Creatine is among the most well-researched and effective supplements. It can help with exercise performance by rapidly producing energy during intense activity.
The primary benefit of creatine is an improvement in strength and power output during resistance exercise. Creatine is well researched for this purpose, and the effects are quite notable for a supplement. When used in conjunction with resistance exercise, creatine may modestly increase lean mass.
Although creatine has been researched far less for cognitive performance than physical performance, it may have benefits in some contexts. Creatine appears to reduce mental fatigue in scenarios such as demanding mental activity and sleep deprivation. Creatine may also improve working memory, though likely only for people with below-average creatine levels, such as vegetarians and older adults.More research is needed in these areas and on other cognitive measures before creatine can be said to be effective.
Even if you dont train, i would recommend you take creatine anyway for its benefits especially as we age and muscle mass start to decrease, taking creatine will help you maintain muscle mass. Obviously resistance training in conjunction with this would be optimal.
Both Male and Females will benefit from Creatine. With all the studies that have being done on creatine, there is unfortunately to this day a lot of fear around this little supplement – lets call them old wives tales.
Lets put them to rest now
- Creatine is not a steroid – it may have steroid like properties i.e helps improve strength and performance but it is not a drug and you will not turn into a body builder or be a moody cow taking it.
- Creatine will not make you bald – There was speculation that Creatine caused MALE pattern baldness. One RCT linked creatine supplementation to an increase in DHT (an androgen involved in hair loss) but this RCT has never been replicated so its impossible to confirm this as no other studies have being conducted and of all the men i know who take creatine, none of them have miraculously gone bald & also remember correlation does not mean causation just like having an umbrella with you doesn’t mean you caused it to rain.
- Creatine does not make you fat. Creatine needs water to attach to the muscle, so if your scales was to fluctuate after taking it, it means that it is doing what it is supposed to do and you will benefit from it. Any fluctuations are water NOT FAT. In all my years if working with people i have never seen anyone have huge jumps on the scales with it and if they did the amount was minimal and could also be possible linked to any other normal daily fluctuations that occur in the body. People who MIGHT see bigger fluctuations on the scales with Creatine are vegetarians & vegans – WHY? – Well as mentioned above we get creatine from meat. BUT this is not a bad thing for the veggies & vegans amongst you – it actually means that you are a high responder because your body is just soaking up all that creatine and you may initially feel a better response to it that us meat eaters.
Other benefits:
- enhanced ability to do more reps
- enhanced recovery ability
- stimulus to muscle independent of training
- For women in Menopause – as your estrogen levels start to drop, this can have an effect on muscle mass & bone density & supplementing with creatine can help attenuate the effects of this
- Prenatal ladies – increased metabolic demand from growth and development during gestation, particularly from the placenta, has been associated with a reduced creatine pool & a reduction in creatine stores during pregnancy have been linked with low birth weight and pre-term birth
SIDE EFFECTS OF CREATINE
The main side effect we hear about creatine is that it can cause SOME people gestational discomfort, bloating etc
Stomach cramping can occur when creatine is supplemented without sufficient water. Diarrhea and nausea can occur when too much creatine is supplemented at once
PLEASE NOTE – SOME people
If this is the case for you an easy solution is to split the dosage (5g) over the day or take it with food.
DO I NEED TO TAKE IT AT A PARTICULAR TIME?
There is no particular time to take creatine as long as you take it daily and even when not training. There is no need to front load it as the intention would be to take it continuously and for the foreseeable future.
To make a habit of taking it and so i wont forget, i take it when training and on non training days i take it first thing in the morning with a pint of water.
WHAT KIND OF CREATINE SHOULD I TAKE
There are many different forms of creatine available on the market, but creatine monohydrate is the cheapest and most effective.
You can buy Creatine from Irish company FEMFUELZ & you will get 10% discount with my code claireb10
I hope you learned something from this email and i would love to know if i have convinced you to get on the good stuff – you wont regret it.
If you have any questions you can email me HERE or if you would like information on training with me you find more information HERE
