Adding Supplements

[Brian Harlin]

Hi Jordan, what's your take on creatine and mixing.
I've read it should be totally dissolved, mixed in hot liquid, but not coffee. I've read that you can put it dry on your tongue and swill some juice down. I've read to always take it with a high carb like juice...does any of this really matter?

[spacediver]

good to know

I've been lifting for about 10 years, and have never gotten around to trying anything other than protein powder and weight gainers (the latter of which I'm not as dependent on these days). Looking forward to experimenting.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Hi Jordan, what's your take on creatine and mixing.
I've read it should be totally dissolved, mixed in hot liquid, but not coffee. I've read that you can put it dry on your tongue and swill some juice down. I've read to always take it with a high carb like juice...does any of this really matter?

Doesn't matter at all. Just put it in your mouth and swallow it (insert joke here).

good to know

I've been lifting for about 10 years, and have never gotten around to trying anything other than protein powder and weight gainers (the latter of which I'm not as dependent on these days). Looking forward to experimenting.

When assessing how BCAA's work for you, remember that whatever dose you're adding is increasing your protein intake by that amount, i.e. if you're adding 30g of BCAA/day then you're adding 30g of protein and 120kCal do the equation. Therefore, if you're truly interested in seeing what BCAAs do for you, I'd remove 30g of protein from your diet OR not worry about it. I'd probably do the latter unless you're prepping for a show/meet in the next 4 weeks.

[Calvo]

BCAAs "pulsed" on rest days too? And multiple times/day?

I always thought BCAAs were redundant with enough protein overall, but this thread has me rethinking.

[kgreen06]

For BCAA's here's my recommended protocol (and I like Scivation's Xtend BCAA personally):
5g between meals (not sipped, but "pulsed"-down it quickly) about halfway between meals.
10-15g BCAA's immediately post workout with creatine.

Thanks... I've been looking myself to pick up something similar so might as well try your brand out. How does your recommended doses translate to the scoop that comes with the product, just curious... I'm taking a look at label now and the recommended sizes for a scoop don't align well with what you're recommending. Would like to gage how much of the product I'd be using with the above recommendation so I can budget accordingly.

[Calvo]

Never mind, lol, just found this post.

[spacediver]

right on,

cheers.

[Rherington]

You don't need to cycle creatine at all. Just 5g per day of monohydrate (micronized or not, it doesn't matter).

For BCAA's here's my recommended protocol (and I like Scivation's Xtend BCAA personally):
5g between meals (not sipped, but "pulsed"-down it quickly) about halfway between meals.
10-15g BCAA's immediately post workout with creatine.

Did you mean 5mg per day every day or 5mg on every workout day for creatine?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

BCAAs "pulsed" on rest days too? And multiple times/day?

I always thought BCAAs were redundant with enough protein overall, but this thread has me rethinking.

Yes, if you're going to use them that's how it should be done, i.e. about 20-30g bcaa's total spread throughout the day, pulsed between meals (training or not).

Thanks... I've been looking myself to pick up something similar so might as well try your brand out. How does your recommended doses translate to the scoop that comes with the product, just curious... I'm taking a look at label now and the recommended sizes for a scoop don't align well with what you're recommending. Would like to gage how much of the product I'd be using with the above recommendation so I can budget accordingly.

The Scivation Xtend scoop contains 13g total and ~ 9.5g (let's call it 10g) of actual BCAA's. You'd be using between 2-3 scoops a day total.

Did you mean 5mg per day every day or 5mg on every workout day for creatine?

Neither. 5 grams everyday :-)

[TomF]

I've started free-basing my creatine and cutting it with bacon grease and lamb's blood. I mainline it in the evening while listening to Coltrane.

During his Miles years, or post-Miles?

(I'll be looking into creatine and BCAAs now - thanks for your recommendations).