Creatine

Why choose Creatine?

• Safe, effective and legal sports supplement
• Increases muscle strength
• Increase lean body mass without increasing body fat
• Increases muscle energy
• Improves muscular performance during high intensity exercise
• Accelerates energy recovery between exercise sessions
• Reduces fatigue by reducing lactic acid build up
• Enables greater training intensity

Naturally present in muscle tissue

Creatine is naturally found in muscle tissue and can be derived from animal products, especially meat and fish. However supplementing with it helps to increase muscle creatine stores and supplements make it easier to determine that you’re getting the right amounts of creatine at the right times; rather than relying on whole food or a largely meat-based diet.

Creatine supplements are readily absorbed and are often delivered with carbohydrates, depending on the type of creatine, which increases uptake of the creatine into muscle cell; making supplementation an easy and logical choice.

Powering muscles

Increasing creatine muscle stores resynthesises ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is the primary fuel used during intense, short duration exercise; such as weight training, sprinting and interval training.

The effects of increased ATP during exercise are increased strength, so you can workout more intensely and see greater, and faster, results. Creatine can greatly increase your strength, agility and power as well as your repetitions.

As well as regenerating ATP, creatine supplementation helps to transport ATP directly to the muscle cell which helps with muscle contraction. This means you’ll be able to sprint faster, lift heavier and get more out of every workout.

Reducing lactic acid build up

Creatine buffers hydrogen ions and lactic acid which are produced during anaerobic exercise so you’ll feel less fatigued during workouts and recovery will be improved. Faster recovery from workouts means you’ll see quicker results and be able to work out more frequently and at higher intensity for maximum muscle building.

Increasing cell volumisation

Creatine is aesthetically pleasing too as it has ‘cell volumising’ properties; effectively “pumping up” the muscle to give the look that you’ve just worked out; even hours after you’ve left the gym. This is due to the increased water that’s driven into the muscle cell. A side benefit of this water retention in cells is the more efficient uptake of nutrients into the muscle.

What types or different forms are there?

There are several types of creatine supplements, here’s a quick rundown of the different types:

Creatine Monohydrate - By far the most widely researched type of creatine studied, Monohydrate is usually the first type of creatine suggested to users as it is both cheap and effective. This is the type of supplement used in most of the hundreds of studies conducted on this ergogenic aid.

Creatine Ethyl-Ester – Ethyl Ester came onto the market later than Monohydrate and is thought to be the next big thing as it required less active creatine and doesn’t require the additional carbs to be effective; lessening the chance of stomach upset and simply eliminating simple sugars that are often avoided by strength training individuals. There’s also no need for a loading phase with Ethyl Ester.

Kre-Alkalyn – this is a buffered creatine which is supposed to prevent the creatine from breaking down into creatinine; a waste product. It’s basically mixed creatine and alkaline salt which increases absorption and uptake into the muscle cell.

Creatine Transport - this type of supplement includes creatine monohydrate with the additional mix of carbohydrate and insulin spiking ingredients to drive creatine into muscle cells more effectively than creatine monohydrate alone.

Tri-Creatine Malate – this is a blend of 3 types of creatine; plus Malic Acid; so you get more effective absorption of the creatine, and the benefits of all 3, for better results.

Micronised Creatine – this type has been processed to extra fine microns ensuring proper dispersion and better absorption

Liquid Creatine – creatine in liquid form which is taken with a dropper under the tongue, so the it's efficiently absorbed as it’s quickly absorbed by the mucous membranes in the mouth, bypassing the stomach and digestive system and thereby retaining a much higher potency.

Who should use creatine supplements? 

• Strength and power athletes
• Sprinters or those performing interval training, e.g. swimmers
• Active people looking to increase muscle power, strength and/or size
• Intense training individuals
• Individuals involved in racquet sports, such as squash or tennis
• Older athletes as creatine stores in the body decline with age
• Vegetarians who have a lower muscle concentration of creatine as they avoid animal products

Individuals involved in anaerobic sports, such as sprinting and weight training, seem to benefit most from creatine supplementation. These sports require rapid regeneration of ATP and creatine enhances the performance of repeated 6-30 second bouts of maximal exercise typical in these sports.

Situations for Use…

Post Workout – Creatine is ideally taken post workout when you need the rapid uptake of phosphocreatine into the muscle cell; when it’s readily absorbed into muscle cells, meaning faster recovery from intense exercise.

Prior to Workout – Having a supplement prior to a workout ‘tops up’ the creatine in muscles so you’ll have a more explosive workout and will recover more quickly between reps or intervals.

First thing in the morning - If you take creatine before you eat breakfast it may be absorbed more completely. This makes it easier to remember to take your daily dosage of creatine too, or can be an ideal scenario for days that you don’t work out. 

When is the best time to take a creatine supplement?

Ask one athlete and you’ll get one answer; ask another and you’ll get the opposite answer. In other words, there’s no definitive ‘best’ way to take creatine. Some argue that post workout is ideal so you can rapidly replenish ATP for faster recovery and muscle growth. Other athletes choose first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and others prefer pre-workout so you’ve already ‘topped up’ creatine stores in the muscle cell.

Having said that, taking creatine following a workout is widely accepted as being the most beneficial time. Taking a post workout recovery drink comprising of carbohydrate, protein and added creatine works effectively as the insulin spike helps to shuttle it more effectively into your cells, which enhances recovery times.

What’s the ideal dosage?

Some athletes and researches recommend that Creatine monohydrate supplementation requires a 5-7 day ‘loading phase’. This means you saturate your muscles with higher dosages helping you to reach muscle creatine threshold faster.

Creatine loading and maintenance

The ideal protocol is 20g per day for the first 5-7 days and then; following this; reduce to 5g of creatine monohydrate per day for the reminder of the cycle or ‘maintenance phase’.

However, you may choose not to load and therefore get a slower intake into muscle cells.

Other types such as Kre-Alkalyn, Ethyl Ester and Liquid Creatine, may not require a loading phase so 5-10g taken post-workout is the typical amount. However dosage does depend on the type of supplement you are taking. It is always recommended to take the dosage as recommended on the product label.

Are there any side effects or concerns 

Some individuals say they suffer from nausea, gastrointestinal upset and muscle cramping when going through loading phases on creatine. As creatine has a cell volumising effect, its delivering water to muscle cells so this is explainable however clinical studies don’t back up these side effects.

Concern arose for users who supplement with dosages in excess of recommended amounts and how this may impact renal function however studies report no renal stress unless pre-existing renal problems have occurred.

Are creatine supplements legal?

Yes, these supplements are legal.