gym: bastards closed the weight room / creatine loading

[darxus]

When I got to the gym thismorning to lift, I was told at the front desk that the downstairs (which includes all of the weight lifting equipment) was closed. Something about a building inspector and renovations. They suggested I call back thisafternoon to find out when it will open again. I'm wondering if I can get them to arrange for me to lift at Bally's at Porter until they fix their shit.

So I did half an hour on an elliptical set at 170bpm (instead of the calculated target of 154bpm). Was neat. I didn't die. Not significantly hard on my limbs. My heart seemed fine with it once I got up to 170. While increasing, it seemed a little tough on it though. I think I'd do it again.


"...creatine functions as a secondary reservoir for short-term energy..." It's another very common supliment for athletes / bodybuilders. Also adds 7-10lbs of water to muscle mass. Basically, you can exercise harder to build muscle faster.

I picked some up last night. I don't expect to add any more supliments (other than trying to remember to actually take my multivitimins) for a while. misc.fitness.weights faq suggested buying a 1000 gram tub, so I looked them up on vitaminshop.com. Prolab brand was $20.39. So I called the shop to ask them, since I still don't know the relationship between website prices and store prices. They said they had 3,000 grams for $21.60. I didn't believe them, but I was primarily calling to find out when they close, and didn't expect to get there yesterday. When I realized I was actually going to get there, I called again. This time they said the only Prolab creatine monohydrate (normal creatine powder) they had was 600 grams for $14.10. Fine. At the store they charged me $16.20+$0.81 tax. Bastards.

I started creatine loading last night, first (one teaspoon) dose with dinner. One first thing thismorning, and one after my workout. Will take another with lunch, and the 4th and last for the day after work. I'll keep doing this for 5 days, then I'll go down to two doses a day. This is the dosage recommended by the manufacturer, and falls within reasonable ranges in the misc.fitness.weights faq. After a while I want to gradually reduse dosage, hoping that I'll be able to feel where my max useful dosage is.

Creatine does not seem to actually disolve in water at all, instead sinking to the bottom, plus it makes water gritty. But tolerable.

Comments

[laserhen.livejournal.com]

That really sucks :( I would be annoyed too, and hopefully they will arrange it such that you can lift somewhere else, or at the very least prorate your dues or something while that room is closed.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Yeah, creatine works. I'm delaying going back on it till i plateau naturally from working out.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

...and it's better in orange juice, which is a little chewy on its own so the extra powder isn't so noticeable.

[temalyen.livejournal.com]

I used to work with this body building guy at work who took Creatine .. he mised it in his water bottle and drank the damn stuff his entire shift.

But that reminds me.. be careful with creatine.. but you probably know this.. you can do permanent muscle damage if you aren't careful with it.

It probably isn't _that_ dangerous, but I know the French Rugby Union banned creatine for being too dangerous.. but.. *shrugs*


-- Steve
(btw, when Is end you email, your spam blocker thing bounces it back to me. Apparently it thinks I'm spam. :> )

[darxus.livejournal.com]

"It is ok to take creatine with water or juice, but you are probably better off taking it with water, but you should never take it with citrus juice because the acid breaks it down."

[darxus.livejournal.com]

I probably read creatine can result in muscle damage and forgot about it. Is the problem that you can push muscles harder, to the extent that it's easier to tear them ? Thanks for the reminder. I'd like to think I'd stop before I pushed that hard.

And... I don't intentionally have anything set up to bounce any email, just filter it off to other folders. Please forward the bounce message to my work address.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

eep! I had no idea! Thanks.
(Hmm... how about in coffee? no, that is acidic too, nevermind :)

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Heh... gritty coffee....

I've found that just mixing a teaspoon of creatine with a rather small amount of water, maybe 2oz, and then just downing it quick (more like taking a pill than drinking a beverage), and then drinking the necessary quantity of water afterward, is more tolerable. Makes sense to need to drink more water when you're taking a supliment that makes muscles soak up water.