Q&As: Ask the Nutritionist (Last updated: 15 Jan 2006)
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Q) Should Creatine be cycled?
A) Technically, I think no. Cos as long as you keep
taking 5g daily after Creatine saturation, Creatine will
provide the maximum ergogenic effect. That is
maximum size, strength and reps in the gym.

However, there may be times when you may want to
"cycle" Creatine. Since Creatine besides storing extra
energy in muscles also causes water retention like
sodium, you may want to stop taking Creatine 2-3
days if you want to appear to be more "ripped". Or, to
give yourself a mental break from Creatine, which I
sometimes do myself, I dun know why.


Q) Do you think bodybuilders need to take
glucosamine supplements?
A) Glucosamine Sulphate is definitely a very valuable
supplement for any serious weight lifter. Joint is a
weak point in the human body, human remain
records revealed serious cases of arthritis due to
wear and tear by the late decades of life. It seems like
a physically active lifestyle can do quite a bit of
damage to our joints. There are some evidence that
12 weeks of glucosamine sulphate supplementation
in the dose of 1500mg can be beneficial to joint
health. So it make sense to include 1-2 cycles of
glucosamine sulphate supplementation each year
even for lifters without joint pain. And for those with
existing joint pain, besides consulting a health
specialist, it is a good idea to take 2-3 cycles of
glucosamine supplementation a year.


Q) What do you think is the best frequency for
bodybuilding training?
A) I believe every body part need to be hit twice a week
for ultimate growth, perhaps one higher intensity
session and one lower intensity session to avoid
overtraining. As everyone's body is different in some
way, there will be body parts that grow easily and
some slower. To build an impressive body, care need
to be taken not to let the body grow out of proportion.
In the first 2-3 years in training, one can just go all out
in the basic lift to gain overall muscle weight. Up to a
certain point when there are enough mass on the
body, the differences in strong and weak muscle
parts will become more and more apparent. This is
the time where muscle parts specialisation can come
in. For weaker muscle groups (do not choose more
than 2 parts or it will be too much) train them twice a
week and for already strong body parts just train once
a week for maintenance. Every 6-8 weeks take a week
off from training.


Q) What do you think of Creatine Ester, Buffered
Creatine and Creatine with Glycocyamine,
Guanidinopropionic Acid, Creatine with phosphate
added?
A) I recieved too many enquiries in year 2005 on
Creatine development that I decided to come up with
a summarised 2006 update. So here it is.

Creatine Ester (CE) offer a bit more advantage over
regular Creatine Monohydrate (CM) by being more
soluble. The down side is their taste are
unacceptable to most. There is no evidence that it can
be absorbed without a protein transporter and that it
can infinitely be shuttled into muscle cells. Since
bloating from a high quality CM is very rare, CE will
offer little if not no real advantage over CM.

Buffered Creatine (BC)'s claim is that you can use
less of it than CM and hence getting less conversion
of Creatinine in the body. I have not see any scientific
literature to back up this claim. On the other hand the
safety record of CM is probably the best in the history
of dietary supplement research. Although everyday a
small percentage of Creatine is degraded to
Creatinine, our body has no problem getting rid of
them as it is part of the metabolic process in our body.

As for Creatine with Guanidinopropionic Acid (GPA)
and Glycocyamine (G-amine) . GPA will significantly
compete with Creatine for entry to muscle cells.
Creatine is an important substance for energy
production in vital organs like brain and heart which
has a big impact on our well being. For muscles GPA
will reduce strength in just 7 days of "loading" and
convert significant muscle twitch to the endurance
type instead of the power type. G-amine is a
pre-cursor to Creatine just like andro is to
testosterone. Since Creatine is already in the formula,
it makes no sense to take a pre-cursor as the rate of
conversion is unknown. Furthermore, G-amine will
compete with Creatine for absorption and entry into
muscle cells. G-amine also increase the level of a
heart attack marker called homocysteine in the body.

Creatine with phosphate added is no new concept.
Prolab has come out with a version years ago. The
addition of phosphate to Creatine formula will only be
advantageous if one's diet is inadequate in
phosphate. Modern diet are high in phosphorous
content making any addition no advantage at all. In
fact too much phosphorous in our diet will made
calcium unavaliable for absorption.


Q) I always hear about the importance of post-workout
meal how important is pre-workout meal?
A) I see pre-workout meal almost as important post
workout meal. There are some studies that showed
that a good pre-workout meal increases protein
synthesis in muscles post workout independent of
the post workout meal. I am fully convinced of the
importance of pre-workout meal in mass building. Try
taking a meal containing 20-30g of protein and
40-60g of carb half an hour before training. You will
find that you get a better pump and muscle growth in
1-2 weeks.


Q) My friend told me that Alpha-lipoic acid can
increase creatine absorption. Should I take it with my
creatine?
A) Alpha-lipoic acid is a "universal" anti-oxidant
meaning it can function in the water-soluble and
fat-soluble phase of our body cells. There is some
limiting research indicating Alpha-lipoic acid may
increase insulin sensitivity to boost Creatine uptake. I
believe the boost do not justify the relatively high cost
of Alpha-lipoic acid as Creatine is relatively well
absorbed as long as they are taken with a meal
containing some carbohydrates.


Q) How do I train my chest to get that square-look?
A) You will need to attack your chest muscles from a
few sides to get that square armour-plate look.
Include chest press to your neck (do not do if your
shoulder hurts), Gironda aka wide grip dips and
incline dumbbell press in your routine. These three
exercises will make the chest look more aesthetically
pleasing in 3-4 weeks.


Q) Coming up next
A) Coming up next
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