Creatine: How to Best Use It for Muscle Growth (Avoid Side Effects)!

Out of all the supplements out there, creatine is one of the few that is actually well backed by research in terms of its benefits for those who lift weights. Several studies have proven its effectiveness in helping slightly improve the rate of strength and long term muscle gains, while also improving other factors like anaerobic capacity and power output. Therefore, there is no question that creatine can be slightly beneficial in those that respond to it. But what's less well known is how exactly to take it to maximize its effectiveness and if there are any potential side effects. So so in this video we'll cover just that. But before we get started, it's important to know how creatine works in the first place. To keep it simple, when we lift weights, we use ATP, which is the main energy source for our muscles. Creatine improves strength gains by enabling a faster regeneration of ATP and ultimately allows us to perform that extra rep or two when we're lifting weights. And although creatine is naturally found in the body and in various protein sources, we can increase our muscle creatine contents by supplementing with it. It's also important to note that the literature has found that some people respond well to creatine, whereas others don't respond at all. Research seems to suggest that responders typically have a high percentage of type 2 muscle fibers and a low initial muscle creatine content, whereas non responders typically have the opposite. As for how to tell if you're a non responder or not in a non clinical setting, it's pretty difficult to do if you are a responder. Studies show that your weight should increase more than usual after a month or so of supplementation due to the water retention effects of creatine in the muscles. So I would suggest trying it out and monitoring how your strength and weight changes over the next few months and seeing if this increase is greater than usual. Now that we understand how and why creatine works, let's take a look at how we can maximize its effectiveness by looking at the following factors. Despite all the marketing gimmicks out there claiming that different forms of creatine are more effective, research has concluded that this simply isn't the case. Researchers from this review article state that claims that other forms of creatine are more effective are currently unfounded. One exception though, is something called polyethylene glycol oscillated creatine, which was found in one study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research to provide the same effects as creatine monohydrate in terms of strength gains, but with 75% less of the dose needed, indicating that it's more efficiently absorbed by the body. But as with many things, more research is needed to clarify this finding. Therefore, I'd suggest for now, save your money and stick to creatine monohydrate. The only case I would recommend experimenting with a buffered form of creatine like creatine HCL or a micronized form is if the monohydrate version upsets your stomach, since these other forms might help with that. You'll hear a lot of people say that it doesn't matter what you take your creatine with, but the literature seems to prove otherwise. As seen in this graph from a study by Kreider and colleagues, muscle creatine levels are elevated to a much greater extent when creatine is taken with carbohydrates or with carbohydrates and protein compared to taking it alone. In fact, you can see how taking it with carbs and protein almost doubles the creatine absorption when compared to taking creatine alone. This study by Steenjet al found the same and thus recommends taking creatine with around 47 grams of carbs and 50 grams of protein for enhanced creatine retention. So ideally you want to take it with a meal or shake consisting of adequate carbs and protein for the best results. Again, most people seem to think it makes no difference when you take your creatine, but research does seem to oppose this view. Two recent studies compared pre versus post workout creatine ingestion. They found that there was a slight yet non significant benefit to taking creatine post workout as as opposed to pre workout in terms of its ergogenic effects. So based on this and the fact that people tend to have a large post workout shake or meal consisting of the adequate carbs and protein needed to enhance creatine uptake, I'd advise that you take it post workout for the possible additional benefits. So there's three protocols for taking creatine. One you can load creatine by taking around 20 grams per day for five to seven days and then ingest three to five grams a day after that to maintain the elevated creatine stores or two you can take 3 to 5 grams of creatine every day right from the start, which will gradually increase your muscle creatine levels. Studies show that both protocols provide the same effect in terms of raising muscle creatine content, but the loading protocol does it faster. So it's really up to you which one you choose. The third option is to cycle creatine by going on and off of it, which doesn't appear to be superior to the other methods, nor is it necessary since studies show that your natural creatine stores don't seem to decrease or compensate in any way by long term supplementation of creatine. Since creatine became a popular supplement in the 1990s, there's been over 1,000 studies conducted on creatine. In all of these studies, including studies where subjects of all ages took high doses of creatine daily for up to five years, the only consistently reported side effect from creatine supplementation has been weight gain due to water retention in the muscles. However, researchers have noted that in some individuals, stomach cramping can occur when creatine is supplemented without sufficient water, and diarrhea can occur when too much creatine is taken at once. Therefore, I'd suggest ensuring that you are staying hydrated and that you space out your creatine intake throughout the day, especially during the loading phase if you experience any stomach discomfort. Now let's address if Creatine can cause hair loss this whole idea stems from one 2009 study that showed creatine supplementation increased the levels of the hormone DHT in male rugby players. Since DHT can accelerate hair loss in those with a history of male pattern baldness, it's hypothesized that creatine may accelerate baldness in those who are susceptible to it. But this whole idea is based on just this one study, which is yet to be replicated or even shown to have an effect on male pattern baldness at all. So in my opinion, those without a history of male pattern baldness don't need to worry about this, whereas those who do is something you might want to consider. But again, the evidence really is inconclusive at the moment. So to sum the video up, here are the key takeaways. One thing I want you to keep in mind though, is that like all supplements, creatine is just a very small piece of the puzzle. Your nutrition and your training should be your priority, as these are much more important factors. When it comes to what will actually deliver your results, supplements should be the very last thing you consider.

Thanks for watching guys. I hope you enjoyed the video and found it useful. For those who have been following me for a while, you may have actually noticed that I've already covered creatine as one of my first videos, but I just wanted to redo it and add some more research into it and just make the video a little bit better, so I hope you guys were able to learn something new from it. And as always, you can find the written summary of this video on my website builtwithscience.com and I'll also leave a link to it in the description box.

Down below for those who are interested.

And want to check it out. And if you enjoyed this video, please don't forget to give it a like leave a comment down below and also subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. I would really appreciate it. And you can also give me a.

Follow on Instagram as well, where I'll.

Be posting informative content on a more regular basis. Anyways, thank you guys so much for all your support. I'll see you next time.