Creatine
Creatine is among the most well-researched and effective legal supplements there is.
Benefits of Creatine
How does creatine work?
Creatine supplements increase your muscles' phosphocreatine stores. Phosphocreatine aids the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the primary energy carrier in the body.
When you're training, ATP is broken down to produce energy. As creatine increases your phosphocreatine stores you're able to produce more ATP to fuel your muscles during high-intensity training.
How much creatine to take
It's recommended to have a loading phase to quickly elevate your muscle creatine content. For the loading phase, take 20g of creatine day divided into four 5g doses for a week.
After this take 5g a day to maintain those high levels.
It isn't essential to do the loading phase. You can just take 5g from the starting will just take a bit longer for the muscles to become fully saturated.
My digestive system couldn't handle taking 20g a day, so I skipped the loading phase when I started taking it.
The type of creatine you should buy
I would recommend buying creatine monohydrate. There are lots of new versions of creatine out these days, but none of them have been proven to be more effective than creatine monohydrate. Creatine monohydrate is also the cheapest.
To load with creatine, take four 5-gram servings throughout the day for about 5-7 days. After that, take 3-5 grams per day to maintain your muscle creatine stores (1Trusted Source).
Is it safe?
Creatine has a reputation as being harsh on the kidneys, but it has been proven in many studies (1, 2 , 3) that it's safe for people without any prior kidney issues.
There are fewer long term studies on if creatine is safe for people who have kidney issues. If you have any kidney issues, I probably wouldn't use creatine. Diarrhea and nausea can occur as well. This is often because you've taken too much. If this happens to you, try splitting it up into smaller doses throughout the day ad take it with meals.
Creatine is proven to be the most effective performance enhancer for strength and muscle gains that is legal. It's safe and is cheap. It's also allowed by the International Olympic Committee and professional sports.
I highly recommend using it
Benefits of Creatine
- This often means you'll be able to do an extra rep or two in a set than you would without taking creatine. Over time the ability to do extra work can help you build more muscle.
- Increased strength. Many studies have shown that people taking creatine gain more strength when compared to the placebo group. (1)
- It seems to help with age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. It seems to enhance muscular strength, increase lean body mass, and improve bone density even without training. (2)
- You'll gain 1.5-7lbs of weight fairly quickly. This will be water weight in the muscles. You may, or may not think of this as a benefit.
How does creatine work?
Creatine supplements increase your muscles' phosphocreatine stores. Phosphocreatine aids the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the primary energy carrier in the body.
When you're training, ATP is broken down to produce energy. As creatine increases your phosphocreatine stores you're able to produce more ATP to fuel your muscles during high-intensity training.
How much creatine to take
It's recommended to have a loading phase to quickly elevate your muscle creatine content. For the loading phase, take 20g of creatine day divided into four 5g doses for a week.
After this take 5g a day to maintain those high levels.
It isn't essential to do the loading phase. You can just take 5g from the starting will just take a bit longer for the muscles to become fully saturated.
My digestive system couldn't handle taking 20g a day, so I skipped the loading phase when I started taking it.
The type of creatine you should buy
I would recommend buying creatine monohydrate. There are lots of new versions of creatine out these days, but none of them have been proven to be more effective than creatine monohydrate. Creatine monohydrate is also the cheapest.
To load with creatine, take four 5-gram servings throughout the day for about 5-7 days. After that, take 3-5 grams per day to maintain your muscle creatine stores (1Trusted Source).
Is it safe?
Creatine has a reputation as being harsh on the kidneys, but it has been proven in many studies (1, 2 , 3) that it's safe for people without any prior kidney issues.
There are fewer long term studies on if creatine is safe for people who have kidney issues. If you have any kidney issues, I probably wouldn't use creatine. Diarrhea and nausea can occur as well. This is often because you've taken too much. If this happens to you, try splitting it up into smaller doses throughout the day ad take it with meals.
Creatine is proven to be the most effective performance enhancer for strength and muscle gains that is legal. It's safe and is cheap. It's also allowed by the International Olympic Committee and professional sports.
I highly recommend using it