| I'm a 47-year old male; 5' 10", 142 lbs. I began working out almost 4 years ago. I've gained strength and muscle mass, but because of fat loss, I'm not sure how much. I've had a difficult time upping the amount of weight I was lifting over the past year. The weights for each of the exercises have remained about the same. It seems that I need a long recovery time, since I'm one of those people who experiences severe muscle soreness about 24 hours after a workout.
About a month ago I began loading with creatine monohydrate, 4 level teaspoons 4 times per day for 4 days. I then followed it with one level teaspoon per day for 3 weeks. This is slightly less than was called for on the label, but I usually react to slightly reduced dosages of meds and such. So I thought I'd give it a try at these levels.
During the time using creatine, I was able to up the resistance on each of the exercises that I perform by about 8-25% of the weight that I was lifting. The most remarkable result was that I experienced almost no muscle soreness over that time. Only once, when I worked the rear delts extra hard did I get a mild soreness. The creatine seemed to allow me to work harder the next day. I never felt that I needed a day or two or three off, just to recoup my energy and to let the general soreness abate.
I gained about 5 lbs. over that time (to 147), though I'm not sure how much of it is lean muscle mass. I plan to begin the creatine again in two weeks, when my vacation is over and I get back into the gym.
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