by Michael Lohre MS, HFI
I have had several inquires from potential customers asking why Mike’s Mix Recovery Drink does not contain creatine. Currently, creatine is all the rage within the sports supplements market and many competing recovery drinks, including the popular P90X, incorporate it into their formulas. Although I believe that supplemental creatine can be beneficial to a specific group of athletes, there are a few reasons why I left it out of Mike’s Mix.
First: Mike’s Mix is designed for a wide range of athletes, many of which will not benefit from supplemental creatine.
Several studies have shown that supplementing creatine can be beneficial to those athletes training for short periods of high-intensity power or strength. (1)( 2) Power and Olympic weight lifters, bodybuilders and sprinters may all see benefits from supplementing creatine. However, endurance athletes receive no benefit from its use. In fact, some studies have shown a negative relationship with supplementation of creatine and running times. A side effect of creatine supplementation is a gain in weight (mean 2.2 pounds). This is “dead weight” for the endurance athlete and is disadvantageous for those performing running, cycling, or swimming events. In addition, there is no evidence that general fitness, weight loss, or participants of middle of the road sports, such as basketball, soccer, wrestling, or rock climbing would experience any benefits with the use of creatine either. Many users of creatine have also reported muscle cramping, nausea and gastrointestinal upset, symptoms most athletes strive to avoid.
Second: Research showing significant gains in strength and power administer creatine in dosages many times greater than what is found in recovery drinks.
As mentioned before, several studies have shown that creatine may offer an advantage to power athletes. Theses studies all administer 5 to 25 grams of creatine daily. The amount of creatine found in recovery drinks is many times less than even the low end dosage. For example, P90X recovery drink contains .5 grams of creatine, 10X times less than the low-end dosage. Also, manufacturers and sports nutritionalists often recommend cycling creatine in addition to a loading phase. Obviously, this can’t be accomplished if you are relying on the creatine in your recovery drink The amount and cycling of supplemental creatine is going to be different for every athlete, based on gender, daily routine, goals and bodyweight. (3) Numerous manufacturers produce pure creatine that can be obtained at a reasonable price. (4)
Third: There is no long-term research to establish the safety of creatine.
I enjoy my sleep and I wouldn’t sleep comfortably if I included any additive to Mike’s Mix that had even the slightest potential for long-term health problems. Although no formal research has shown creatine to be unsafe (5) much anecdotal evidence suggests caution with supplementation of creatine. Creatine is classified as a “dietary supplement” under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act and is available without a prescription. Creatine is not subjected to Federal Drug Administration (FDA) testing and the purity and hygienic condition of commercial creatine products may be questionable. A 1998 FDA report lists 32 adverse creatine-associated events that had been reported to the FDA. These include seizure, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, myopathy, cardiac arrhythmia, deep vein thromboses and death. However, there is no certainty that a reported adverse event can be attributed to a particular product. A recent survey of 28 male baseball players and 24 male football players, ages 18 to 23, found that 16 (31%) experienced diarrhea, 13 (25%) experienced muscle cramps, 7 (13%) reported unwanted weight gain, 7 (13%) reported dehydration, and 12 reported various other adverse effects. 6 In addition to the above mentioned symptoms, long-term creatine supplementation may pose additional threats to individuals predisposed to liver or kidney dysfunction.
In conclusion, although the Mike’s Mix formula is simple, a lot of thought and time was spent reviewing research to create the finished recovery drink. I did not want to include token additives that weren’t going to assist in an athlete’s recovery, but were just present to sell product. Creatine was left out of the formula because it wouldn’t be beneficial to the majority of my customers and might actually be a hindrance to many (weight gain, cramping, etc). If you are a power athlete, I would strongly consider cycling creatine, which can be consumed in addition to the Mike’s Mix Recovery Drink. I do appreciate all the inquiries I have received about creatine and you can count on me to keep looking into new sports supplements as they come out. If I see evidence that a safe compound would be a beneficial addition to a recovery drink, I will most certainly include it in Mike’s Mix.
Thanks for this post. I purchased your recovery drink because of the reviews I found online and I find the information on your website to be informative and direct without the numerous sales pitches and distracting links you see on other sites. It just seems like a no BS product. To get to the point …I have been researching the use of creatine and thought of adding it to mike’s mix during my P90x training. Your blog convinced me otherwise since I am an endurance athlete, so thank you for posting this information.
Thanks for this post. I purchased your recovery drink because of the reviews I found online and I find the information on your website to be informative and direct without the numerous sales pitches and distracting links you see on other sites. It just seems like a no BS product. To get to the point …I have been researching the use of creatine and thought of adding it to mike’s mix during my P90x training. Your blog convinced me otherwise since I am an endurance athlete, so thank you for posting this information.
Thanks for this post, Mike. I’m so glad I found Mike’s Mix. I’m doing P90X but have been nervous about the quality and type of ingredients that might be in the official recovery drink — including creatine. It just sounds like something they’re going to discover later was not really a good idea. Your post laid out reasons why it’s not necessary now, even if it’s perfectly safe, and that has helped me be an informed, smart P90X-er. I like being able to stick to my whole-foods, health-foods preferences while doing this really fun program. I’m buying Mike’s Mix today!
I ordered the 8lb. bag and am a P90X grad and doing it all over again. I enjoyed Mikes Mix everyday of my workouts and felt great every time I had my recovery shake. I’d put all kinds of berries and bananas in it along with yogurt and skim milk! Awesome way to start the day after my workouts. I highly recommend Mikes Mix and just ordered my 2nd 8lb. bag! Thanks Mike for making such a great recovery mix!
I’ve only been using Mike’s Mix for a week now and can say it’s honestly the best recovery drink I’ve used. I did not like the P90X recovery drink, nor did I like the price of it. =-/ I was informed recently about “Mike’s Mix” and had to try it. The price is decent and the recovery it does is fantastic! My personal experience is a lowered amount of soreness and the feeling of being energized. It’s like my body just sucked up all the nutrients. It sounds weird I know, but you can literally feel the recharge happening on the cellular level. That’s how I know this stuff is working for me. The taste was pleasing and not to chalky like many sports and nutrition drinks can be.
P90X is pretty strenuous and I”m only on my 4th week and holding strong. I feel great and have already started to notice many improvements in my balance, strength, and even my body is looking better. I started doing P90X with my wife to get back in shape and to lose some weight. My wife has always been in great looking shape and has always had a body to die for. But after having 5 kids, she’s been feeling like she can’t lose those extra 20 lbs that she somehow feels she needs to lose. If you ask me, it’s all good from my vantage point. However… I’m tired all the time and always feeling lazy as I approach 40. SO I took the challenge and P90X was the answer! I’m glad to be doing this with my wife, and I’m even more happy that I found an INCREDIBLE recovery drink that isn’t killing my bank account.
One of the GREATEST recovery tools I’ve been using this past month is my Far Infrared Sauna. I’ve owned one for about a year and a half now, and boy oh boy can I tell the difference in my health and overall wellness feeling. When my wife and I do the P90X routines each evening together, we jump in the sauna and relax for 30 minutes. I don’t know if toxins are being “melted” out of my body’s subcutaneous tissues or not from my sauna, but I have DEFINITELY noticed a lot of changes and improvements in my body and overall health ever since we started using it together.
My sauna feels like it’s helping a lot of my soreness and stiffness and healing my screaming poor muscles. All I know is my health is improved significantly ever since the wife and I have been using it after our work outs. The routines have been to do our P90X video in the evening together while the kids do their thing; drink the recovery drink; then sit in the sauna for 30 minutes and hop in the shower. We love the time together and enjoy the work outs. I sleep very good now. It’s basically because P90X wipes us out. But it’s the best sleep I’ve had in years. A lot of that is chalked up to the Mike’s Mix recovery drink, and the FIR sauna.
I’m ashamed to say that the darned thing sat in our room for literally 3 months before we ever started using it. But now we’ve decided to do the P90X challenge and improve our life and bodies… it’s been wonderful! I feel great. The work outs are tough, but worth it. Mike’s Mix is all it’s cracked up to be AND more! I love this stuff and will be using it for not just the full 90 days of doing P90X… but I will be using this drink FOREVER!
I Soooo appreciate your honesty and integrity! I have just ordered my first 4lbs of Mike’s Mix, but reading posts like this really confirms for me that I have come to the right place! I did Shaun T.’s Insanity for the past 6 weeks, and I have a tri coming up in 2 weeks. A lot going on! Meanwhile I noticed weight gain, and experienced a “quality issue” with my first p90x recovery drink order, so I am RELIEVED to be able to work with an honest, personable vendor. Power to you, Mike! Stay strong!
Thanks for choosing Mike’s Mix and the kind words. Best of luck in your triathlon in 2 weeks, I hope you’re pretty far south, getting in the water in early April can be pretty cold here in Wisconsin. Mike
Creatine is great specially if you want to exert some heavy lifting and heavy workouts.,,’,`
Kindest regards http://healthmedicinelab.com/is-strep-throat-contagious/