Adding 20 lbs next off-season

Joe:

How old are you? Are you shaving regulary? What position do you play? These things all make a difference in terms of any weightlifting program. Just lifting weights without a plan geared to baseball can do harm instead of good.

In any case, I think you should stay away from Creatine. A good place to start would be to look at your current diet and evaluate how you could change it to gain weight in a healthy manner.

i agree with GaDad. STAY AWAY FROM CREATINE! I now people that take it currently and i now people that have taken it in the past, it doesn't work!
if you drink soda, STOP! if you do good things for you body, your body will do good things for you. good luck

Also be sure to evaluate your strength training program. There are times when a skinny guy such as yourself may need to step back from the "baseball specific" training and focus on more of a hypertrophy (or mass building) phase. The key to functional training is doing what you need to do in order to function. In other words, if you need to spend the off-season bodybuilding to gain weight, then bodybuilding has just become functional for you as a ball player.

Yours in Sport!

Coach Dan

I'm 6'5" 190 I do shave regularly HAHA I come home from lifting and will eat sandwhiches non-stop with meat and everything, I've cut down on pop and headed more towards alot of Gatorade/Milk/water. My dad has protein and I've considerd taking it but he doesn't think I should (but he doesnt know anything about baseball) He's concerned with after my baseball career. Any other ways to gain weight/muscle?

Talk to your doctor or a trainer about creatine. Blanket statements like "creatine does not work" are wrong--in many cases.

even if creatine does work, as soon as you stop using it you will lose all the muscle mass that you gained

Is that right Irishpride? Is this from experience, research, or what you heard from some kid in the weight room?

Creatine is a banned substance in college for a reason. There are not enough test results to show all of the dangers. It can lead to dehydration and severe cramping. Stay away from it. Eat healthy foods and more of them, get on a good weight program designed for baseball and work on your fundamentals.

Creatine does not create muscle mass so it makes no sense that you would lose muscle mass once you stop using it. If anything, you may have less water mass in your muscles.

hasballcoach: where can I find the college rule banning creatine use?

OOPS! I just called the NCAA office and asked about creatine. It is not currently banned. My younger brother was playing D-I a couple of years ago and sounded like to ban was going to go through. I appologize for the confusion, but I would still recommend staying clear.

Joe4_1B,

I was curious why you stressed the “off season”. Do you lift weights during the season? I would think that you might want to start on your strength gaining goals right now if you haven’t already.

I was told that a person could get enough creatine in the foods you eat especially red meat and that too much creatine may cause the body to retain water. You wouldn’t think it would be too dangerous as you can buy it at your local Walmart though.

Good luck to you!

Natural sources of creatine may or not be better, but try finding good lean red meat on a college campus.

SBK, water retention is not the issue. The danger is not drinking enough water while using creatine, leading to liver/kidney issues.

What about the stuff called "protein"

Are you serious?

Protein is key for muscle growth. There are other strings in this category that discuss different forms, timing for use, etc.

For anyone interested in learning about the reward / risk factor of creatine, there is some very useful information from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Here is a link to an article:

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=325&topcategory=Sports%20%2F%20Exercise

Perhaps you should read what the ACSM was saying at the IronMan, where research led them to believe that creatine use was recommended for distance athletes.

Holden,

I’m not sure why you say I was incorrect by saying that water retention is not the issue. In fact the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine article linked by hsballcoach plainly states quite plainly that, “People who take creatine supplements may gain weight caused by muscles holding water. Other side effects of long-term use include muscle cramps, dehydration, diarrhea, nausea and seizures”.

You warn about kidney issues but the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine writes, “No one knows what may happen to important organ systems like the heart, brain, kidneys, liver and reproductive organs if you take creatine supplements”.

Perhaps the key statement is when they say, “No one knows”. If there is indeed, long-term ill effects to the masses, I would be disappointed that the FDA allows it to be sold and that Walmart sells it.

I personally am not comfortable with creatine, however since it is legal I believe that people should make their decision based on facts from credible sources after weighing the risks and assessing their own health conditions and lifestyle with consultation from their physician.

I think we're talking about different kinds pf water retention. I am thinking about "bloating" and not water retention im musscle fiber per se.

Holden im not sure you understood...there is a powder called protein... i wasn't sure if it was like creatien (same effect) or if it was good or bad for you. Sorry for the cunfusion.

Holden. Understood.

I am by no means an expert on nutrition and rely on credible sources to make decisions. It seems that there is a lot still unknown on creatine's long term effects on the body. On the other hand, if you read the small print on any health product you probably would use them sparingly. It seems like they can't say anything about a product without warning that it causes lab rats to have the runs.

Blake, my 16 year old is a poor eater but works out hard and he takes a glass of whey protein each evening. As far as I know it is just concentrated protein from a dairy source and should have no ill effects on the body.

I'm sure someone with a better nutrition background than me could add something. I believe you could check the archives and find something that Coach Dan or another expert in his field may have said about whey protein a while back.

SBK,

I'm pretty up on protein use and effects. I use it myself daily and have had good results. Same with both of my sons.

I'm not sure what to believe when it comes to the science of nutrition after this week's proclamation that overweight people have a greater life expectancy than those of "normal" weight.

I'm sure it will change again next time...

In the meantime I'm going to take advantage of this new found science and supersize it.