Creatine - Everything you Need to Know

The world’s most researched supplement, the same supplement your mum tried to tell you was a “steroid” and not to put that junk in your body. While we agree with your mum not to put steroids in your body, creatine is perfectly safe to consume.

What you'll find out below ⤵️

What is Creatine
Evidence Based results on how it can improve performance in the gym
When and How much you should consume

What is Creatine?

Creatine is produced in the body naturally by the liver and kidneys and is stored in our skeletal muscle as phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine is the source of fuel for the Phosphagen Energy System which is mostly recruited during short but high intensity work. for example sprinting and weightlifting.
Creatine has a vital role in our cellular energy production as Phosphocreatine through regenerating ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
By adding extra creatine into our bodies through supplementation we can increase our phosphocreatine stores, this allows us to replenish our ATP and improve performance (Casey & Greenhaff, 2000) [1]
Creatine can be found in some food we eat, including red meat and seafood as shown from the table on the right. Just in low quantities.

So how can it help your performance? 🤔

As stated above it is the world’s most researched supplement.

For the purpose of this article we will be looking at Creatine Monohydrate, there are various brands and kinds of creatine on the sports nutrition market now a days, but creatine monohydrate is the OG as they say.

Creatine Can:

Help improve athletic and High Intensity Exercise performance [1] [2] [3] [4]
Help Increase muscle size and lean body mass [2]

A 10 week study by (CRIBB et al., 2007) [2] compared the results of experienced resistance trained males with the same strength levels and split them into one of three supplementation groups, one with just protein, one with protein and carbohydrate and with with both plus creatine. The results showed supplementation with creatine group to have greater increases in 1RM, stating that 40% of the increase in strength could be attributed to increase in muscle size through hypertrophy. They were observed to have better increases in muscle fiber cross sectional area, lean body mass and contractile protein.

Another Study by (Kaviani et al., 2019) [3] tested young males strength over a 8 week period, training 3 days per week on the bench press,leg press, shoulder press,triceps extension, biceps curl and lat-pulldown with a creatine supplemented group and a placebo group. After just two weeks they recorded that strength was “significantly higher” in the bench, leg press and shoulder press in the creatine group. After 8 weeks, the creatine group were significantly stronger in four of the six movements prescribed. They also noted that muscle damage was higher in the creatine group, and this may be because of the higher training intensity thanks to the creatine.

A Meta Analysis looking at 22 studies (Which is process of analyzing and combining findings from several similar studies) by (Rawson & Volek, 2003) [4] found that the group supplementing creatine and combining that with resistance training saw an 8% increase in 1,3 and 10 repetition maximum performance than the placebo group.

As stated above, creatine is the most studies natural sports supplement in the world and we could continue to cite more studies and meta analysis but that would just bore you eventually. You get the picture though right?

How Much Creatine Should you take? ⚖️

This has somewhat of a mixed view, some sources claim a loading period isnt necessary while others claim up to 20g per day for 5 days as a loading phase is beneficial. There after 3-6g per day should suffice.

In a study by (Cooper et al., 2012) [5] they state that recent studies have suggested creatine supplementation at 0.1g per KG of bodyweight, so for a 90kg male, 9g of creatine per day.

So How much?

Loading Phase optional - 20g per day for 5 days
Daily Supplementation - 3-6g per day OR 0.1g Per Kilogram of Bodyweight

WHEN'S the best time to take creatine? 🕰

a 10 week study by (CRIBB & HAYES, 2006) [6] - compared two groups, one supplementing creatine in the morning and evening and one group pre and post workout both groups totalling the same daily amount. The Pre and Post workout group saw greater gains in lean body mass and 1 repetition maximum.

So When?