Eric Roberts breaks down creatine safety and effectiveness: take 5 grams daily (or 6-7 if you're larger), skip the loading phase unless you want faster results, and ignore myths about bloating and hair loss. Studies show it builds strength and may help cognition, with no kidney damage or fat gain.
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If you're somebody who's thinking about taking creatine, then here are most things you should know about it and if it's actually worth the hype. First and foremost, which kind of creatine should you be taking? There is something called creatine HCL. There's something called creatine monohydrate. There is something called any other form of creatine out there. The most researched form of creatine, and when you hear about the benefits of creatine, it's based off of this one kind of creatine, and that one is going to be creatine monohydrate. So if you're going to use creatine, that would be the one I would recommend. Now you're going to ask me either what brand, or you're going to ask me how do you know that. If you get a creatine supplement and on the label it should tell you what kind of creatine that you are taking. And you can either take it in a powder form, you can take it in a gummy form, or you could take it in pill form as long as it's creatine Monohydrate, and there might be a micronized creatine monohydrate. That one is also acceptable and good as well. That just means it basically digests a little bit better into your system. Now, what does creatine actually do? Well, I could get really nerdy here and start to teach you about the ATP process and the adenosine triphosphate and all of that nerdy stuff. I know you're not here to learn a biochemistry lesson. You're here just to understand in layman's terms. So let me do that for you. Creatine is going to help you have better workout performance. You're going to be able to lift heavier, you're going to be able to do more reps, you'll have more endurance, you'll be able to push closer to failure in your workouts. It's also going to help you recover better and quicker from your workouts. And in some recent studies, it has even been shown to improve your cognitive and brain health and function, as well as help people with Now, I want to quickly cover a common myth when it comes to creatine, and it's that creatine is going to make you bloated or it's going to make you store water weight. What creatine does is it pulls water into your muscle cells. And most people don't know this, but your muscle cell is 70% water. So, for example, we talked about creatine is going to help your workout performance. If 70% of your muscle is water and creatine helps pull more water into your muscle, a better hydrated muscle means better workout performance, which is good for you. Now, with that being said, this does not mean like you're going to get bloated in your stomach from taking creatine because it's not going to like make you bloated like, you know, a Five Guys burger would or a night of greasy food would. You're pulling water into your muscle cells. And yes, the scale may go up when you start taking creatine, but please stick with me here. Number one, like we just said, it's water weight. Your scale isn't going up because you randomly gained fat. Your scale doesn't just measure like your muscle and your fat. So if you're holding on to some more water in your muscles, then your scale might weigh a little bit heavier. And no, it's not going to stop you from losing body fat. So even if you're taking creatine and the scale goes up a couple of pounds, as long as you're in a calorie deficit, over time you You still will see this number on the scale go down. And regardless, like even if your scale is 3 pounds heavier, I think we are past the point of like living and dying by what this number says on the scale. Like if you were in, you know, early 1990s Weight Watchers going in every single week and having Tammy at the counter shame you for having a piece of chocolate before you came in because your scale went up a pound. How much creatine should you be taking per day? It's a very simple answer. The majority of people, you're going to be just fine taking 5 grams of creatine per day. And yes, that is every single day, even on your rest days, even if you're traveling. Now, if you miss a day or two, don't freak out about it, but 5 grams per day every day, no matter what. If you're somebody who you might be a little bit bigger and you might have a little bit more muscle mass to you, you might be able to benefit from going to about maybe 6 or 7 grams per day. Now some people might tell you to do a loading phase when you first start taking creatine, and what this is is basically instead of taking 5 grams per day, you're going to take 20 grams per day for the first week. And why would you do that? Well, you start to get the benefits of creatine when it is saturated inside of your muscle cells, and so to get that saturation to happen Faster, you would be getting more creatine to speed up the saturation process. So in theory it sounds good and you'll see results quicker. But speaking from experience of myself and also working with thousands of clients at this point, when you take this much creatine per day, you are more than likely going to have some digestive issues and it's not going to be fun. So some people, they're like, oh, I'll just, you know, I'll tough it out for a week so I can get creatine into my system quicker. Fine. Up to you. Fair enough. But you're going to be taking creatine for the long haul anyway because it's just a healthy supplement you should be supplementing with on a daily basis. And so whether you get to your creatine saturation levels in 1 week or whether you get to it in 3 weeks, who cares? Because you're still going to get the benefits and you're taking it for the long run anyway. Now when should you be taking creatine? Well, we already talked about you should be taking it every single day because that's how you're going to Saturate your creatine levels in your body and you're going to keep them saturated to actually get the benefits that you would like to get. So every single day, and if you want to get very technical with it, you can take creatine any time of the day as long as you take it every single day. That is all that matters. If you want the most optimal time, there's going to be 2 optimal times with this is either after a workout, With carbohydrates or on your rest day if you're not lifting weights that day, on your rest day with your biggest meal in carbohydrates. And so let's say for example, maybe you don't eat a ton of carbs in the morning, but you're eating more carbs at night. You would take your creatine with your rest day meal that is highest in carbohydrates. And this is because the carbohydrates will take the creatine and transport them into Your muscle cells. Now the question of should you be cycling on and off creatine? The answer is going to be no if you have a functioning kidney. If you have pre-existing kidney issues, check with your doctor. But as long as you have a functioning kidney, from the studies and the meta studies that we have, there are no current negative side effects from creatine. And I've heard people say things like you know whether you do you know it causes kidney damage again no the research tells us it doesn't. I will drop some studies here below in the description of this video. So that's not true. I've heard People say, oh, it's going to cause hair loss. Again, no, the studies tell us this is not true. Check the studies below. And we've already talked about the bloating and the weight gain earlier in this video, so you can just keep taking it until you die. So the real question is, do we believe that creatine is actually worth the hype? You hear so much about it. Should you be taking it? Should you try it? In my opinion, I think yes. You should at least try creatine for a couple of reasons. Number 1, there's no negative side effects. If you have a preexisting kidney issue, maybe, but if you don't have that, you're good. Number 2, it's not only one of the most researched and effective supplements, but it's also one of the most cost-effective supplements as well. And if you could tell me for a nominal fee, in all intents and purposes, I could potentially get a couple more reps out of my workouts, lift a little bit heavier in my workouts, recover better from my workouts, build a bit more muscle. in my workouts over the course of a year, that's going to persuade me to at the very least try it out. And that's what I would tell you to do. I would get some, I would try it for 3 months, I would track your workouts. Like, do you find yourself lifting heavier? Do you find yourself being able to push harder, do a little bit more reps? Do you find yourself recovering better from your workouts? Because the only way you're really going to know is if you try it for yourself. The research is out there, but try it for yourself. And I know you might ask me, so if you want the brand that I trust and I work with. It's called Legion Athletics. You can use my code ERIC at checkout for 20% off. There'll be a link in the description of this video, but you do not have to get this brand. This is just the one that I recommend and the one I work with. And so any, like we said, creatine monohydrate is going to be beneficial for you. Try it out, let me know, and I really hope this video helped.
