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What Is It and Is It Actually Useful?
Creatine Monohydrate is a natural amino acid found in our muscle cells. Creatine isn't a steroid, nor is it a performance-enhancing drug. The human liver actually produces about 2 grams of creatine daily. Creatine is also found in red meats like steak and seafood and is beneficial during high intensity training. The body uses it as a fast resource of energy from storage units inside muscle cells. With the aid of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), they carry energy in each individual cell.
Creatine is widely studied by multiple sources and is, in fact, one of the most studied supplements of all time. It's also considered to have one of the best safety records for a performance supplement. No side effects have been studied other than possible bloating and weight gain. People who take creatine usually have an increase in body mass, but that is due to water weight from your cells obtaining more to provide more energy or that extra body weight from muscle. Typically, individuals will obtain 3-5 lbs of muscle after several weeks on creatine.
How It Works
Your body converts creatine into phosphocreatine, which activates the production of ATP. This enables your muscles to have short bursts of explosive exercise. Over time, this enables your body to get stronger during training. You don't put on muscle immediately, but through consistent training, you can expect results in about two weeks.
Why Should I Take Creatine?
Taking creatine has multiple benefits for your body and not just for building muscle. It improves other areas of your life as well if taken consistently. There are two ways to start on creatine that gym goers usually implement. You can start on the loading phase or take the recommended 5 grams of creatine daily until your muscles are saturated with the most amount of creatine that can be used in a 24-hour period.
The loading phase is a quicker way to saturate your muscles. For example, an athlete would do a loading phase a couple of weeks before a competition. This consists of taking 20-25 grams of creatine a day for 5-7 days. This will allow your body to store creatine at full saturation. After the loading phase, you should drop to 5 grams a day. This is the maintenance phase. Some experts might recommend that after maintaining the maintenance phase for a month, they should take a week off, then start the maintenance phase again. However, most individuals will probably stay in the maintenance phase to continue having their muscles at full saturation. It just depends on the individual.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/creatine-monohydrate-is-best#TOC_TITLE_HDR_4
https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a19515624/creatine-side-effects-what-it-is-what-it-does/?
https://www.blenderbottle.com/blogs/health/what-is-creatine-loading-and-how-does-it-work?
https://www.blenderbottle.com/collections/all-products?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z9mlsyV7Hek
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