Creatine - anyone using it to enhance their meet performance?

We talked about creatine during the college season this year...apparently if taken in too large of quantaties it can be extremely dangerous to you, but my coach seemed to think it was a "supplement" worth using for some swimmers. I wouldn't but thats just me.

Anything we put in our bodies has some effect....good or bad....on performance. Greasy cheeseburgers probably not helping much....at last in the long term...while chocolate milk is now touted as one of the hands down best recovery drinks you can take. I can't differentiate between "race performance" and "training/recovery aids"...because ultimately in my mind they become one in the same... If I'm eating right and taking supplements and vitamins that help me recover from hard training to come back the next workout at and train at a higher level than I would by eating badly and not taking supplements and vitamins...then in theory I should be better prepared to race fast....especially if I have a starbucks double shot 15 minutes before my 50! For me the main reason I explored "legal" supplements is the same that as my focusing on a better diet with less drinking....I want to get into better shape and be able to train harder on a more frequent basis....however creatine specifically just was to iffy....the cramping was another horrible effect which I forgot to mention.....

If it is legal or OTC it ain't helping much, more of a placebo effect. Only drugs that are accepted into mainline use are slightly beneficial. Here are the phonies and hippie (Esalem) and "natural" drugs and their efficient medical counterparts: For sleeping problems or anxiety take passion fruit flowers or leaves tea, or eat lettuce or take some green tea or a warm cup of milk...if you really want to sleep or get rid of anxiety take some Valium, or any other benzodiazepine of your choice. For impotence problems you may eat quail eggs, rhinoceros husks dried and powdered (may be hard to find), eat oysters, various herbal teas. If you really want to solve your problem, get some Viagra or Cialis. Creatine falls in the in between cathegory, the stuff that isn't really a drug, but might help out. Such as Ginseng (got to be good Korean stuff), brazilian Guaraná (powder or pills, similiar effect of ginseng and/or coffee), coffee (american roast has more caffeine than others). These stimulants are okay, but the good stuff is the illegal stuff, the diet pills, the amphetamines, the ephedrines and so forth. Will stimulants make you swim faster? No, they just give you confidence and that might help. Will coffee make you swim faster? Probably statistically not, but it does help you concentrate more. I take a cup of strong coffee before I leave for my 18:30 (6:30 P.M.) practice. I drink coffee at the swim meet, and in between swims if there is some available. I drink coffee and eat chocolate when driving long distances, might be placebo, might be caffeine, but it helps. As for milk, why are you drinking that which belongs to the calf? Want calcium, eat cheese. The BIGGEST hoax ever, is the milk hoax, over 100 years of indoctrination by the milk producers. But I do take Latte because it tastes good, and will take a double expresso with whipped cream on top, if I may, billy fanstone

Apparently creatine does increase strength. Results from small randomized studies in swimmers have been mixed. Weight gain (from water retention) is a side effect and might slow you down. Risk (if any) of longterm usage is unknown. Fear not, Geek. Caffeine is no longer banned.

A big no dice here on creatine. Personally stuff like that is high risk and borderline cheating. Advil and caffine are my suplements. Got Boost

I thought creatine was on the banned list for NCAA swimmers ... I never checked because I knew I wasn't gonna use it, but I would highly not doubt that it is there. And if you want to build muscle...reduce fatigue there are other...more natural? maybe? supplements. A lot of the kids on my team(s) have used that whey protein stuff that you mix in your drinks...I am no sure just how well it works or if it serves any of it's claimed purpose. I drank it once and almost lost everything I had eaten that week...

I used it when I was in Afghanistan. When in combat, I'll take the advantage. As a native Floridian, I wasn't used to the high altitude, very Cold (and hot) dry environment. It really does work. Having said that, I haven't used it since returning to the USA and definitely wouldn't use it for sports or any other recreation. It just isn't worth the risks.

If you can buy it OTC, it's not worth taking.

Aside from energy boost, caffeine can also provide shorter muscle hypertrophy (recovery from atrophy) times; or so I am told. Has anybody else heard about this?

I just want to know if smoking crack before my race will help?...On a more serious note, I love coffee and drink sooo much of it throughout the day (just to stay awake...LOL!!) that the regular average caffeine levels in my blood are probably too high to make me a legal swimmer with USMS....Oh well...I won't be breaking any records anytime soon so I doubt I'll ever be actually tested for anything. Newmastersswimmer