There are so many different Creatine forms out today. Every supplement company that came out with a new form of Creatine, claimed that there was better than previous other Creatine forms.

One reason why new forms of Creatine came out after the original Creatine monohydrate was because some people appear to be non-responders. It was believed that this was caused due to a absorption issue, therefore a lot of it was being excreted in the urine and not absorbed into the muscle tissue. Creatine loading was invented to increase the absorption of Creatine. During the loading phase, you may have digestion problems such as diarrhea or stomach upset. That was where you took it in higher doses with glucose/dextrose in order to increase it’s absorption into the body. This is because not all of the Creatine is digesting and the creatine molecule loves to “suck in” a lot of water with it, as it travels through your digestion tract. This is the same reason why creatine works to bloat up your muscles.

Despite creatine loading, many still don’t respond well with creatine monohydrate. New Creatine forms came out that claimed to have a higher absorption rate. Then newer forms of Creatine even claimed other benefits due to the extra compound in the molecule bonded with the creatine molecule. I will review every form of creatine on the market today and which is the best creatine form.

Creatine Forms:

Creatine Monohydrate :

This is the very first creatine product. It is a tasteless white powder. Creatine monohydrate is the cheapest form of creatine so is still widely used, but it also appears to have the highest amount of creatine “non-responders” too. The absorption rate is approximately 1% and it’s advised to be loading phase. Creatine monohydrate is very unstable in water, so make sure when you put it in water you immediately drink it. Creatine Monohydrate in it’s pure form made in Germany, is labeled with the Creapure logo on the tub.

(CEE) Creatine Ethyl Ester :

For years this was the hot new creatine form. Many recommended it as the superior form of Creatine, even though there were no substantial valid studies to really back up claims. CEE could be taken in pill form with no loading phase required. In 07, the first real study came out on CEE by Department of Life Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Rd, Kingston-upon-Thames, United Kingdom. 2University of Northumbria, Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. The study showed that over 60% degraded to inactive creatinine within 30 minutes sitting in an acidic water solution that mimiced the stomach. This proved it was not as good as once claimed.

Micronized Creatine :

This is creatine monohydrate that underwent a new process called micronization. It allows the molecule to have more surface area making it a higher absorption rate. It will still require a loading phase and only slightly better absorption.

Effervescent Creatine :

This is also just a fancy name for Creatine Monohydrate. The only thing differe here is they add add some sugar and salt.

Tri and Di Creatine Malate :

Tri and Di Creatine Malate are made from Malic acid and Creatine. If you remember biology, malic acid is involved in the Kreb’s cycle of the cell. This is how all energy in the cell is created at it’s basic core. You can see in the diagram below of this cycle how the malate molecule plays a catylst to get the NADH to donate two hydrogens to the malate to convert the NAD to NADH+ and the malate to oxoloacetate.

This Creatine form was created to give more muscular endurance and energy. Users report that it helps do that. Creatine malate has a higher absorption rate than Creatine monohydrate and doesn’t require a loading phase.

Liquid serum creatine :

This is absolute scam that has been widely debunked years ago. Creatine is unstable and degrades in liquid.

Creatine Orate:

The orate molecule is a pre-cursor to nucleic acids like ATP, used as a basic energy currency at the cellular level. This requires no loading phase. Unfortunately, it is quite expensive and there are no studies on the safety of this form of creatine.

Creatine Kre-Alkalyn:

This is a much higher absorption rate than creatine and doesn’t require a loading phase. No studies have been done on the safety of this form of creatine.

Which form is the best creatine?

Considering all the factors together of price, studies, benefits, and side effects I would say it is Creatine Monohydrate, Creatine Kre-alkalyn, and Creatine Malate are all good choices. Each has their own pros and cons, but those are the best of the group I believe. You can’t beat the price of Creatine Monohydrate and for many it works fine with little side effects. If you are a creatine monohydrate non-responder or have a lot of side effects, than Kre-alkalyn is a good creatine form to try out. If you want a possible extra energy benefit during your workout, you should try Creatine Malate.

The thyroid is one of the most important regulators of your metabolism. It has a role in not only how many calories and fat you burn, but over regulating the rate of protein synthesis. When your thyroid slows down during dieting, it is one cause behind the fat loss plateau.

Thyroid boosting supplements

Here are some common supplements found that can help boost your thyroid levels. These would be especially ideal to take to get through a fat loss plateau.

Ephedra / Ephedrine Ephedrine or it’s natural herbal supplement form Ephedra, are stimulants and increase your metabolism by stimulating the thyroid. It also plays a important additional role in fat burning, through it’s action on beta receptors on fat cells. It does this by increasing adrenaline and nor-adrenaline (called beta agonists because they bind to beta receptors on the fat cells.). Ephedrine also can act like a beta agonist itself. This action on the beta agonists cells leads to increased cAMP production, which increases enzymes that directly cause fat breakdown.

Gugglesterones: This natural extract found from an Indian Tree, shows in studies that it may help increase the conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver and kidneys. T3 is much more potent and is the main form of circulating thyroid.

Forskolin: Derived from the plant Coleus forskohlii, it has been used medicinally for centuries. This supplement isn’t talked too much in the bodybuilding community, but it is severely underrated. Studies have shown it plays a direct role in stimulating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). cAMP as said earlier, is produced after ephedrine stimulates the beta receptors. Stimulating cAMP increases thyroid levels, insuline levels, and fat breakdown in the cell.

Synephrine Similiar to structure as Ephedra, but a weaker stimulant, it can also boost your thyroid and fat breakdown through stimulating the beta receptors.

Caffeine Caffeine is a stimulant and also slows the breakdown of cAMP. By keeping cAMP at high levels, it leads to more direct fat loss and increased thyroid function. It is also breaks down in the liver into a compound that increases the increases the amount of circulating fatty acids in the blood, allowing more fat to be burned for energy. Caffeine by itself according to studies, doesn’t seem to be too potent a fat burner for those who ingest it regularly already. It is commonly stacked with Ephedra or Synhephrine, to make the stack more potent because of caffeine’s role on cAMP levels.

Many bodybuilders have used hydroxycut hardcore as an alternative to ephedra based fat burning stacks. To find out if hydroxycut works you have to look at each individual compound and the research supporting it.

Hydroxycut Hardcore Ingredients:

Ingredients include Green tea extract, caffeine, Methyl 17 alpha-hydroxy-yohimban-16 alpha-carboxylate hydrochloride, Black Pepper Extract, white willow extract, among many other compounds.

You may be wondering what exactly Methyl 17 alpha-hydroxy-yohimban-16 alpha-carboxylate hydrochloride is, it’s just a fancy name for one form of Yohimbe. Yohimbe is a well known stimulant herb. It was used pharmaceutically for treating means ED (erectile dysfunction). It turns out, it is also a very good fat burner. It works through the same metabolic pathway as ephedrine, to cause fat loss, just at a different way. It blocks the negative pathway insteading of directly stimulating the adrenaline receptors, like ephedra. Yohimbe doesn’t seem to be as strong a fat burner ancedotally, and thats probably because because of it’s indirect action. There is plenty of research studies showing the way yohimbe acts on the cells and people losing fat from it’s use.

Caffeine in hydroxycut can play an important synergistic role with the Yohimbe in hydroxycut. Many bodybuilders used to stack Ephedrine and caffeine because caffeine has a special role in making ephedrine more potent. Caffeine and Yohimbe has the same effect and is often stacked together, to increase fat burning.

White willow extract is a source of aspirin. They can’t use aspirin because that is regulated as a drug, so they have to use the bark where aspirin is derived. Aspirin is thought to help aid in fat loss, by increasing blood flow to areas deep in the fat. The problem about aspirin is it has been proven to stop protein synthesis. As a bodybuilder, you don’t want to lose your hard earned muscle, while you lose fat. To me this addition is not good.

Green Tea extract is derived from Green tea and studies show it has a dramatic increase in raising metabolism more than 30%. Green tea also is good for regulating insulin levels and maintaining low glucose levels, which means it increases insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity increases the fat you lose and increases the amount of muscle you retain while cutting because of the nutrient partiotioning effect insulin sensitivity.

Black pepper can aid in fat loss and increase metabolism. This seems to be an effect from most pepper plants.

Conclusion

Hydroxycut Hardcore has a mix of compounds that have a lot of research backing them as raising metabolism or stimulating fat loss through fat loss metabolic pathways. I have a serious problem with them using the aspirin in the supplement. I would not recommend hydroxycut for bodybuilders because the aspirin will interfere with maintaining muscle and increase muscle loss. There are other good fat burning stacks that don’t add it. Many bodybuilders often make their own homemade fat loss stacks out of Yohimbe, ephedrine, etc.

Tribulus Terrestris extract is a herbal supplement that is claimed by supplement companies to boost testosterone, therefore helping to build muscle. It was first used as a chinese medicine for premature ejaculation.

Unfortunately, over the years multiple studies have debunked the idea of testosterone increases from Tribulus Terrestris supplementation. Bodybuilders that have taken it, usually report no boost in muscle building. Over the years, companies have tried to claim that there tribulus terrestris was superior or that it contained the right form of it in the right amounts.

I think one reason why their is a strong belief that Tribulus Terrestris increases testosterone, is because most notice an increase in libido and erections with Tribulus. Most had previously thought this was probably due to an increase in LH stimulating testosterone production, but a study showed the real cause. A rabbit study published in Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2000 Jan;29(1):22-6 showed that tribulus causes a release of nitric oxide in the body. Viagra works on nitrix oxide too. Nitrix oxide causes improved blood flow to the penis and the rest of the body by vasodilation. A study done on rats Life Sci. 2002 Aug 9;71(12):1385-96 showed increased mounting activity from it’s use.

It appears that Tribulus Terrestris may be a good sexual health drug, but for building muscle it is unlikely to help.

Beta-Alanine in recent years caught attention as a popular bodybuilding muscle building supplement, but the research supporting this supplement goes pretty far back. Beta-Alanine is one of the biggest supplement breakthroughs since Creatine. Coincidentally, Beta-Alanine was first researched by , Dr. Roger Harris in the 90’s, who’s research led us also to Creatine.

What is Beta-Alanine?

Beta-Alanine is a non-proteinogenic amino acid, which just means it can’t be converted to protein. Although it is found naturally in certain meats, but it’s only in small amounts. The only way to truly benefit from high doses of beta-alanine, is to buy it in supplement form.

How Beta-Alanine benefits bodybuilders:

Dr. Roger Harris discovered carnisine was in higher concentrations in Type 2 muscle fibers, these fibers are most responsible for getting bigger and producing strength. Inside the muscle, carnisine, seems to regulate the PH levels in muscle fibers. As you know, lactic acid can build up in a persons muscles causing the painful burn and to prematurely end their set. Carnisine in the muscle allows someone to workout longer because of it buffering the PH level and they feel less pain.

The only way carnisine gets into the muscle, is after it has been converted from beta-alanine and histidine in the body. Histidine is already in plenty amounts circulating the body, but beta-alanine is not. The only way to get beta-alanine into the body in the first place, is either to take carnisine (which converts to beta-alanine and histidine during digestion) or to take beta-alanine by itself.

A study by Stout, J., et al., Effects of Beta-Alanine supplementation on the onset of neuromusclular fatigue and ventilatory threshold in women. University of Oklahoma, OK has reaffirmed earlier research, that beta-alanine allows better muscular endurance.

Not only can beta-alanine supplementation help with muscular endurance and power, but with muscle gains. A study by Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2006 Aug;16(4):430-46 showed after 10 weeks on 33 football players, showed the beta-alanine plus creatine group gained more muscle and lost more fat, over the creatine only and placebo groups. I suspect this is because they could workout more intensely with beta-alanine and this could lead to better long term muscle gains. Like creatine, beta-alanine allows you to workout longer and more intensely. This better muscular endurance should lead to better long term muscle gains in theory. Another possible theory of mine for the muscle gains, is that lowering the PH level in the muscle fibers during workouts, allows for a better muscle building environment.

Whether you take carnisine or beta-alanine, it doesn’t matter because both will eventually get converted to carnisine back in the muscles. Bodybuilders prefer to take beta-alanine powder because it is cheaper and can also be found in bulk powder. Most bodybuilders stack creatine and beta-alanine together, so they get two powerful muscle builders together at once. You may notice a tingling sensation when you first take beta-alanine, but it goes away after a few weeks. This is caused by some stimulation on the nerves.

Liver tablets were a common supplement among bodybuilders years ago, before they had all the fancy bodybuilding supplements they have today like; creatine, NO supplements, anti-estrogens, etc. It’s harder to convince bodybuilders they need to spend extra money for something naturally derived from a liver.

What are liver tablets?

Liver tablets are all the nutrients derived from a liver, in a highly concentrated tablet. It would be a lot costlier to eat the liver for the nutrients, than to get it in pill form. Liver tablets contain the full spectrum of important vitamins and minerals, probably not enough to replace your multi-vitamin though. They are also rich in essential amino acids, so are great for pre-workout. One unique thing is they contain nucleic acids, which are precursors to ADP which is then a precursor to ATP, the main energy currency in the cell. Cytochrome P-450 which is important in muscular endurance is also naturally in liver tablets. There are also some natural growth factors contained in liver tablets. Unfortunately, Liver tablets also have a lot of iron in them, which is not good for men.

Conclusion:

Liver tablets are a great blend of important compounds to work synergistcally, for general health and to support muscle building. It will cost you about the same as a moderate priced multi-vitamin. The one thing I don’t like about liver tablets is the high iron they naturally contain, but as long as your multi-vitamin doesn’t have any iron in it, it should be OK to supplement together.

Ephedra is a natural stimulant herb used in supplements. The media has been trying to scare people for years about it because some people took way over the recommended dosage. The FDA at one point banned it in supplements, but then when a U.S court allowed it in low doses, the FDA has yet to step in on the issue again. Ephedra is certainly not the only fat burner that works, but it is one of the most effective. Let’s look at some of the ephedra alternatives, should ephedra once again get banned by the FDA or because you prefer something else.

Stimulant Ephedra alternatives:

Ephedrine - Ephedrine is the commercial pill version that many bodybuilders used, when ephedra was banned. Ephedrine is often used in cold medicines, but because it is also used in the process to manafacture methamphatemine, it requires identification to purchase it and there is a limit to how much you can purchase at a time. This information is given to the drug enforcement agency.

Synephrine - The citrus plant called “bitter orange”, contains an active stimulant similiar in structure as ephedrine, called Synephrine. Because it is similiar to ephedrine it should be almost as beneficial in aiding fat loss. It also can be stacked with caffeine to increase effectiveness, just like the old ephedrine caffeine stacks.

Yohimbe - This stimulant has been around for years, first used to treat men’s erectile dysfunction. It actually turns out to be a good fat burner, but it works on a different mechanism than ephedrine. It also has the unique ability to help with spot reduction of fat.

Read more about Yohimbe’s fat loss spot reduction in a previous article of mine:
Can Yohimbine Transdermals Spot Reduce Fat

There are other stimulants that are used commercially for fat loss, but none as researched and well known as the above.

Non-Stimulant Ephedra Alternatives:

Most of the non-stimulant fat burners aren’t potent enough by themselves, like the stimulants. Therefore, most common fat burner supplements stack together an array of fatburning compounds. Green tea is common in most commercial fat burner stacks, which raises the metabolism by up to 30%! Octopamine HCL (also known as Norsynephrine HCl) is found in some fat burners. This is a amine akaloid that is derived from synephrine, except it is not a stimulant and it’s been highly concentrated to magnify it’s benefits. Octopamine HCL increases metabolism, increases fat oxidation, improves insulin sensitivity, decreases catabolism of muscle tissue. Sesamin, derived from sesame seeds, has a unique method of increasing fat oxidation and preventing fat storage. Acetyl-L Carnitine (ALCAR) is a well proven fat loss ingredient, found naturally in meat, but in a different form. There are countless other fat burning compounds, far too many to go through here, that have potential to aid in fat loss.

ZMA is a proprietary trademark blend, developed by Victor Conte of Balco Labs, based on research studies. It was developed to increase testosterone and muscular strength.

How ZMA works

ZMA is zinc, magnesium and B6. Zinc appears to have a strong role in regulating testosterone levels, by blocking the conversion of testosterone to DHT, through the 5A Reductase enzyme. Magnesium is a important neurological mineral and has been shown in past studies to improve strength. Vitamin B6 helps with zinc’s inhibitory action on the 5A reductase enzyme.

ZMA Studies

The original study on ZMA was founded by the Victor Conte. He had NCAA football athletes stop taking nutritional supplements for 8 weeks. The control group took ZMA and their lean muscle, strength, and serum testosterone levels were monitored. ZMA supplementation iincreased the leg strength by 11.5% over 4.9% of the placebo. There was an increase of 30% in free and total testosterone (vs 10% in the placebo), and an increase of 20% in IGF-1 levels (vs a 20% decrease in placebo). Results of the study did not show any changes in lean muscle gains despite the anabolic changes.

A study published in (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 1 (2): 12-20. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-1-2-12) showed no significant differences were observed between groups in anabolic or catabolic hormone status, body composition, 1-RM bench press and leg press, upper or lower body muscular endurance, or cycling anaerobic capacity during 8 weeks of ZMA supplementation.

A recent ZMA study published in (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 19 September 2007; doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602899) 14 subjects in their 20s through 30’s excercised regularly and took 11 to 22 mg of zinc a day, before the study started. When the study started, they took the recommended doses of ZMA and measured their urine for testosterone and other metabolites and their serum testosterone levels. Results showed no difference in free or total testosterone serum levels or in changes in urine excretion patterns of testosterone and it’s metabolites. Serum zinc levels and excretion in urine were heightened.

Conclusion:

The only study that shows ZMA works, was the original funded by the developer of ZMA. ZMA probably only works if you are deficient in magnesium or zinc. Zinc appears to be excreted after excercise, so bodybuilders may require slightly more to offset their active lifestyle. This doesn’t point to the efficacy of ZMA as being anything special, just that some may benefit from ZMA because they are already deficient. If you have a really good multi-vitamin with a easily absorbable form of zinc (something other than zinc oxide), it should be adequate zinc intake.

11-OXO is one of the hottest bodybuilding supplements to hit the market in recent years. What differentiates it from any other supplement is it’s unique ability to block cortisol. Cortisol is that nasty hormone that breaks down muscle in the body and promote fat gain. It is released during weightlifting, high stress, and waking up in the morning. By controlling cortisol levels, 11-oxo helps you build more muscle and accumulate less fat during bulking.

How 11-oxo works on cortisol:

11-Oxo real name is Adrenosterone. It is of the class called first selective inhibitor of 11b hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I reductase. This basically means it blocks cortisone from attaching to the 11HSD1R and converting to cortisol, by 11-oxo attaching to 11HSD1R itself instead. This mechanism is called competitive inhibition.

Apparently, 11-oxo is naturally released in the androgen glands as a counter-balance to controlling cortisol, which is also released by the andrenal glands. Adrenosterone was discovered by Patrick Arnold, world renowned steroid expert and chemist, while researching in past research study texts.

Is 11-OXO a pro-hormone?

In addition to being a cortisol blocker, 11-OXO also acts as a pro-hormone, by converting to an active steroid 11-oxotestosterone in the body. This means it can be suppressive to your testosterone production and must be cycled. However, cortisol has a suppressive effect on testosterone product, therefore the cortisol blocking effects should help offset a bit the testosterone suppression from the pro-hormone conversion.

11-OXO results:

Thousands of bodybuilders have tried 11-oxo and have seen great results. There is a lot of research to backup 11-OXO, unlike most other bodybuilding supplements. Patrick Arnold is the only true authority in bodybuilding supplement research and he has researched this compound well. There are other compounds found naturally or artificially that can block cortisol through various ways, but 11-OXO has the safest and most effect route of doing it. While bulking, 11-OXO can help you bust through a plateau and gain a few lbs of muscle and make the gains more leaner. While dieting, 11-OXO can help you lose more fat and less of it being muscle.

One common myth that floats around to people who don’t know much about fat loss, is the idea of spot reduction. This is the belief that you can lose fat in one area, by doing excercises for it. For example, some think if you do situps, it helps reduce fat around your stomach area. This has been debunked along time ago and fat is actually lost over the entire body in layers. There are certain areas of your body that have a higher preference for storing fat, but excercising certain muscles more won’t help it lose fat faster than normal. In fact, the areas that gain fat first and the easiest, tend to be the last to lose the fat when dieting.

But what if I told you spot reducing fat was still possible?

Under normal conditions spot reducing is not possible, however a herb called Yohimbine could actually help. I’ll tell you how.

What is Yohimbine

Yohimbine is a common fat loss stimulant used by bodybuilders for years. It has also been used commercially in pharmaceutical grade for treating sexual dysfunction in men. Yohimbine is a natural herb that has the unique ability to work on A2 receptors in fat cells as a alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonist. Alpha 2 receptors tell the body to stop producing adrenaline. When Yohimbine blocks these receptors as an “antagonist”, it keeps adrenaline from binding to the A2 receptors to stop fat oxidation (fat loss) in the cell.

How does Yohimbine spot reduce fat?

Initially, when losing fat a lot of it comes off easily. After you lose a bit of fat you start getting to more and more stubborn estrogenic fat that is leftover. This more stubborn fat tends to have a high A2 receptor density. The fat is very hard to get off because it is resistant to fat loss because of the high density of A2 receptors. High A2 receptor fat is usually in locations, such as chest, inner thighs, and love handles. Estrogen levels, genetics, and your bodyfat level dertermines both for men and women, how much of this type of fat forms. This is one reason why these areas are most “stubborn” to fat loss.

Taking the unique properties of yohimbe into consideration, Yohimbine transdermals were developed. The transdermals releases high doses of Yohimbe locally through the skin to be absorbed. Because Yohimbine is a stimulant, you can’t take high doses orally. The transdermal allows you to absorb a high concentration of Yohimbine straight to where you want it to go, fat cells with high A2 receptor concentration.

Yohimbine Transdermal directions:

The use of transdermals for delivering supplements into the body is not something new. They have been used in the past by bodybuilders for other supplements including pro hormones. Some create their own transdermals and add the yohimbine to it. With yohimbine transdermals, you simply rub the lotion over the area you want to spot reduce the fat.

The best time to use Yohimbine transdermals is when you have low bodyfat and just can’t get rid of fat from certain problem areas. If you are fat all over, there is no point in trying to spot reduce fat in one area with a yohimbine transdermal. Your first priority should be to just get your bodyfat low. You don’t need to try and get stubborn fat, if you have plenty of other types of fat in the body. Once you get to a low bodyfat % and you hit a fat loss plateau, then add Yohimbe transdermal to the problem areas. You should start to lose the fat in those areas as long as you continue to diet and excercise while using it.

Where can I find yohimbe transdermals?

Popular commercial Yohimbine transdermal products are Lipoderm-Ultra and Lipoderm-Y w/ Caffeine by Avant labs. Some people even create their own custom yohimbine transdermal homebrews.