In bodybuilding/powerlifting, there are two staple supplements that are known to be effective, without controversy and without debate: protein and creatine. The science behind both is solid and widely agreed upon.

With creatine, however, there are people known as "non-responders", who as the name suggests, don't respond to some of the various types of creatine molecules out there. I have reason to believe I am one of those people. I have never really seen any legitimate gains out of creatine. I have cycled off of it before and had the same results as I have while taking it. I have tried creatine monohydrate and creatine ethyl ester, and remain unconvinced in their effectiveness, at least for me. In my reading on my the matter, mainly at http://www.bodybuilding.com, many people with the same predicament as me have tried a different creatine compound, called creatine gluconate. The premier product for this compound seems to be Gaspari Nutrition's SizeOn (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/gn/size.html).

So, starting tomorrow (May 22nd), I will begin taking it for 30 days. You can follow my progress here: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/socctty/. I think it is reasonable to expect me to add 10 to 15 lbs to my max bench press in this amount of time. Although it is worth noting that since December 1st I have only gone up 5 lbs in my max bench press. I have tried different routines over that period, but to no avail. I am not terribly wrapped up in how much I can bench press, actually... I just think it is a reasonably fair measure, along with body weight, of how effective a supplement is.

Many people seem to have been pleasantly surprised with the product, so I have some optimism about it. If you guys haven't had much success with creatine products in the past, I would suggest following my progress on here. I will update with comments about it throughout the 30 day period. But if you have never tried creatine before, the general consensus still seems to be to start with creatine monohydrate products at first, and then size things up from there.

Anyway, I hope this stuff works out!

Notes about my typical diet (average about a gallon of water a day, prob should drink more):

Monday through Friday:
0700 - Creatine, oatmeal.
0900 - Tuna or a casein/whey protein shake.
1100 - Whatever the chow hall on base is serving. Baked chicken and rice, two little things of chocolate milk, some water, some veggies is pretty typical.
1430 - Whey shake
1500 - Work out.
1600 - Whey shake and creatine.
1830 - Dinner - maybe a turkey burger patty or two on a wheat bun, or tuna & macaroni.
2100 - Whey/casein shake.

Saturday and Sunday:
Hangover foods to nurse me from Friday and Saturday nights. :-P

Good luck Socctty.  I'll be watching, creatine hasn't done much for me either, other than I do think it helped with recovery time between workouts.  Maybe I'll try Size On too.

If you do, buy it online. GNC are a bunch of con-artists.

OK I couldn't wait.  I got 240 tablets for $35 on ebay.  Did you get the powder or tablets Socctty?

Everyone else, read Socctty's review & progress, cuz I won't be able to keep track of any potential gains like he will.

Some notes already.

When to consume: The directions for this says to take one serving immediately before bed on all days, and on workout days to drink it during the workout. This is a little bit differently than other creatine products have instructed in the past (they were one serving immediately in the morning and one serving immediately after working out). Not a huge difference, but something worth noting that could go easily overlooked. If you buy the stuff I guess you should follow the instructions. I take a protein shake right before I go to sleep also, so hopefully that doesn't cause the creatine to be metabolized inefficiently.

Taste: I bought the Grape Blast flavor powder. They also had Arctic Lemon or some crap like that. I remember reading online that one of the flavors was good and the other was similar to powdered turds. I guess I lucked out, because the Grape stuff isn't half-bad. The instructions mention 20 ounces of water per scoop, but I thought that would be really diluted, so I tried only 12 ounces. WRONG. The stuff is SUPER sweet. It tastes like you are drinking grape soda syrup at that consistency. Same with 16 ounces. So I went with 20 ounces of water and now it's all gotta go down.

Pill vs. Powder: The pills were available but they required you to take 6 per serving and I HATE taking pills. Multi-vitamins and fish oil pills are enough for me to choke down in one day. The pill container is much smaller and more convenient for a gym bag, but I damn near puke every time I swallow a pill larger than an aspirin. If you can tolerate pills, then more power to you. Maybe I'm silly but I would also imagine that powders are more readily-absorbed by your body than a pill. I don't recall how much water you're supposed to take with the pill-version, but remember, the powder suggests 20 to 25 ounces of water. Which is 3 whole cups of water! I expect to pee sometime around 2 AM... a lot. 

Medic - why do you not think you can keep track of your progress? I have no special powers!

GBORN - I know, not every weekend is as vicious as this last one was. It's all Michelob Ultras and vodka-and-Redbulls for me when I do drink. I'm young so I can afford to party a bit on the weekends. Gotta enjoy this metabolism while I can, haha

Very interesting thread!

I have been working out consistently for about 1 1/2-2yrs and have seen alright gains with protein alone, and i think ill be adding creatine to the prog in a few months. Curious to see how this works out and gains made. I need to be more consistent with my protein intake, as i forget or am in too much of a hurry to mix up some shake.