Creatine 101

Creatine is one of the most well research supplements & one of the only supplements I recommend. It’s also something I get asked about most often.

I want to caveat this with no supplements are going to replace hard work. A lot of people look to supplements instead of lifestyle change - that would be nice but that’s not how it works.

Creatine won’t be the magic cure for you (no supplement will). It may benefit you in some small ways which I will explain below. I recommend taking it because it’s relatively cheap with more pros than cons so why not take it. (read the article and make up your own mind)

Creatine 101:

What does it do?

Creatine is most well known for it’s impact on exercise performance, strength and fatigue reduction.

Creatine supplementation also has neurological & cognitive benefits. & there has even been some research on depression & menopausal brain fog.

People with low levels of creatine (vegetarians or vegans) stand to benefit the most from supplementing but it is very unlikely any of us are saturating our creatine stores via diet alone.

HOW does it work???

Technically Creatine works by donating a phosphate group to ADP so it can become ATP and supply energy to the working muscle.

We derive energy from food but on a molecular level its the oxidation (breakdown) of carbs, fat and protein which give us energy and that process leads to the formation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

ATP is the compound which gives us energy.

… any non sport science geeks will likely find this part boring (soz).

On a more practical level, creatine is important as it gives us the quickest formation of energy for movement.

The creatine phosphate system (the blue line on the graph) described above supplies immediate energy and is dominant for the first few seconds of exercise.

HOW do you take creatine?

Type: Creatine Monohydrate (cheapest, most effective & most well researched)

3-5g a day is the recommended dose.

I personally don’t recommend a loading phase - increases likelihood of side effects (nausea, stomach camps, diarrhoea). But it will saturate your stores quicker - loading phases are usually 10-25g a day for 5-10 days.

To minimise risk of side effects - make sure you are hydrated!

& spread the dose over the day with meals if needed (this is rarely needed and creatine is generally well tolerated in a 3-5g a day dose)

The time of day you take creatine has little benefit as the benefit is chronic as opposed to acute.

What about weight gain?

You may have heard that creatine can make you gain weight. This is true but IT IS NOT FAT.
THE SCALES DO NOT MEASURE BODY COMPOSITION (sorry for shouting I am very passionate).

Creatine requires water to be stored within the muscle - so the more saturated your creatine stores are, the more water you will retain. Do note this is finite - there is only so much muscle someone has and thus so much water you will retain with creatine supplementation.

This is why most women actually experience very little weight gain when supplementing creatine (I’ve worked with 1,000s of women and its rare that more than 1-3lbs is gained).

People who have more muscle and/or low creatine stores stand to gain more weight as they have more capacity to store more creatine. This includes people who generally get little creatine form their diet (vegetarians and vegans).

Longer term creatine may aid an increase in weight by increasing muscle mass (always a good thing!)

Extra benefit to menopausal women:

Research suggests menopausal women may benefit from a slightly higher dose (0.1g per kg BW) e.g. 7g for a 70kg woman.

Creatine supplementation has been shown to reduce brain fog in menopausal women.

*I will keep adding to this article with extra Questions people have so it becomes a one stop place to send *

Any questions post in the comments below