Comment on PROTEIN BRO

• Delphia@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Creatine is LITERALLY the only supplement that almost everyone and every study agrees

  1. Has a measurable physiological effect.
  2. Has next to zero side effects.
  3. Is incredibly cheap.
  4. Is universally beneficial for anyone training in almost every sport/activity.

  Anything else the answer to “Should I take…” is at best “It depends” and in most cases “No”

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  • Carnelian@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Sure, if you want to know earnestly some reasons why not.

    For starters, it is literally completely unnecessary.

    Beyond that, it perpetuates the broader harmful falsehood that lifters need a cabinet of supplements, thereby turning many people away from the gym who are repulsed by the idea.

    The above falsehood has personally annoyed me many times. I am visibly very muscular, and have had friends, family, and even strangers warn me, unprompted, about the dangers of supplements lol. I gather there was a news story about lead in protein powder that went viral, and everyone assumes I must be taking all the powders, probably because of how cavalier gym folk are about insisting everyone hop on all the powders

    It has a gross sandy texture, upsets people’s stomaches (especially if they try the “creatine loading” phase which is so popularly suggested), and interferes with their sleep (if the countless anecdotes are to be believed).

    It does have potential serious side effects in some populations that don’t get talked about often. People with bipolar disorder shouldn’t risk taking it, neither should people with kidney disease.

    If you are healthy and ever get bloodwork done, you need to remember to explain to your doctor that you supplement creatine beforehand, otherwise they may think you have kidney disease.

    Five grams per day of creatine monohydrate dissolved in a glass of water is cheap. Creatine pills are not. Creatine gummy bears are not. Creatine in preworkout (yet another constantly shilled powder) is not. The massive list of non-monohydrate creatine products are neither cheap nor effective lol. When we say “definitely everyone should hop on creatine!”, a good percentage of people will end up going down one of those paths.

    And to top it all off, the beneficial effects for muscle building are dramatically overstated. People talk about it like it creates some cascading compound interest effect you can’t afford to miss out on, when in actual reality, everyone who has been around the block knows you reach the point of diminishing returns very quickly when you are consistent in the gym lol. If you put 5 hard years in without it, there isn’t a soul on earth who could pick you apart in a lineup of creatine users.

    Now your response to all this may be “none of this is really that big deal!” and you know what? I agree. I frequently cite creatine as being one of the big three non-scam supplements (protein, caffeine, creatine). They have a real effect, unlike virtually all other gym products. My issue, to put it most broadly, is with the attitude we perpetuate regarding supplementation in general. That it’s so thoroughly and totally taken for granted that every single person should want to pay for and incorporate every single advantage.

    That we frame it as being “an advantage” at all, as if the simple love of training is not in and of itself a great joy which transforms the lives of everyone it reaches. No no, instead, as is typical of all “worthy” pursuits, it is an investment to be capitalized upon. Faster is always better, bigger is always better. Do not allow yourself to be captivated by the scenery flying by, if for a moment it distracts you from shoveling ever more coal into the furnace of this godforsaken train everyone insists our life must become.

    ahem. Well, apologies for going off the rails a bit there. That’s been stewing in me for a long time. I also don’t take protein powder lmao

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    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      my brother in christ you’re responding to “creatine is the only useful supplement” with “it perpetuates the broader harmful falsehood that lifters need a cabinet of supplements”, do you not see how this seems a bit nonsensical?

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      • Carnelian@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That’s not really an accurate summary of my response, nor of the prompt.

        I was directly and specifically asked “why not take creatine?”, and yes, the annoying proliferation of supplement culture is one of about ten issues I listed.

        And while not the fault of creatine alone, I am shocked that anyone would not take issue with it. When every influencer is shilling supplements. When you walk into a gym and they sell supplements themselves behind the counter. When a beginner hires a personal trainer and they gush about the many different supplements they need to start buying, but end up barely improving anyway because their actual training is sub par.

        When a would-be beginner is repulsed by the idea of stepping under a barbell at all, because their only exposure to the gym was their gross bro-y roommate in college who monopolized the top of the fridge with his collection of huge tubs of all the different ridiculous powders everyone thinks they need.

        It is far from nonsense my friend, it is a notable social harm. This is lemmy, yes, we’re likely a bit older? You’ve lived enough now to see some friends and relatives crumble with age? Resistance training is the best thing to prevent this. Normal people are repulsed by the tubs of powder. Many people are repulsed enough to purposefully avoid training. This is a terrible thing.

        I wouldn’t belabor the point if its truth hadn’t confronted me so many times. I would be curious to get your actual thoughts on the matter, rather than your unsupported and rather offensive insinuation that I am the one who hasn’t thought carefully about all this.

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