I often get asked what supplements it is worth spending money on. One of my top three favourites is creatine, because it can potentially increase your strength, power and performance and provide a greater resistance to fatigue. Research has shown that those participating in sports with a lot of explosive movements or high-intensity type of work, sprinters, crossfitters and weightlifters for example, will benefit the most from supplementing with creatine.
First of all, let me just clear one thing out. If your diet sucks, there is no point what so ever in spending any money on supplements. You will be better off investing in your grocery shopping to start with. Once you have that on point, then you can start looking into what supplements you could see benefits from.
What is Creatine?
Creatine is already created naturally in your body. The three amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine, and three enzymes with long complicated names I will not bother writing out, are required for your body to produce creatine. However it is not considered a protein even though it is a bi-product of amino acids. You get it in small quantities from proteins that you eat, in particular red meats. As you might understand, vegetarians and vegans therefore have a much lower intake of creatine than someone who eats meat.
A meat eater will generally get 1-2 grams of creatine from their food and the quantity of creatine you would get from a supplement could not be ingested from your diet alone. The most common form of creatine that people take as a supplement is creatine monohydrate in powder form which you mix in a glass of water or juice. Monohydrate is also the most researched type. Though, regardless of which type of creatine people supplement their training with, studies have frequently found greater increases in muscle mass and strength, when compared to training without a creatine supplement.
What happens in your body when you train?
In order for your muscles to produce movement or to lift a weight, they have to contract. In order for them to contract, you need to use adenosine tri-phosphate, more commonly known as ATP. This is the source of energy for every muscle and every cell in your body. During a muscle contraction, ATP will be broken down to adenosine di-phosphate, ADP. This is when energy gets released and allows you to move around or push that weight.
Your body has three different energy systems that ATP gets produced through. The phosphagen system, the glycogen-lactic acid system and the aerobic respiration system. I will only talk about the phosphagen system here, as it is the only energy system relevant talking about regarding creatine use. Through this system ATP will be produced as long as phosphocreatine (PCR) is available within your muscle cells. Someones anaerobic capacity is determined by the content of PCR in the muscle and the muscles capacity to buffer PCR.
After a few seconds of performing something with a maximal effort, there is a decline in maximal performance, in other words fatigue occurs. You know when you are doing squats, you get to rep number 4 and on your 5th rep you fail. Or it could be when you are doing a 100 meter sprint, but after 80 meters you fatigue and physically can not keep pushing as hard anymore. That is because at that point, your ATP usage has exceeded your ATP storage and production. Your PCR levels are depleted and therefore you can not synthesize more ATP through your phospagen system, to allow you to keep pushing with a maximal effort. But! When you rest, the PCR is re-synthesized quickly and after up to 4 minutes your body will have recreated about 95%.
What does creatine supplementation do for me?
Creatine supplementation will increase your ATP production and it increases the muscles capability to store this biochemical, by increasing the PCR buffers in your muscles. It will allow you to push that 5th rep or last the whole 100 meter sprint before you fatigue. Because creatine supplementation results in more ATP output and a more rapid regeneration of ATP when you are resting between sets, it allows you to maintain a higher workout intensity and will improve your training quality.
In terms of overall recovery after a workout is finished, creatine supplementation will benefit you as well, by hydrating your muscle cells to a greater extent than normal. Potentially, when creatine and water is pulled into your muscle cells, things your body are going to need for recovery will be pulled in there along with it, in other words amino acids and electrolytes. The more liquid that can be pulled in, the more amino acids and electrolytes will follow, therefore it may increase your ability to recover, grow and rebuild your muscles.
How will it benefit your strength and performance according to studies?
Creatine is probably one of the most researched supplements on the market and here is what some of the studies have found.
One study I looked at found significant increases in lean body mass and total body mass (+1.2kgs) after 6 weeks of creatine use in combination with resistance training in a group of 9 males. They also experienced large increases in preacher curl, squat and bench press strength. The same size placebo-group did not see any significant changes in strength or body mass (+0.21kgs) and no change in percentage of body fat, following the same training protocol for 6 weeks.
Another study performed on women found that creatine used in combination with 12 weeks resistance training increased 1RM bench press, bicep curl and knee extension more than when resistance training was performed without creatine use. The same study also found resistance training with creatine use to improve the efficiency to perform certain functional sub maximal strength tests and a greater increase in muscle mass, as compared to resistance training alone.
A meta-analysis on creatine supplementation studies showed that individuals performing heavy strength training while using creatine on average achieve +8% more improvements in 1RM lifts and +14% more endurance strength, as compared to placebo groups.
A 7 week study on professional elite soccer players found that creatine monohydrate supplementation was beneficial. A group supplementing with creatine experienced less training-induced fatigue and less decline in lower-body power and performance, as compared to a group that was given a placebo substance.
When should you take creatine?
In terms of timing of ingestion, there was no significant difference found in increased muscle mass and strength gains in a 12 week study where they compared creatine ingestion before resistance training versus after resistance training. However this study was performed on older adults. A study performed on younger individuals who were experienced in resistance training from previously saw greater benefits in regards to strength and body composition, from taking their creatine post-workout as opposed to pre-workout.
Some studies suggest taking your creatine along with simple carbohydrates after a workout for best absorption, because insulin can play a role in enhancing the accumulation of creatine in your muscles. However this has only been seen after consumption of large amounts of simple carbohydrates, and to over-consume sugary foods might not be beneficial for some people, for obvious reasons.
How much should you take?
It will take approximately 2 weeks for your body to absorb and reach the maximum possible levels of creatine content within your muscle cells. If you want to reach your maximum level faster, you can do a ”loading phase” where you for 5-7 days ingest 0.3 grams of creatine per kilo of body weight divided into four equal doses per day. A 60 kg female following this approach would load with 4.5 grams taken four times per day and then she would drop that to her chosen maintenance dose. Most studies have investigated ingesting 3-5 grams per day and found positive benefits from doing so, regardless of bodyweight. Some studies suggest dosing relative to your bodyweight, the most common recommendation being 0.1 gram per kilo of bodyweight, meaning a 60 kg female would ingest 6 grams per day.
By the end of two weeks, comparing one person who has done the loading phase method and another person who has taken their maintenance dose from the start, will not have a difference in creatine content in their muscle cells.
Is it safe?
It is commonly, and wrongly, discussed that creatine use may cause subcutaneous water retention, meaning water underneath your skin, making you appear bloated and swollen. The water weight gain it causes is just an increased water content within the muscle cell and it will not make you look bloated. It will cause a weight gain though and if you participate in a sport where you need to make weight for a contest this is something you may want to keep in mind.
Another thing you may have heard is that creatine supplementation could cause kidney or liver damage, however numerous studies have looked into this and all of them have concluded that long-term creatine use does not result in liver damage nor kidney issues.
A third side-effect people often talk about, but which have not been reported in any studies either, is that creatine use can cause stomach cramps and gastrointestinal discomfort. Even though there is no scientific evidence for this I personally believe that this can be the case for some people. This is probably depending on what brand you use. I say this because I have experienced horrible stomach cramps after taking creatine myself, but this only happened to me from two certain brands. From other brands I have seen great results and never experienced any problems.
In one study I came across an interesting potential explanation as to why people report negative side effects from creatine use, even though there has never been any scientific studies reporting these problems. Other than the intramuscular water weight gain of course (which actually is a positive outcome). It may be because the creatine used in studies are of higher quality than what is available on the market. With this in mind, and with what I said above about me experiencing severe stomach cramps a couple of times, do your research and find a brand, dose and loading method that works for you.
If you need help to optimize your performance and body composition while learning about nutrition and supplements, contact me HERE for specialized online coaching and receive your first two weeks for FREE for a limited time.
Some further reading and references:
Aguiar, A., Januário, R., Junior, R., Gerage, A., Pina, F., Nascimento, M., & Cyrino, E. (2013). Long-term creatine supplementation improves muscular performance during resistance training in older women. European Journal Of Applied Physiology, 113(4), 987-996.
Antonio, J., & Ciccone, V. (2013). The effects of pre versus post workout supplementation of creatine monohydrate on body composition and strength. Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition, 10(1), 1-8.
Candow, D. G., Zello, G. A., Ling, B., Farthing, J. P., Chilibeck, P. D., McLeod, K., & Johnson, S. (2014). Comparison of Creatine Supplementation Before Versus After Supervised Resistance Training in Healthy Older Adults. Research In Sports Medicine, 22(1), 61-74.
Claudino, J. G., Mezêncio, B., Amaral, S., Zanetti, V., Benatti, F., Roschel, H., & Serrão, J. C. (2014). Creatine monohydrate supplementation on lower-limb muscle power in Brazilian elite soccer players. Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition, 11(1), 1-14.
Cooper, R., Naclerio, F., Allgrove, J. & Jimenez, A. (2012). Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update.. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 9(1), 33-43.
Flanagan, E. P. (2007). Creatine Supplementation: Implications for the Competitive Weightlifter.Strength & Conditioning Journal (Allen Press), 29(2), 60-66.
Francaux, M., & Poortmans, J. R. (2006). Side Effects of Creatine Supplementation in Athletes.International Journal Of Sports Physiology & Performance, 1(4), 311-323.
Garazhian, Y., & Azimkhani, A. (2014). Combined Effects of Prolonged Creatine Supplementation and Resistance Training on Muscular Strength and Body Composition in Collegiate Athletes. Pamukkale Journal Of Sport Sciences, 5(2), 60-74.
Lemon, P. W. (2002). Dietaryy Creatine Supplementation and Exercise Performance: Why Inconsistent Results?. Canadian Journal Of Applied Physiology, 27(6), 663-680.
Oliver, J. M., Jagim, A. R., Pischel, I., Jäger, R., Purpura, M., Sanchez, A., & ... Kreider, R. B. (2014). Effects of short-term ingestion of Russian Tarragon prior to creatine monohydrate supplementation on whole body and muscle creatine retention and anaerobic sprint capacity: a preliminary investigation. Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition, 11(1), 1-18.
Rawson ES, Volek JS: Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance. J Strength Cond Res 2003, 17:822–831.
Sahlin, K. (2014). Muscle Energetics During Explosive Activities and Potential Effects of Nutrition and Training. Sports Medicine, 44167-173.
Souza-Junior, T., Willardson, J., Bloomer, R., Leite, R., Fleck, S., Oliviera, P. & Simao, R. (2011). Strength and hypertrophy responses to constant and decreasing rest intervals in trained men using creatine supplementation. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8(1), 17-27.
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