Hi.

I'm basically in the process of trying to bulk up a bit. I have friends that have similar strength to me, if not less, yet they appear to be twice the size. They're not fat though, they're just *big*.

At the moment I'm just taking Sanatogen protein shakes occasionally, but I was thinking of getting some Creatine pills.

Do these look any good in your experience?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330000365868&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014

I'm not trying to become a body builder, and I don't want to look all muscular, I just want to be something other than a stick insect. i.e. I want my wrists to be wider, my arms to be thicker, to just bulk up a bit.

Are Creatine pills the answer? I generally find that exercise doesn't really do much for me, I was hoping to get into the the Royal Marines about a year ago, I could do about 100 press-ups and situps, yet I was still pretty small in comparison to people that were no where near as fit as me.

Thing is being 17 (coming up 18 in July) I don't want to over do it, I realise that taking these pills might screw up my kidneys or something. So I want to do things safely, even if it takes a lot more time.

Any help would really be appreciated, as I said, I'm not looking to become all muscular, I just want to look bigger, to beef up a bit.

Thanks.

ok well first of all there are no creatine studys htat i have sene (and beilive me ive looked) that say it will seriously injure your kidneys there is however SPECUALTION that it MIGHT hurt your kidneys
 
about looking muscley?
 
your don't wanna look like that
 
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/westonh/rc202.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
 
 
or don't wanna look like this:
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/westonh/714430013_l.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

wouldnt getting bigger through working out make you look more muscular? i mean you could just eat alot and then not do anything and you would get bigger. what exactly are your goals?

If I'm understanding you correctly you just want to look thicker. Fact is, however, you may just be built on a small frame. You'll be able to get bigger and more muscular, but your frame will still be smaller. That has more to do with genetics than workouts.    

It is said that creatine can hurt your kidneys if you dont work out while taking it, and once your body doesnt use it and trys to "Discharge" it, that it can harm your liver/kidneys on its way out, but I havnt seen anything official about that either.
 
I wouldnt take the pill form though as I have heard alot of talk about the effectivness of pill form. Go for a powder that you can mix/drink. And remember that if you do take creatine that you must drink lots and lots of water.

ORIGINAL: Broken09

If I'm understanding you correctly you just want to look thicker. Fact is, however, you may just be built on a small frame. You'll be able to get bigger and more muscular, but your frame will still be smaller. That has more to do with genetics than workouts.    

That's what I'm afraid of.
 
This is slightly embarrassing illustrating this but, instead of looking like this:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/westonh/714430013_l.jpg
 
I want to look more like this:
http://www.bmgnews.de/PARI/KAT/DOCU0/FOTO3_180/I/146885-15923I3894.jpg
 
Maybe it's just a case of having an equal balance of muscle and fat. Trouble is I have the metabolic rate of a horse, so putting on fat is seriously hard for me.
 
I was just hoping there was some kind of miracle shake you can drink to not boost your energy levels to help with working out, just to boost the body mass itself.
 
Anyway. Thanks for the comments guys.

Actually just another quick one, does digesting a lot of protein pose any danger to your kidneys at all?
 
Simple logic obviously says yes, but I'm torn between two stories here. I know someone that does body building and he takes a lot more than I do, I go by whatever it says on the box. Whereas my Dad's a healthcare manager and he says the reason it says you can only take a certain amount is because your kidneys can't metabolise it, and they will get damaged.
 
I'm asking because I'd like to take more and get more effect, but, I don't want to go screwing myself up.
 
Thought I'd best of asking people who have been doing it for years.
Thanks again.

why would you not want to look like this first one? surely its better than just being average

ya the first one is personally what I want to look like but any way you woudl ahve to eat ALOT of protien and drink very ;little water for it to serisouly damage your kidneys as long as u drink 1-1.5 gallons of water a day it should be  a problem

ya the first one is personally what I want to look like but any way you woudl ahve to eat ALOT of protien and drink very ;little water for it to serisouly damage your kidneys as long as u drink 1-1.5 gallons of water a day it should be a problem

Ok I'll increase the intake by a small amount. Thanks.

why would you not want to look like this first one? surely its better than just being average

Personally, I'd hardly call Ricky Martins body average, it's probably EXACTLY what I'm looking for. He's got muscle, but he's also got fat. It's not like there's a thin layer of skin stretched around huge muscles, which is personally what I don't really like.

I was planning on getting a bit of fat first, and then building muscle. A friend of mine done that and from his experience, building noticeable muscle is so much more easier when you've got a bit of fat on you.

I've now decided to get this instead, when I get paid:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150000506704&fromMakeTrack=true

Apparently if you don't do any exercise with this, you will get fat? I don't want to get mega fat, I mean just to have a bit of flab under my arms, and then start working out. So once my body mass has grown, I'll grow muscles into it, hopefully ending up fairly muscular, but mainly bigger and bulkier. I would just eat loads of fry ups but I don't want all the cholesterol and die from a heart attack at 18 lol.
 
Also, does protein have any effect on you if you don't use it?
Tnx.