I have a very good experience with Creatine Monohydrate. 6-7 years ago I was using it 5 grams about 30 minutes before the workout. I have very good results with Creatine. First of all, after about 2 weeks using it, I noticed a significant improvement in my strength. Later I tried some other formulas of Creatine but they were not as effective as a pure Creatine Monohydrate.
Yesterday I bought a 300grams Pack of L-Glutamine. It is another supplement ( amino acid ) that can improve your muscle performance, and at the same time, it will have a good impact on the whole body. It is also good for people having leaky guts.
I was using it a few years ago and the one thing that I noticed was a much quicker recovery of the muscles after a training with heavy weights.
I'm using creatin and l-glutamin as well. Additionally I use BCAAs. Doug McGuff talked about using BCAAs during a recent interview this year. I noticed quite strong increase of performance (which is in accordance with the literature on creatine, that speaks of up to 30 percent more power output of the muscles I think) and a quite strong improvement on the "how far you can go during a exercise". The recovery seems to go much better as well and aching muscles afterwards is much reduced (although it already is pretty low with this HIT method on its own).
As far as I understand, creatin causes your cells to hold more water (therefore the muscles look bigger) and thus enhance and improve the synthesis of building muscles. Apart from muscle performance and aiding in the synthesis of it, there are a number of other + effects that Kehole mentioned. The literature seems to suggest that it is quite good for the brain as well.
As for the "negative side effects" it is not clear if there are even some. From what I have read about the few studies that showed a negative correlation, there seems to be quite some doubt in how reliable those results were. Creatin can be found naturally in meat products and especially in fish:
http://www.usfsa.org/content/Creatine.pdf said:
Creatine is not new. ... A pound of raw meat has about 2 grams of creatine and a pound of raw fish has up to 5 grams. Therefore, athletes who eat large amounts of meat, poultry and fish are ingesting more creatine than athletes who limit meat are. Strict vegetarians will have the lowest intake.
Herring and a number of other fish have pretty high concentrations of creating in them.
A couple of other things I would like to mention about this HIT training and my experiences with it.
Since McGuff and Little made quite a good argument in the book (and in interviews) for using Nautilus Type Machines instead of barbells I went on the search to find suitable machines (those they recommend: The Original Nautilus Machines that were supervised/build by Arthur Jones or the later offspring company called MedX) and was unsuccessful. It is almost impossible to get all those machines they use nowadays and it would cost a fortune anyways.
So I searched for another solution and came across a very good one, at least for people living in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Australia. It it called Kieser-Training. They have many Training Studios in those countries that are especially designed for HIT Training by the "Kieser Method". They have doctors in the studios, constantly improve the machines and build new ones and make studies. Werner Kieser founded this training studio. He was the first one who got the License from Arthur Jones to import his Nautilus Machines into Europe. He worked with Jones as well.
Werner also wrote a couple of books about HIT Training in german.
In short: all the machines they use in their studios (which is the same selection in every studio worldwide) are MedX Machines with Arthur Jones patented cam profiles! So pretty much exactly what the recommend in the book.
Naturally, I was very happy to discover that one such studio is just 6 Minutes car drive from my place! So I went there to test it out. They had an offer for 6 free trainings. Very nice studio that is only focused on HIT and muscle training in general. That is their only focus, no annoying background melodies nor any TV screens. No "Wellness Centet" either just the machines and people working on it. No pain no gain is pretty much the Motto of Kieser. The Studio has onle one focus; muscle training and nothing else, no sauna and anything like it. Kieser makes a point about that. paraphrasing "For wellness activities people can go elsewhere, here we only concentrate on training".
Werner Kieser sums it up by saying:
"Der Mensch wächst am Widerstand" [Rouhgly transated as "The human Being grows on/from Resistance"]
Every Machine can be adjusted exactly to your needs (height, strength and movement etc). All Big 5 Machines are present in every Studio. No matter on which machine you train, you can look at a ordinary clock hanging from the sealing from every position. Every now and then your streght will be tested objectively with their own techy things built for it and compared statistically according to age gender and weight in regard to others who trained in the studios with the Kieser method for one year already. (Did my first yseterday with interesting results.
Keep in mind that I started well below average I think, since I'm pretty skinny and never really trained in anything and that it was measured against a group that already trained in the Kieser program for one year.
It should also be mentioned that my first real training was around the 06.05, not on Kieser Machines, followed by another good Training the week after, also not on Kieser Machines. Then it was followed by two rather sloppy trainings at home with barbells and about three first Training sessions with the Keiser machines which weren't full/good trainings either, since I tried to find my weight and a lot of time in between the exercises was wasted. So taken together, the above is the result of about 5 real trainings starting from well below average with zero training beforehand
As you can see above, in the legs I already have a 2+, which is well above average according to the sheet and the Trainer (left one). For the other two exercises I'm already approaching average (left to right: belly muscles and chest press) from a point that was probably much lower before I started. Compared to a one year trained grpup of kieser people, who usually train twice a week with lower weight and faster and more machines. That's quite something I think. Let's see how that looks like in a couple of years.
So by measuring every now and then you can objectively see the progress (which is included in the monthly payment). Additionally you can also book a higher monthly payment for a regular test with their computerized back machines for example guided by a doctor or a trainer.
So I went there with the goal of doing the Big Five workout on their great machines. I was very clear from the get go toward the (very competent) trainers that the primary reason I'm coming to them ist that I would like to train there with a slow HIT program according to Doug MsGuffs book.
Since they usually only work with the Kieser Programs (of which there are several, from moderate, to heavy and slow HIT, much like Guff describes) and are quite strict on it and the right training methods, it was something that wouldn't have been that easy if I wouldn't had prepared my reasoning and program beforehand to explain it to them.
But since I stated from the getgo my intentions and explained to them the basic principles of the book and that it is not much different from the Kieser Program, they were willing to let me choose my own program according to the book. They needed to ask their chief for permission for it and he said yes.
Now I train there once a week and it is just great! Makes it also much easier to track progress with those machines and measuring methods. All are pound based machines. One Trainer told me that I am one of the few in their studios (they have about 270.000 people training there worldwide) who even choose this type of hard HIT program. Most use a lower intensity and faster method.
The feedback from different trainers I got, was that it is a good method (this slow and high intensity that I use). They know what they are talking about. Another thing that is great is that the trainers will occasionally have a look at how you work out and correct your posture if you happen to do it wrong on a machine.
In my first "training" I was brining my workout plan with me which I created
using their website in which every machine is described. They have in total 50 different Machines, numbered from "A" to "L". The machines for the big 5 Workout and which I asked them to be my workout, right from the get go, are the following: "C7", "D6", "C2", "E3" and "B6".
The first three trainings are assisted by the trainer and in the first one the machines are adjusted to your needs, which is then written on your specific HIT program protocol which is basically the same as the Guff protocol in my case. If you reach 2 Minutes you increase the weight next time 5%. Their optimal time window for HIT is 90 - 120 seconds.
So in the first few training sessions, I didn't really have enough weight and the trainers were explaining a lot during and between the exercises. So I couldn't really train fully according to the book in those first 3 or four trainings. I needed to find the right weight and decrease the time period between the exercises which should be about 30 - 60 seconds at most.
Now I can train pretty much according to the book.
Some machines (not any of the big 5 though!) which I'll consider to use as well in the future, first need the approval of the doc and a computer testing of the back. When you have done that successfully you can also train on those.
IT isn't exactly cheap, but considering the great machines and services they provide, I think it is well worth it peronally. For me it costs 45 Euros a month, for a two year contract. I could have also chosen a 1 year contract wich is about 10 Euros more expensive. There is also the option to have a regular computerized training with the doc and a trainer and other specialities for more then that.
If anyone is interested, there might be an option, if you choose to train there, that you will get an extra month that costs nothing, if you tell them that someone else referred you to them, who also trains there (aka. me). If anyone is interested, I could send them my details so that they can get the discount.
In
Germany, you can find a studio pretty much everywhere. In
Austria and
Switzerland a bit less so and in
Luxembourg is only one. In
Australia there are 12 Studios centered around Sidney, Melbourne and Geelong.
I want too also thank Scottie again for making us aware about Guff and his HIT Method. The book is packed with very useful information about muscles in general and the astounding health impact a proper training has on pretty much every function in the body. Very enlightening work!
I also listened to quite a number of recent interviews with Guff and the guy is quite literally a multi talent and knows quite much in all sorts of fields, not only in medicine and training. He seems to very well read in a number of fields and is also on a paleo diet with intermitted fasting.
Quite an inserting guy, to say the least! In his "spare time" he is still working crazy shift hours as a full time emergency doctor in a clinic and keeping his other primary business of training people up at the same time. Amazing. He also plans for a long time to write other pretty interesting sounding books about other topics. He also published three other books after Body by Science: "BMX Training: A Scientific Approach", "The Primal Prescription: Surviving The Sick Care Sinkhole" and "The Body By Science Question and Answer Book" which is on its way to me right now....
In one interview he also talked about how easy it is to fall into the "believe" trap and taking yourself and your ideas too serious. Instead he tries to be as open as possible for change when new data comes in and not trying to view things as "gospel" that is fixed.
