Creatine has no known side effect. Creatine is like an extra battery you put into your lamp . If you take it out (stop taking it), your energy will decrease over time, back to normal (not below that)
But as long as you train, you will keep around 75% of your gains you made with creatine. But i don't see any reason to stop using it, it's so fvcking great.
training :
I go heavy, but not too heavy. You see, i developed this mind-muscle connection, if i take too heavy i don't "feel" the muscle working, and if i don't feel em working, i don't get a great pump, wich means i'm doing something wrong. In that case, i take less weight. This is very important, don't take heavy weight like those teenagers, trying to impress etc... bad. If you take too heavy, you'r exhausting your joints, instead of your muscles. oh wel...
I developed my chest with the usual chest exercises like bench press, flyes, cable flyes, machine's etc... I think the key rather lies in how many reps and sets you do. I personally like to do 3-4 exercises and 4 sets per exercise, all existing of reps in the 14-6 range. .
So let's say i start off with 14 reps, moderate weight. I move over to 12 reps, slightly heavy weight. Then i take a little heavier to do 10 reps. Finally, i take something heavy to do 6 to 8 reps. And if i'm in the mood, i take off all the extra weight leaving only the amount of the first set, then i do 12 times again (this gives me an incredible pump).
I can pretty much say that i use this principle on every muscle group. Now, i don't say it is the best. I believe that every person reacts different to a training style. But what i do, works for me.
Somebody mentioned something about abs. If you want abs, you need to train them (not everyday, treat them like your other muscle groups) but, and here's the key, you need to follow a good diet plan. That's right, you can train and train your ass off, without the proper diet (and supplements), you'll see only 30% of your potential!
As far as a cutting diet, i found this to be extremely well working :
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par30.htm
It is an effective fat loss system, and it is psychologically also easier then other diets. No cardio involved in this diet ;-)