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One of the first supplements you will hear of when starting to get in shape is creatine. It is now becoming one of the ‘must have’ supplements for gains, alongside protein shakes and pre-workouts.

But honestly, I don’t think half of us have a clue what it is, what it does, how essential it is, if it has any side effects, etc. So I did research and tried to simplify it for you.

What is creatine?

“Creatine is a compound formed in the metabolism of proteins and present in many living tissues. It participates in the supply of energy for muscle contraction”

Essentially, creatine helps supply energy to the muscles for the lift, therefore taking additional creatine will further increase these supplies; this should help you increase the work done in the gym.

How does creatine affect my performance in the gym?

Studies tend to suggest that a dose of 20 g/day of creatine for 5 to 7 days increases:

– your maximum power/strength (1 Rep-Max) by 5 to 15%

– work done for maximum effort contractions (repetitions to failure) by 5 to 15%

– single effort sprint performance by 1 to 5%

– work done during the execution of repetitive sprints by 5 to 15%

So, as you can see, creatine increases your athletic performance in the gym, which can be a useful tool for breaking through plateaus and reaching new 1 Rep Maxes.

So will creatine help me build muscle faster?

Well, potentially, since you can put more stress on your muscles.

Think of it this way: If you’re able to get more work done in the gym, you’ll be able to push your body more than normal, and therefore you can put more stress on your muscles, which can trigger a greater response to make them grow. .

Now no one knows for sure how much muscle creatine will help add, and you won’t just gain muscle from taking creatine.

Assuming you’re already training and eating properly, creatine can help you push yourself a little harder, which could help you build muscle.

What kind of creatine should I take?

Creatine is sold in many different forms (candy bars, liquid creatine, creatine gum, etc.), however, there is no data to suggest that it provides better creatine uptake into muscle than creatine monohydrate. . Mix it in water, juice, protein shakes, etc. okay, but don’t mix it with a citrus drink! (Breaks it down making it useless.)

How much creatine should I take?

Typical doses are between 2 and 25g per day and only about 5g of creatine should be taken at a time; otherwise, it just urinates.

Typically, a 5g dose of creatine is taken before and/or after a workout (while your body is in a primed, muscle-building state); this tends to depend on personal preference and the phase you are in. The remaining amount can be taken at regularly spaced intervals throughout the day.

In general, there is usually a charging phase, a maintenance phase and a washing phase:

-The loading phase is where you fill your muscle creatine stores for a few days to maximize stores in the muscles – here you should take 0.3g/kg of body weight, and not consume this amount for more than five days (excess quantity is no longer needed)

-The maintenance phase is when your creatine capacity has been maximized, and you only need to maintain this amount – here you only need to take 0.03g/kg of body weight, and stay in this phase for no more than one month.

-The washout phase is when you stop taking creatine for a while to allow your body to recover, and just to be safe if there are any side effects: a 1 month washout period is recommended.

Are there any side effects?

According to WebMD, creatine is likely safe when taken by mouth for up to 5 years.

It may not be safe if taken in high doses and may damage kidney, liver, or heart function; however, a connection between high doses and these negative effects has not been shown.

However, creatine can also cause stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, and muscle cramps.

Also, creatine draws water from the rest of the body, so make sure you drink enough water to make up for this.

You will gain weight fairly quickly at first, and this is due to increased water weight in your muscles, giving your muscles a more ‘bloated’ look. Hey, it makes you look bigger! Good right? But chances are this isn’t muscle mass… just water.

It is well worth the money?

According to bodybuilding.com, a typical 400g tub of creatine monohydrate will set you back around £10lbs. So that’s about 80 5g servings. This is around 13p per serving.

So yeah, no complaints about the price, but if I were you, I wouldn’t go shopping just yet…

My opinion

If you’re just starting out, I wouldn’t bother, and for good reason:

You’ll basically build muscle and get stronger doing basically anything when you start out in the gym. Personally, I’ll save creatine for a time when I’m really struggling to make any gains or have hit a really big plateau.

This is really my take on most supplements; I don’t like to depend on them, because when I really hit a brick wall, there’s nothing to get me through it.

Right now I’m getting bigger and stronger, and I haven’t reached a stage where I’m struggling mentally and physically to progress in the gym, and I’m deadlifting 200kg. Don’t blame a lack of creatine as an apology if you’re just starting out.

Always look at the fundamentals first if you’re not making progress: your diet and exercise. Experiment with that first, and if that really doesn’t work, then yes, hop on some creatine and see how it goes!

NOW WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SOME UNIGAINS!

-Miguel

If you have any questions please ask me @unigains or [email protected]!