Benefits of Creatine

Good old creatine. That’s right. OLD! Ha ha.

Creatine ha been around for a long long time and every time we check in with our favorite supplement store or go online there’s some new type of creatine that is supposed to transform your body and change your life. In all reality all you need is the old good Creatine Monohydrate.

I’ll share with you guys a few reasons why you should include creatine in your routine; particularly if you are trying to build some strength and size. Also I want to crush some of the myths out there about it.

First is first, I’ve been using creatine myself for the best 10 years. I started when I was 17 and have never been off of it. Immediately you might be thinking to yourself “man that guy’s lives and kidneys are probably jacked up!” Truth is in all my medical blood work nothing has ever come out of the ordinary. So there, we crushed huge myth right there about having to come off of it because it’s dangerous.

The second myth many talk about is that “Saturation Phase” were you must take in 20g of creatine per day to ‘saturate’ our bodies with it. Well, you do that and you will be peeing off your money as your body can only absorb and utilize so much of it anyway. Plus… if you didn’t know, a lot of meats already contain a natural source of creatine so you are just over-saturating your body.

The third myth which oddly is more popular with the teens is that creatine gives them acne. Hmm….well as teen your hormones are all over the place, specially for the young men with high levels of natural testosterone. Even think that was it instead of blaming creatine? Also if you are cutting and trying to lose body-fat and using creatine many wonder if you should stop because of the fact that it makes you hold water? I’ve used creatine leading up to a photoshoot and contest without any problem. I wouldn’t be worried about a bit of water weight from the creatine and blame it as the soul purpose why you aren’t lean. It in fact helps to some extent with fat loss.

SO WHAT DOES CREATINE DO?

In very basic terms creatine gives you the power to push harder inside the gym. Does it make you stronger? Technically no, YOU must first push harder for it to work. It’s like getting a turbo in your car. Will the turbo activate itself when you start the engine? Nope! You must first reach an ‘X’ amount of MPH before it does anything. Same with creatine. You must push yourself hard first before you obtain the benefits from it.

Secondly creatine pulls water inside your muscle cells. Many then don’t want to take creatine because they feel it makes them hold a lot of water and when you get off all that weight that you theoretically earned hard in the gym is gone because it’s all the water you are holding with creatine. Again, you’re supposed to try and push yourself harder with creatine and not just take it with the assumption it will do the work for you. But let’s talk about some other benefits creatine has:

1.) ENHANCED PUMPS

As previously discussed here Creatine allows more water to enter your muscle cell. Hence the more plasma and water in your muscle the better your pump will be!

2.) FAT LOSS

If you are pushing harder because the creatine is allowing you to do so, then you are burning more calories by lifting heavier weights.

3.) QUICKER RECOVERY

Once again, the more water you have in your muscle cells the better, a well hydrated cell can recovery faster and more efficiently.

These are just 3 basic things creatine does, there are even more that a few studies have shown us.

Who do I recommend it to: If you are teen I would ask your parents first but anyone wanting to improve muscular endurance, strength, size and power would benefit from consuming creatine.

How much: 3-5 g before and after your workouts

What type of Creatine: Honestly, stick with what has shown to work over and over. Use Creatine Monohydrate. No need to spend extra money on other types of creatine that promise you much more.

#supplements #creatine