Jesse - Muscle Milk question

[dave barron]

OK, I made the switch and I'm loving the stuff - yummyummyummy! BUT - do I need to keep taking creatine separately, or is there enough in the MM? Whadyathink?

[Jesse Marunde]

you know I honestly don't have an intelligent answer for ya. it's a good question though. I haven't taken in several years so I'm really ignorant on it's usage.

What's your favorite flavor os Muscle Milk? So far I love choc caramel the best. and I usually don't like choc proteins.

Jesse

[dave barron]

I've only tried chocolate banana crunch, but can't wait to try new ones. It tastes like it should be fattening, but I swear I'm getting leaner!
You mean you haven't taken creatine? Interesting, kinda figured that'd be a mainstay for strongman.
Hey Jess, I know you've done some 56 for height, what's your best result? Betting you'd be a natural at it, I swear we'll get you in a kilt one day!

[Grant Higa]

Cookies and Creme!!!!

I tried the "Naturals" Muscle Milk from that show in Pasadena Jesse, and I really liked the Chocolate Milk one.

Dave, I met you at Art McDermott's contest last year in Concord, New Hampshire...it was our first time seeing Heavy Athletics live, and that was awesome! I remember watching you throw the light Hammer FAR!! Your wife and family were by us. Hope all is well with you and your contests!

Grant.

[dave barron]

Hey Grant, good to hear from you! But, um, I'm not married... :eek:

[Jacob Sauter]

How many grams of creatine is in the MM? Is it monohydrate, or a form of malate? Whats your body weight?

[dave barron]

OK, turns out there's no actual creatine in the stuff, but it claims to help your body produce it better. Hmmmmmmm... :rolleyes: So, I think I'll keep eating the gritty white powder.
I'm pushing 275 right now - just trying to keep ahead of Craig!

[Mike Westerling]

Has anyone with lactose intolerance tried muscle milk yet? I get really gassy if I use anything other than straight Ion Exchange Whey. Someone told me it's lactose free but I've heard that about a few other products and then tried them and had to "sleep on the couch" so to speak-lol.

[Grant Higa]

Dave,
Sorry bud! Hope all is well. I just assumed...

GRANT>

[C.Carrer]

Well I think if you eat a lot of meat/fish taking creatine is quite useless

[Jacob Sauter]

Well I think if you eat a lot of meat/fish taking creatine is quite useless

Thats fine.. but its incorrect. Do you know how much creatine is in red meat? Its not even measurable(atleast from the information I have looked at). Same goes with fish.. so you can bet taking 5g a day will be beneficial.

[Jesse Marunde]

I can bet another thing. you can be strong as hell without taking creatine. I know alot of guys, myself included, who don't. So, does it work? sure maybe. do you have to take it to be competative? nope.

I have about 10 bottles of it. people are always giving it to me. I think I'm going to try some. it's been years since I had any. who knows, maybe this time it will!

Jesse

[C.Carrer]

I really don't know, but I read somewere that big meat/fish eaters don't get much of creatine ase they are already on chronical "load"...

[Mike Westerling]

and have spoken to quite a few different biochemists about it. They all said the same thing: as far as performance goes you will really only notice a difference if you are deficient in it in the first place as your body will not use up a "normal" amount of creatine stores in the typical intense training session or competition. As far as size increase goes creatine holds 10 times it's weight in water so if you store a ton of creatine in the muscles and pound down the h2o you will "fill up". Your body only can excrete about 5-8g creatine a day so if you take in more than that you will store the excess in the muscles. After the muscles are saturated the creatine build up occurs elsewhere (they were all pretty vague as to where "elsewhere" was however). That is why the loading phase is only recommended for 5-7 days. After that the muscles should be saturated then taking in 5-8g per day beyond that will keep your stores full by replacing what is excreted. Unless you are interested in the "full look" they all agreed taking in more than the 5g per day that you normally excrete is pretty much useless. Also they all agreed that if you are taking in creatine it is that much more important to stay well hydrated or the creatine in the muscles will "steal" water from the surrounding tissues (like tendons) putting your body in a "locally dehydrated" state which could lead to muscle tears etc. In extreme cases the internal organs could become dehydrated as well. The moral of the story: 5g of creatine a day is good just to make sure it's there. Loading up will fill you out but you better drink a ton of water if you wan't to look full as it's the water that is actually filling you out. And finally the more creatine you use the more water you should drink. I hope this info helps.
-Mike
P.S. They all said that creatine is not as unstable as some of the new companies suggest and paying double for some of these elasborate buffering systems is just a marketing scam. They all said just get the purest form as cheap as possible and either drink it with a protein and/or carb drink. Your body will know what to do with it.

[Jacob Sauter]

Yea, your right. Creatine super hydrates the muscles, which in turn creates a more anabolic enviornment(Think why people bloat while using steroids). So its going to help you recover faster than normal, and also help in strenght gains. There really is no reason to load, unless you cycle the creatine, as it will build up in about 2 weeks. Loading just wastes it(albiet gets you saturated faster) IMO.

Your also right about the buffered/alkylated(sp) creatine. There is no proof that it being stored in a liquid state, will not result in it converting to ceatinine. Creatine is unstable in liquid period, and I dont see the hassle in storing it dry up utill the time you drink it.

I am interested in reading about it pulling water from the tendons, and surrounding tissue.. do you have any links to peer reviewed articles? Or any articles?

[Jacob Sauter]

I can bet another thing. you can be strong as hell without taking creatine. I know alot of guys, myself included, who don't. So, does it work? sure maybe. do you have to take it to be competative? nope.

I have about 10 bottles of it. people are always giving it to me. I think I'm going to try some. it's been years since I had any. who knows, maybe this time it will!

Jesse

There's no doubt about that. But for me, it helps my recovery quite noticibly as I recently trained without it for about 8 weeks. I was really rundown, and on the verge of OT. It still happens when I use it, but its not as noticable. This is for me, supplements for everyone are so so much different.. so I mean take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I do try my best not to be biased and relay scientific data as much as possible :)

[Mike Westerling]

Jacob,
Most of the articles I read were about 6 years ago. I had torn my achilles playing football and the surgeon that re-attached it came up with the theory about stealing the water from the surrounding tissues. I thought it sounded interesting so I started reading up on it. I don't belive I found anything in any peer reviewed journals on that aspect. Mostly on the super-hydration aspect of it. However, a few of the biochemists/nutritionists I talked to at the time seemed to think it was a good possibility. I was in college at the time so I had to comb through the biochem journals abstract on the micofishe (sp?) in the library. Luckily the biochem prof Dr Beck gave me some leads which made it much easier. When the whole "buffered creatine" phase came out I spoke to Will Brink, a nutritionist/writer for some of the muscle mags who is usually up to date on the latest research and did a lot of the initial work on creatine (or so he says, anyway), he was the one that sited a few studies that suggested there was no need to buffer creatine. I run into him all the time at the gym so next time I see him I'll ask him the best place to look for those articles. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. If you had asked me 6 years ago I probably could have found them for you a lot easier-lol.

[kara]

I can bet another thing. you can be strong as hell without taking creatine. I know alot of guys, myself included, who don't. So, does it work? sure maybe. do you have to take it to be competative? nope.

Jesse

right on jesse! i haven't taken it in forever and haven't noticed any difference.

as for muscle milk...creme brulee, chocolate milk, chocolate caramel, cookies&cream, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate mint, orange cream, pina colada, peach mango...every single one is downright delicious! ewwww....except rocky road...NEVER rocky road :mad:

[Jesse Marunde]

haha are those your only favorites?