Creatine, this supplement has become the most researched supplement in the history of sports supplements and deemed as one of the safest to use. I am always getting asked if creatine works, or if it is good for you; doesn’t it just retain water in your body?
Let’s take a look into this supplement, how it works, the history of it and the best ways to take it. Creatine is probably the most effective sport supplement in the world. It is effective in 80% of people who take it.
One of the pros of taking creatine is that it will increase workout intensity, but how? The most elemental source of energy in the body is called ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). It has three phosphates attached to it and when one of the phosphates breaks off, it generates the energy that we utilize. Creatine is effective because it is stored in the muscles as creatine phosphate, as the ATP is degraded, the stored creatine in the muscle will donate the phosphate and replenish the ATP. Now this process will take between two to three minutes, so if you want maximum strength gains, then you will have rest two to three minutes between sets. If you don’t rest that long, you won’t have the full replenishment and won’t take advantage of the full power generated by the creatine.
Let’s take a look at the history of creatine. It was discovered in 1834 by a French researcher, but no one knew what it really was, or the advantages of it, until over 100 years later. In the 20th century it was researched more extensively and in the 1970’s, East German and Russian athletes were the first ones to use creatine in a sporting event. They would be discretely given vials of creatine during competition with officials and competitors totally unaware.
In the early 80’s a couple of companies started to produce creatine, and in 1985 Bob Fritz was the first person to come out with the first creatine supplement. The supplement did not catch on in a widespread way with athletes until a few years later when body builders started using the supplement and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now let’s look at how to take creatine and how it works in the body. When you use creatine there will be some water retention, but this will be intercellular and is a good thing! This means that the water is held within the cells rather than under the skin and won’t cause bloating. Intercellular water retention is also positive because it has what is called a cellular swelling effect. When the cell is hydrated it promotes an anabolic signal which stimulates myogenic factors that also helps build muscle.
The only time you usually get some water retention under the skin is during a loading phase, which is when you take 30g ach day for 6 days, then you drop down to a maintenance phase of 5g each day. Creatine will also stimulate the hormone Insulin Growth factor 1, which stimulates satellite cells with in the muscle. Satellite cells are muscle stem cells which are heavily involved in the repair and building of muscle; this is a real anabolic effect. So creatine is not only an energy producing supplement because of it’s affect on ATP, it also has a direct anabolic effect on muscle. This is why it’s considered to be the number one sport supplement, because it works. For those people feeling blotted and sick when they take creatine, it’s because they are most likely ingesting a poor grade creatine.
Now in regards to how much creatine you should be taking, our bodies will make one gram of the protein each day naturally, this is done in the liver, kidneys and in the pancreas. If you consume a lot of fish and red meat, you may produce another gram of creatine just from their diet, so that would be 2 grams before even taking any creatine supplement. This is what the body is used to, so if you take another 5 grams, you are kind of taking a mega dose of creatine. The new research shows the best way to take a creatine supplement, is to take 5 grams per day, each day, this way you wont get the water retention under the skin and the body wont reject half of it, like when you do a creatine load.
New research shows us not to do the creatine load phase, just start with the 5 grams per day each day. It has also suggested to take your creatine with a whey protein. This will give you an insulin spike and will drive the creatine into the muscle faster. As for the best creatine supplement to buy, the ones made in Germany are considered to be the purest however ensure that you do proper research into any brand or producer prior to purchasing.