Taking creatine as a supplement is very popular among athletes and bodybuilders in order to gain muscle, enhance strength and improve exercise performance 1. Chemically speaking, it shares many similarities with amino acids. Your body can produce it from the amino acids glycine and arginine.
When you supplement, you increase your stores of phosphocreatine. This is a form of stored energy in the cells, as it helps your body produce more of a high-energy molecule called ATP. When you have more ATP, your body can perform better during exercise 9. Creatine also alters several cellular processes that lead to increased muscle mass, strength and recovery 1 , 2. Creatine is a substance found naturally in your body — particularly in muscle cells.
It is commonly taken as a supplement. In high-intensity exercise, its primary role is to increase the phosphocreatine stores in your muscles. The additional stores can then be used to produce more ATP, which is the key energy source for heavy lifting and high-intensity exercise 10 , Creatine supplements also increase phosphocreatine stores in your brain, which may improve brain health and prevent neurological disease 3 , 21 , 22 , 23 , Creatine gives your muscles more energy and leads to changes in cell function that increase muscle growth.
Creatine is effective for both short- and long-term muscle growth It assists many different people, including sedentary individuals, older adults and elite athletes 17 , 25 , 26 , One week study in older adults determined that adding creatine to a weight-training program significantly increased leg strength and muscle mass In a week study in weightlifters, creatine increased muscle fiber growth 2—3 times more than training alone.
The increase in total body mass also doubled alongside one-rep max for bench press, a common strength exercise A large review of the most popular supplements selected creatine as the single most beneficial supplement for adding muscle mass 1 , Supplementing with creatine can result in significant increases in muscle mass.
This applies to both untrained individuals and elite athletes. Creatine can also improve strength, power and high-intensity exercise performance.
Creatine also helps maintain strength and training performance while increasing muscle mass during intense over-training Normally, ATP becomes depleted after 8—10 seconds of high-intensity activity. But because creatine supplements help you produce more ATP, you can maintain optimal performance for a few seconds longer 10 , 11 , 32 , Creatine is one of the best supplements for improving strength and high-intensity exercise performance.
Also, creatine increases muscle fluid retention, so be sure to drink plenty of water when supplementing to prevent dehydration. You should not take creatine if you're pregnant, nursing or have kidney disease or diabetes.
Always talk to your doctor before adding any supplement to your diet. Nutrition Diets Special Dietary Considerations. Reviewed by Divesh Goel, MD. Divesh Goel, MD. Divesh Goel is a young physician that has served in multiple hospitals and communities throughout the United States of America. Having completed his Medical Doctorate, he worked on various research endeavors focused on a wide range of topics such as mental health, substance abuse, patient health literacy, physician cultural competency, and patient-physician ethnic disparities.
Goel is passionate about individual and public health advocacy. It is assumed that there is a negative interaction between pure caffeine and creatine. However, research on this subject has remained inconclusive.
In tests between 5 and 7 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight were used i. Although no negative effects on creatine storage and muscle growth were observed, there may have been an effect on sprinting performance or explosive strength development. It cannot be conclusively assessed whether the intake of caffeine should be restricted when taking creatine. For the sake of safety one should avoid heavy caffeine consumption prior to any intense workout in any case.
Taking creatine in capsule or chewable tablet form is just as effective. Capsules usually contain mg each, while tablets usually contain about 1 g.
The recommended daily dose is 3—5 g per day. Even today, creatine monohydrate is the best studied and most reliable form of creatine. No conclusive evidence exists to say which form is better, but considering that the stomach digests both forms into phosphocreatine eventually, then logically, both should be just as effective. The biggest advantage that capsules have over powder is their portability.
This can be huge especially for the gym-goer because you can carry a serving of creatine capsules in your gym bag and simply pop them whenever you need to. Unlike powder, which requires measuring and mixing, capsules only require that you grab the right number. You also do not need to prepare water, juice, or some other liquid to mix creatine powder in with. Compared to creatine powder, capsules have a significantly greater cost per serving.
Creatine capsules are typically five to ten times more expensive than powder.
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