I believe this is the correct loading dosage for optimum performance.
psychological high from creatine? I can see a bit of a placebo with caffeine (on top of its actual benifits), but not from creatine.
Why not discontinue the use of supplements altogether until 2 months before the comp? No multi-vit, no ZMA, no glutamine, no protein powders. WOW!!! Can you imagine the psychological boost from doing that!!!
As far as taking a chance that the athlete will decrease in strength or remain the same in the last month of training…only if the training sucks. Creatine would not, should not be a factor in that, just poor training.
HERB what is with that disturbing avatar? 
Your not going soft on us are ya? Bring back the HULK!
HERB what is with that disturbing avatar? Your not going soft on us are ya? Bring back the HULK!
irrelevant as it may be i have to agree, that litle kitty is dreadfull
on topic, how much water weight does creatine induce?
People should be looking at precursors to creatine, like Arginine.
Charlie,
please please expand…
It depends, I have noticed anywhere from 5 to eight pounds!
Large amounts of Creatine cause water to be drawn into the muscle cells to dilute the creatine concentration. While a small amount will help to maintain the proper cell volume in situations where it might be too low, such as after intense training, too much fluid will cause tightness and injury risk. As the objective is to supply enough fuel, it makes sense to get that extra fuel, beyond a reasonable small dose of creatine, farther up the line. Arginine is a precursor to CP/ATP and helps to avoid overvolumization of the muscle cells and also is helpful in promoting blood flow. In the right combination aminos can work wonders (we’ve already discussed the role of tyrosine in outcompeting tryptophan for receptor sites, preventing the first stages of fatigue from affecting intense performance)
The positive benefits of oral arginine supplementation can only be achieved through doses higher than the human body can handle. And most (but not all) of this effect is mediated by insulin. So if you want to have blood flow increases equivalent to a huge IV arginine infusion, just manipulate insulin through other means (which will be discussed in the next article.) -from t-nation.com article
What crap is this?
I think he copy and pasted from an article over at t-mag. I have no clue if its true or not, and it would be nice if he included a link or referenced the author or something.
Oral Arginine works and anyone who says otherwise hasn’t used it or has a vested interest in denying it. We used various forms of it for years.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=B024372F9C80B9C116BBA2F3845D7168.titan?id=556124
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=B024372F9C80B9C116BBA2F3845D7168.titan?id=556939
I see. Still bullshit. Arginine works as a pre intense workout enhancer. Don’t know much about NO claims- prob just a way to jack up the price of arginine.
A clear case of misinformation.
What dosages did your athletes usually take Charlie? Before all intense sessions? Protocol differ pre-race?
Questions, questions, questions! Thank you 
Charlie, what dosage of tryosine is effective?
How often is it taken to get the desired effect?
Depends on the individual, but 2 to 5gm of Arginine and Tyrosine may be 250mg to 1 gm.
How many hours before a race or before training?
After thinking about this a great deal, I believe your daily dosage is the right amount. So I agree with you that 3g a day is adequate; however, when trying to set a 1RM in an exercise I don’t see the harm in doing 2x3g dosages in the week before you attempt to set your new 1RM’s! In my experience 5g twice daily (10g daily total) was to much as was indicated in the urine sample I gave my doctor. He told me that their was excess creatinine. So I believe that 6g total (3g 1 hour preworkout and 3g 10min postworkout) per day is sufficient to use when trying to set a new 1RM. Additionally, 3g per day is fine for the maintenance phases for a sprinter.
The actual amount will depend on your BW and other factors but generally speaking the typical sprinter is 185lbs with maybe 10lbs deviation either way. So therefore, it makes sense to use 3g per day. Alternatively, you can use 6g before and after lifting sessions and 3g on tempo days. This cycling will prevent any injuries that might occur with creatine use bc you only take in 3g the day before your sprint sessions but you don’t take any creatine before your sprint session, only afterwards before your lifting session!