protein is bad, Web MD shouldn't then also have articles on its benefits. That is what is confusing. Same thing with coconut oil, its bad, no its good...etc., but wait its a saturated fat, which is bad. Okay, I am having a little fun here....
...sorry. I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but there are lots of people on this board that can be scared by saying all supplements are bad for you.