Creatine is a substance that is found naturally in muscle cells. It helps your muscles produce energy during heavy lifting or high-intensity exercise. Supplementing with Creatine Monohydrate increases levels of phosphocreatine, predominately in our muscle. This increases our ability to produce energy for everything.
Benefits of Creatine Monohydrate:
Supplementing Creatine Monohydrate can have many training benefits such as:
- Increase Supramaximal Sprint Performance
- Increase in Strength Gain
- Increase in Strength Performance
It also has benefits for endurance athletes such as:
- Increase in Lactate threshold and time to exhaustion
- Increased Glycogen storage
- Higher Heat Tolerance
Studies have shown it also improves Cognition in:
- Vegetarians
- Elderly Adults
- People suffering from Sleep Deprivation
What to take?
If you were seriously considering supplementing Creatine, I recommend taking Creatine Monohydrate. You can get this in either pill or powder form which is completely up to you. When taking in powder form all you do is add to water/a shake and it has no taste. Creatine can slightly dehydrate your body as it hydrates your muscles so staying hydrated is key.
How Much Do I Take and When?
It doesn’t actually matter when you take Creatine however I recommend not taking on an empty stomach. Therefore, I like to take it with or after a meal. On rare occasion taking creatine in larger quantities in one go can give you a slightly upset stomach, an easy way around this is to take smaller portions more frequently. An example of this would be taking the same amount just spread out throughout the day. Creatine can be taken on a loading phase and then a maintenance phase. How much to take is dependent on your weight here is an example formula based on weighing 70kg:
Loading Phase: 0.05/kg/day for 3-4 weeks
Example: 70 x 0.05g = 3.5g per day = 70kg
Maintenance Phase: 0.03-0.05/kg/day
Example: 70 x 0.03-0.05 = 2-3.5g per day
Summary
In conclusion, I would recommend this supplement just for the fact it has such a large range of benefits and no real downsides. However, I would always recommend first focusing on a balanced diet and solid training plan first. This supplement can be a great addition to your life not only for the physical benefits.
