The Benefits of Supplementing with Creatine
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The Benefits of Supplementing with Creatine
Creatine is one of the most extensively researched supplements available today, beneficial for athletic performance, strength development, muscle mass gain, and general health. It’s an amino acid derivative found naturally in meat and fish, largely in the skeletal muscle but also in the brain. The body has its own pathways for producing creatine, largely from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. Supplementary intake of creatine further bolsters the natural effects. Creatine is either used or stored in the liver and skeletal muscle, where phosphorylation converts creatine into phosphocreatine. During short bouts of high-intensity exercise, phosphocreatine supplies energy to power muscle contraction. In this way, creatine functions as an auxiliary energy source during brief bursts of energy demand in both exercise and non-exercise situations. The most evident benefits of creatine supplementation are the positive effects on high-intensity exercise. Muscle creatine reserves can be augmented simply through ingestion. Supplementation with creatine is also associated with notable performance increases during repetitive bouts of high-intensity exercise, such as sprinting, weightlifting, and shooting free throws. In practical terms, creatine users can expect to develop more power, exhibit improved endurance, and process nutrients more efficiently and effectively than unsupplemented athletes or non-athletes.
1. Increased Muscle Strength and Power
One of the main reasons people supplement with creatine is to boost performance – to increase strength and power. When your muscles contract, the primary energy source it uses is a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP for short. Creatine helps to replenish ATP, enabling you to continue to lift heavy or sprint faster for longer. This, in turn, leads to bigger, badder muscles built more quickly.
Creatine supplementation has been shown in numerous studies to increase strength by 5-15 per cent within a few weeks, depending on the individual and their training.
2. Improved Exercise Performance and Endurance
Endurance athletes aren’t just the province of bodybuilders or powerlifters, either; creatine can also benefit people who engage in prolonged exercise. Although creatine is often associated with short blasts of maximum effort, it can improve endurance performance by accelerating muscle recovery and postponing time to fatigue.
On that basis, several studies have shown that creatine supplementation can increase your total work output over a high-volume training session, so that you can keep on working at the same intensity for longer. It means you can train harder, recover quicker, and make faster progress.
3. Faster Recovery Between Workouts
It is as important as training because it minimizes muscle damage and inflammation when you work out rigorously, which aids in the recovery of damaged tissues and reduces soreness (especially that from lactic acid, called DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS or DOMS).
Furthermore, creatine supplementation has been found to reduce levels of several markers of muscle damage (such as creatine kinase) that are associated with muscle break-down and slower recovery times. This means, for instance, that athletes are able to recover more quickly after heavy weightlifting sessions, thus allowing them to train more frequently without compromising muscle integrity.
4. Enhanced Muscle Growth
Now, in addition to whatever role it might play in strength and power, creatine appears to directly enhance muscle hypertrophy. When it’s imported into muscle cells, creatine fluidizes the water within the cell, making muscles look bigger and fuller. Even just a small increase in cell hydration could trigger more anabolic signaling favoring greater protein synthesis and hypertrophy.
Indeed, in the long term, creatine supplementation while performing resistance training increases lean muscle mass more than resistance training does by itself.
5. Support for Cognitive Function
Although creatine is best-known for its effects on physical performance, there is evidence that it can help the brain as well. The brain is a power-hungry organ, especially if the person is involved in high-level thinking or trying to remember something. As with muscles, much of the brain’s energy requirements are met by ATP. Creatine is one way of ensuring that the brain gets the energy it needs.
In fact, supplementation has yielded hard data proving that creatine can fine-tune cognitive performance in short-term memory and logical reasoning tasks, along with more general indices of brain function. Those most likely to benefit from supplementation are vegetarians, who tend to have lower creatine levels, as well as the elderly.
6. Beneficial for Aging Adults
Muscle mass and cognitive function both tend to slip as we grow older. Creatine counteracts these changes. If you’re over 50 and weigh 180 lb, your average muscle creatine stores could be approaching 125 g – half the amount you’d start with as a 150-lb college freshman. Studies suggest that creatine supplementation helps older adults improve muscle strength, which is imperative to decrease your risk of falling and breaking a hip.
Additionally, its ability to support brain health can help maintain cognitive function and reduce the risk of degenerative conditions such as dementia.
7. Easy to Use and Safe
Creatine – arguably the most researched supplement on the market to date – has one of the best safety profiles of any nutritional muscular strength supplement. Studies show that the long-term use of large amounts of creatine (a few grams per day – typically 3-5 grams per day) among healthy individuals is safe and does not affect kidney or liver function.
It’s also one of the easiest to take as a supplement: creatine is tasteless, mixes well in water or any other drink, and can be taken at any time of day, though most people like to consume it after a workout when muscles are most responsive.
Conclusion
Creatine supplementation is a ‘sure thing’ whether you’re an athlete looking to maximize your physical performance and muscle building or simply looking for an easy way to maintain muscle and brain function and stay mentally sharp as you age. It is a proven, effective and safe supplement that you can use to achieve your goals. As with any supplement, check with your healthcare professional before starting to take it, especially if you have pre-existing health issues.
With creatine, you are, day by day, nurturing a leaner, more powerful and more vigorous you.
References
R B Kreider, J Bernardi, R Ratamess, et al (2017) ‘International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine,’ Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 14:1.
Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, and Jimenez A (2012) ‘Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update’, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 9:33.
Rahimi R. 2011. ‘Creatine supplementation decreases oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation induced by a single bout of resistance exercise.’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 25(2): 488-493.
Rawson E S, Venezia A C. 2011. Use of creatine in the elderly and evidence for effects on cognitive function in young and old. Amino Acids. 40(3):1255-68.
Volek, J S, et al. (1999). Performance and muscle fibre adaptations to creatine supplementation and heavy resistance training, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 31(2): 361-369.
R Jäger, R Spillane, C Pedersen, B Krustrup (2011) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Creatine supplementation and exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8. 6 doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-8-27.
Rae C, Pereira AL, Miller FA, Petratos SA, Hayes TL, Hale JH, Loft A, Davison BJ (2003). Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double–blind, placebo–controlled, cross–over trial. Psychopharmacology 167:74–8.
D G Candow and P D Chilibeck. ‘Differences in responses to creatine supplementation in young and old’. Journal of Nutrition and Health (2008). 170-174.
McMorris, T, et al, (2007). Creatine supplementation and cognitive performance in elderly individuals, Neuropsychology, Development, and Cognition.
Gualano, B., et al. (2012). "Creatine supplementation: evaluating the safety." Current Sports Medicine Reports.
Creatine is one of the most extensively researched supplements available today, beneficial for athletic performance, strength development, muscle mass gain, and general health. It’s an amino acid derivative found naturally in meat and fish, largely in the skeletal muscle but also in the brain. The body has its own pathways for producing creatine, largely from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. Supplementary intake of creatine further bolsters the natural effects. Creatine is either used or stored in the liver and skeletal muscle, where phosphorylation converts creatine into phosphocreatine. During short bouts of high-intensity exercise, phosphocreatine supplies energy to power muscle contraction. In this way, creatine functions as an auxiliary energy source during brief bursts of energy demand in both exercise and non-exercise situations. The most evident benefits of creatine supplementation are the positive effects on high-intensity exercise. Muscle creatine reserves can be augmented simply through ingestion. Supplementation with creatine is also associated with notable performance increases during repetitive bouts of high-intensity exercise, such as sprinting, weightlifting, and shooting free throws. In practical terms, creatine users can expect to develop more power, exhibit improved endurance, and process nutrients more efficiently and effectively than unsupplemented athletes or non-athletes.
1. Increased Muscle Strength and Power
One of the main reasons people supplement with creatine is to boost performance – to increase strength and power. When your muscles contract, the primary energy source it uses is a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP for short. Creatine helps to replenish ATP, enabling you to continue to lift heavy or sprint faster for longer. This, in turn, leads to bigger, badder muscles built more quickly.
Creatine supplementation has been shown in numerous studies to increase strength by 5-15 per cent within a few weeks, depending on the individual and their training.
2. Improved Exercise Performance and Endurance
Endurance athletes aren’t just the province of bodybuilders or powerlifters, either; creatine can also benefit people who engage in prolonged exercise. Although creatine is often associated with short blasts of maximum effort, it can improve endurance performance by accelerating muscle recovery and postponing time to fatigue.
On that basis, several studies have shown that creatine supplementation can increase your total work output over a high-volume training session, so that you can keep on working at the same intensity for longer. It means you can train harder, recover quicker, and make faster progress.
3. Faster Recovery Between Workouts
It is as important as training because it minimizes muscle damage and inflammation when you work out rigorously, which aids in the recovery of damaged tissues and reduces soreness (especially that from lactic acid, called DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS or DOMS).
Furthermore, creatine supplementation has been found to reduce levels of several markers of muscle damage (such as creatine kinase) that are associated with muscle break-down and slower recovery times. This means, for instance, that athletes are able to recover more quickly after heavy weightlifting sessions, thus allowing them to train more frequently without compromising muscle integrity.
4. Enhanced Muscle Growth
Now, in addition to whatever role it might play in strength and power, creatine appears to directly enhance muscle hypertrophy. When it’s imported into muscle cells, creatine fluidizes the water within the cell, making muscles look bigger and fuller. Even just a small increase in cell hydration could trigger more anabolic signaling favoring greater protein synthesis and hypertrophy.
Indeed, in the long term, creatine supplementation while performing resistance training increases lean muscle mass more than resistance training does by itself.
5. Support for Cognitive Function
Although creatine is best-known for its effects on physical performance, there is evidence that it can help the brain as well. The brain is a power-hungry organ, especially if the person is involved in high-level thinking or trying to remember something. As with muscles, much of the brain’s energy requirements are met by ATP. Creatine is one way of ensuring that the brain gets the energy it needs.
In fact, supplementation has yielded hard data proving that creatine can fine-tune cognitive performance in short-term memory and logical reasoning tasks, along with more general indices of brain function. Those most likely to benefit from supplementation are vegetarians, who tend to have lower creatine levels, as well as the elderly.
6. Beneficial for Aging Adults
Muscle mass and cognitive function both tend to slip as we grow older. Creatine counteracts these changes. If you’re over 50 and weigh 180 lb, your average muscle creatine stores could be approaching 125 g – half the amount you’d start with as a 150-lb college freshman. Studies suggest that creatine supplementation helps older adults improve muscle strength, which is imperative to decrease your risk of falling and breaking a hip.
Additionally, its ability to support brain health can help maintain cognitive function and reduce the risk of degenerative conditions such as dementia.
7. Easy to Use and Safe
Creatine – arguably the most researched supplement on the market to date – has one of the best safety profiles of any nutritional muscular strength supplement. Studies show that the long-term use of large amounts of creatine (a few grams per day – typically 3-5 grams per day) among healthy individuals is safe and does not affect kidney or liver function.
It’s also one of the easiest to take as a supplement: creatine is tasteless, mixes well in water or any other drink, and can be taken at any time of day, though most people like to consume it after a workout when muscles are most responsive.
Conclusion
Creatine supplementation is a ‘sure thing’ whether you’re an athlete looking to maximize your physical performance and muscle building or simply looking for an easy way to maintain muscle and brain function and stay mentally sharp as you age. It is a proven, effective and safe supplement that you can use to achieve your goals. As with any supplement, check with your healthcare professional before starting to take it, especially if you have pre-existing health issues.
With creatine, you are, day by day, nurturing a leaner, more powerful and more vigorous you.
References
R B Kreider, J Bernardi, R Ratamess, et al (2017) ‘International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine,’ Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 14:1.
Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, and Jimenez A (2012) ‘Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update’, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 9:33.
Rahimi R. 2011. ‘Creatine supplementation decreases oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation induced by a single bout of resistance exercise.’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 25(2): 488-493.
Rawson E S, Venezia A C. 2011. Use of creatine in the elderly and evidence for effects on cognitive function in young and old. Amino Acids. 40(3):1255-68.
Volek, J S, et al. (1999). Performance and muscle fibre adaptations to creatine supplementation and heavy resistance training, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 31(2): 361-369.
R Jäger, R Spillane, C Pedersen, B Krustrup (2011) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Creatine supplementation and exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8. 6 doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-8-27.
Rae C, Pereira AL, Miller FA, Petratos SA, Hayes TL, Hale JH, Loft A, Davison BJ (2003). Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double–blind, placebo–controlled, cross–over trial. Psychopharmacology 167:74–8.
D G Candow and P D Chilibeck. ‘Differences in responses to creatine supplementation in young and old’. Journal of Nutrition and Health (2008). 170-174.
McMorris, T, et al, (2007). Creatine supplementation and cognitive performance in elderly individuals, Neuropsychology, Development, and Cognition.
Gualano, B., et al. (2012). "Creatine supplementation: evaluating the safety." Current Sports Medicine Reports.
