Muscle Building Benefits Of Creatine

If your goal is muscle building then creatine is the best supplement you can have. It is the most effective supplement for muscle building and gaining strength as there are several benefits of creatine.

It is totally safe and has various muscle-building benefits. Due to this reason, creatine is very popular among bodybuilders, professional athletes, and gym enthusiasts.

This article will explain to you the evidence-based effects of creatine on muscle mass, strength, and power. So let’s get started…

Creatine Helps In Generating More Energy

Creatine stores in your muscles in the form of phosphocreatine. Taking creatine supplements increases the amount of phosphocreatine in your muscles.

Phosphocreatine helps in the making of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is the molecule that gives you energy during exercise.

Mechanism:

Here is some biochemistry but I’ll try to explain it in very simple terms.

ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate because one ATP molecule has three phosphate groups. ATP produces energy by the hydrolyzation of a phosphate group.

After this process, it left with only 2 phosphate molecules hence called ADP (Adenosine Biphosphate). Now, this ADP molecule with only two phosphate groups is of no use for your body.

This is the time when creatine helps in generating more energy. It donates its phosphate group to the ADP molecule and re-forms it into ATP. Your body can utilize this regenerated ATP to produce more energy.

This is the primary mechanism behind the generation of more energy during a workout.

SUMMARY: Creatine supplements increase phosphocreatine in your muscles which further helps in making of more ATP, the key molecule your body use to generate energy.

Enhances High-Intensity Exercises Performance

To perform a high-intensity exercise, you need a lot of ATP molecules to get enough energy. Unfortunately, your body can not produce enough ATP.

During a high-intensity exercise, you can store ATP for a very short period of 10-12 seconds. After that, your body has to produce more ATP to meet the demands of that activity.

This is the reason you can run on your maximum speed for a few seconds only. After that, your body craves more ATP.

Creatine supplements help in producing more ATP during a high-intensity exercise. Studies show that loading with creatine for 7 days, elevates the phosphocreatine levels in your muscles (1).

This increased levels of creatine then can be used for producing ATP.

SUMMARY: The stored ATP in your body can give you energy for a few seconds only. Creatine helps in generating more ATP which enhances high-intensity exercise performance.

Increases Strength And Power

Because of its effects on phosphocreatine levels and hence ATP production, creatine supplements are proven to increases strength and power (2).

A 4-week study was done to test the effects of creatine. The results found an 8 kg increase in bench press 1-RM (1- rep max) and a 17% increase in cycling sprint.

Another study was done for 9 weeks on college football athletes. The results have shown these following improvements:

• Bench press (1 rep max): 5.1% increase
• Squat (1 rep max): 8.7% increase
• Power clean (1 rep max): 3.8% increase
• High-intensity anaerobic capacity: 18.4% increase
• High-intensity anaerobic peak power: 19.6% increase

SUMMARY: Several studies and researches are evedently proves the positive effects of creatine supplements. On an average it gives a 5% increase in strength and power.

Creatine Helps In Gaining More Muscle Mass

There are a lot of muscle building supplements out there in the market. Among them, creatine is one of the few legal supplements that directly helps in gaining more muscle mass when combined with proper exercise.

In addition, creatine is one of the most researched and well-studied supplement. Among all the muscle building supplements, creatine shows the maximum benefits.

Here is the graph showing the effects of creatine on lean muscle gain over other popular muscle building supplements.

Most of the muscle building supplements benefit only advanced-level athletes. In contrast, creatine is the supplement that helps you even if you are a beginner in bodybuilding.

A study done on trained athletes found that creatine increases 11 kg to the bicep curls (1-rep max), 32 kg to the leg press (1-rep max), and 2.6 kg of muscle mass (3).

On top of that, studies show that creatine gives an average increase of 2.2% in lean muscle mass and a decrease of 3.2% in body fat (4).

SUMMARY: Studies show that creatine helps in increasing lean muscle mass. Among all the muscle building supplements, creatine is the most effective.

Creatine Increases Muscle Size

In addition to its ATP production, strength, power, and muscle gain benefits, creatine has some other benefits too.

Creatine increases the water content of your muscle cells. This process is called volumization.In this way, creatine helps in increasing your muscle size and gives you a fuller look.

In addition, studies show that creatine reduces exercise fatigue by generating more ATP molecules. It also helps in quick muscle recovery after a workout.

SUMMARY: Creatine gives a fuller look by increasing the water content of your muscle cells. It may also help in better recovery and reduce exercise fatigue.

Which Form Of Creatine Is The Best

There are several types of creatine supplements available in the market. Among all of them, creatine monohydrate shows the maximum benefits. It is also the cheapest of all.

Other forms like creatine hydrolysate or ethyl ester etc don’t provide any additional benefits. However, companies claim that they give you an edge over creatine monohydrate, but there are not many studies to support them.

SUMMARY: Among all its forms, creatine monohydrate is the most effective and cheapest. Until more studies have been done on other versions, it is the best option available.

How To Take Creatine For Maximum Benefits

The common strategy of taking creatine is to do loading with it. To load with creatine, take a high amount (about 20 grams) of creatine for the 5-7 days to elevate the creatine content in your muscle.

You don’t need to take it at one go, take four servings of 5-gram each throughout the day.and then keep going with 3-5 grams daily. After that, take the normal dosage of 3-5 grams per day.

Here is the graph showing the muscle creatine levels after a loading phase of 7 days:

The benefits of creatine supplements are not the same for everyone. For non-vegetarians who eat meat regularly, may get fewer benefits. Because their creatine stores are already high.

In contrast, vegetarians or people who eat very little meat may get significant benefits of supplementing with creatine. Because of the fact that they have very fewer creatine stores in their muscles.

SUMMARY: Take four 5-gram servings of creatine daily for 5-7 days. After that, take the maintenance dose of 3-5 grams per day.

Should You Take Creatine Supplements?

If your goal is to gain muscle mass and strength building, then creatine may be the best supplement you should take. It is also the cheapest supplement available in the market.

It is even more beneficial for vegetarians or people who don’t get enough animal protein. The reason being, vegetarian foods are very low in creatine.

One thing you should know about creatine is that it doesn’t work for everyone. Researches show that a small percentage of people don’t get any benefits of taking creatine supplements.

Although creatine provides a lot of benefits, it will help you only when your workout and diet are up to the mark.

People with liver or kidney issues should consult a doctor before taking creatine supplements. Although it is totally safe, it may not be suitable if you have kidney problems.

Here is a detailed article about creatine:

Creatine Supplements: The Beginner’s Guide

SUMMARY: Creatine is most beneficial for those who want to gain muscle mass and strength. It is even more beneficial for vegetarians.

The Bottom Line

Creatine is one of the best muscle building supplements available in the market. It is supported by many scientific studies. In addition, it is totally safe and cheapest of all.

It helps you in generating more ATP during a high-intensity exercise, increases muscle mass, strength and power.

Start taking creatine today and enhance your athletic performance. It is available in various brands. You can order it on amazon.