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Originally Posted by Razor
Achilles, have you considered that the sudden muscle mass gain may have been primarily due to maturation and a natural increase in testosterone, rather than a specific physical training routine? Young men experiencing sudden muscle mass/strength gains between 17-20 years old is not an unusual event. Surely, following a rigorous training program helps develop the new muscle properly, but I'd be more likely to attribute you sudden gains to your body developing and ending puberty. As for creatine not having any noticable side effects, you didn't notice you tended to dehydrate faster, and needed to take in 3-4 times the amount of water than you did before taking creatine? This puts an unnatural strain on the kidneys (assuming you take measures to remain properly hydrated), which over time could be potentially harmful. I'm not sure I'd be willing to risk kidney failure in the long run for temporary increases in workout endurance.
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Roger, I always drink a lot of water every day, training or not. I drank even more when I used creatine. I never noticed any side effects while using creatine (~2-3 gallons of water a day). I apologize for not pointing out that increased water consumption is necessary for creatine to even work.
Also, as the sudden gain in muscle mass could be attributed to rising testosterone levels, I still can't gain as much muscle as I did then today without eating 5-6 large meals a day. Large diet or not, its not likely I could have gained that weight when I was 17 as opposed to 19. I never plateaud on strength when I was skinner, but I had a hell of a time getting any beach muscles.
Solid: The more you eat the more you gain. When your muscles are sore from doing a hard workout, eat as much as you can; concentrate on protein of course (beef and fish have high creatine content FYI). Imbetween meals I'd recommend making a whey protein shake. Get as many calories as you possibly can and you will gain mass easily. Do very tough chest/back/leg workouts that work as many muscles possible from as many angles possible.
Model chest workout:
Benchpress 2 sets of 8 (heavy as you can) then 1 set of 6 where you do as MUCH as you can, usually needing assistance on the last repitition.
Incline dumbell press 3x8
Decline dumbell press 3x8
Dips 3x 80% of maximum
Cable chest flies - 3x12
skull crushers 3x10
tricep cable extensions 4x15
Rest and stretch between each set. I'm not sure how good this is for "military" type strength, but it works great for me.