One more question for ya Steve (kinda off the BB topic)...
Do you take in creatine at all? I know you may have answered this already but im too lazy too look for it. What is your opinion on taking creatine while building muscle. The reason for asking is, i have recently began to work out a lot more since i hit my weight loss goal, and i am working on building muscle. I eat 2500-3000 calories a day which may not help, but im kind of monitoring where my level is so i have a sort of "clean" gain. I want minimal body fat gain, but im afraid creatine will do all the wrong things for me. I picked up EAS Phosphagen HP, but have yet to take it because im quite frankly nervous of the outcome. I need an opinion.
Here's what I've said before on the subject of creatine.
For starters, it's probably the only supplement I'd ever consider taking, assuming you don't consider protein powder and fish oils supps.
Personally, I don't take it though.
In the short-term, it draws water into the muscles, which makes you stronger as CSA (cross-sectional area) increases.
Long term, creatine helps gains because it allows you to train more with a given load, due to faster turn around of short-term energy. Creatine leads to increased creatine phosphate in the muscles, which provides quick replenishment to AMP/ADP (adenosine mono and di-phosphate), allowing it to be ATP (adenosine triphosphate). If you don't know what ATP is, look it up. Pretty important little bugger.
Some people, myself included, don't realize any benefits upon use of creatine supplementation. The reason for this is they most likely have a high starting level of creatine in their muscles naturally.
Who's it for? Really anyone looking for increased performance; have it be sport or in the gym. I know a lot of people who think creatine is only for those looking to pack on some muscle. It's not a supplement that directly builds muscle though. It's a supplement that gives you the capacity to do more work in a given time, which indirectly, assuming calories are positioned correctly, can lead to hypertrophy.
What about those who are dieting? Well most here would die if they took it, lol. Reason being, most around these parts have the incessant need to step on a stupid square every single day to find out how much water and glycogen has shifted in the acute time period (i.e., they like to weigh themselves a lot).
Creatine, as I said before, will draw water into the muscles, which will play out as more total body weight. You didn't get fatter, but I'm sure it would freak out a good many people around here.
I know a lot of bodybuilders and powerlifters who use it while dieting down and love it as it allows performance to remain high while energetically the body is at a deficit.
Understand I'm not sitting here claiming everyone and their grandmas should go out to GNC and pick themselves up some Creatine. I'm simply saying it's one of the few supps out there with a proven efficacy.
Should you take it? That's up to you. I'm not sure what you thought it was going to do for you but hopefully this post has shed some light for you.
Now the idea of a clean bulk is kind of misleading. You are eating enough for muscle growth to occur, probably. I start with 17-18 calories per pound, which you're at or above. I track my progress from there and if the inches are not going up as desired, I increase the intake. I usually start my bulks eating something like 3250 calories and end them close to 4000 calories.
Clean bulking is misleading b/c we each do different things while in a caloric surplus.... and this is assuming of course that all your training is up to snuff and all.
Some will be more inclined naturally to store the excess in muscle while others in fat. The bottomline is you have to be willing to accept some fat gain. And you can't do much to alter where the excess energy goes, unfortunately. I mean, if you are training adequately and not eating way above what's necessary, you'll definitely pack on some muscle... don't get me wrong.
In all cases, the best bet is to try to minimize fat gains by eating/bulking smart. Yes, you need to eat over maintenance but given the fact that you can't fast forward muscle growth, there's no need to eat waaaaaaaay over maintenance. You want to find the sweet spot where you're seeing some weight gain, but not gaining too much fat.
