Those who are seriously involved in weightlifting or other sports in which muscle building is necessary, are familiar with such an additive as creatine. It is also often used by vegetarians who have excluded fish and meat from their diets, products rich in creatine.
At the same time, knowing the indispensability of this substance, not everyone, unfortunately, fully understands how to properly take creatine, why it is needed, and which affects the body. All this is worth sorting out.
Creatine - what is it?
Creatine is a methyl guanido acetic acid found in muscle tissue. It is really indispensable for human health and for its sports activities, since it plays a crucial role in energy metabolism.
About 40% of creatine in the body is the so-called free creatine, while the remaining 60% of the substance is presented in the form of creatine phosphate. An ordinary person spends it during the day about 2 grams, but in professional athletes, these figures are much higher. Loss can be compensated with food, through the body's natural production of substances and with the help of special additives.
Creatine is extremely necessary for athletes, since the human body produces it in a rather small amount, sufficient only to ensure normal life. However, for those who are engaged in active sports, this substance is needed in much larger quantities, since its performance in the muscles directly affects the endurance and strength of the body, filling it with energy. This gives a general idea of what sports creatine is for. But still it’s worth talking about everything in more detail.
Creatine was discovered in 1835 by a French chemical scientist. He found this component in meat juice, and therefore gave it the name "creatine", which means "meat" in Greek. Since then, many scientists have devoted their time to the study of this material and its functions. This made it possible to establish how much of it should be in the body of a healthy person, as well as to better understand what creatine is, when to take it, and what side effects may occur.
The main functions of creatine
So, creatine: what is it for? First of all, this substance improves the following important characteristics and processes:
- indirectly stimulates the process of fat burning;
- helps to increase muscle mass;
- greatly enhances energy and physical capabilities;
- stimulates a good increase in strength indicators.
Having decided that the body needs creatine, when to take it and for what purpose, you need to fully understand. After all, the widespread misconception that this substance is directly involved in muscle building. Although this statement is close to reality, but still it is not true. Indeed, creatine does not play such a role for muscle mass as, for example, amino acids or protein. He really participates in important metabolic processes, however, it primarily improves the strength indicators of the body, and does not directly increase muscle.
For this reason, after a couple of weeks of taking the supplement, the athlete feels that his previous workouts and loads are much easier for him, and such a terrible enemy, like fast fatigue, recedes. Creatine helps increase muscle mass through increased energy and increased strength. Thanks to this understanding, it becomes clear what the golden rule of power sports implies is: “The volume of muscles is directly proportional to their strength”.
Subjected to physical exertion, the muscle first uses its own supply of energy, and when it ends, it starts, by turning on the acidification processes, to consume energy from other cells of the body. For this reason, it cannot be forced to be constantly under physical exertion, but it is very realistic to increase the total amount of ATP (adenosine triphosphoric acid) in the body due to creatine, thereby providing the muscles with new energy reserves.
To better understand this, one can imagine that initially muscles have 10 units of energy. With creatine, this figure can increase to 12 or even 15 units, and this, in turn, has a direct impact on the intensity of training and endurance. It is not surprising that taking creatine before training is mandatory for all athletes involved in heavy sports.
How to apply this tool?
If you decide to drink creatine, when to take it and how, it is very important to know. After all, you can’t use this supplement, as well as any others, thoughtlessly. Careful studies of this substance have helped to develop two basic and most appropriate regimens for its administration. Having considered their main features, it is possible to determine the mistakes often made by inexperienced athletes.
Scheme number 1
The first regimen of creatine intake is mainly in the initial creatine load, which significantly increases the amount of this substance in the muscles. This period often lasts about 5-7 days, during which the concentration of creatine in the body increases by about 3-4 times. After this, the drug should be taken daily only in maintenance doses.
Scheme No. 2
The second option, how to take creatine in capsules, in the form of a powder or liquid solution, is somewhat simpler. There is no loading phase in it, and the daily dose of the drug is unchanged. At first, it may seem that this approach is much worse than the first, but after a couple of weeks, both schemes are completely aligned in terms of effectiveness.
How to calculate the required dose of creatine?
It is clear that for athletes, as well as for vegetarians, a supplement like creatine is needed. When to take it is not all you need to know. Naturally, it is equally important to understand what the correct daily dosage of this supplement is.
The standard serving during the loading period is twenty grams per day. During the maintenance period, the daily dose is reduced by four times - up to five grams.
An individual approach to taking creatine involves determining the dose of the drug based on dry (without fat) muscle mass. In this case, you can use the following scientific formula: 0.3 grams per 1 kilogram during the loading period and 0.03 grams per 1 kilogram during the maintenance period.
Thus, for a person weighing 90 kilograms, of which 10% is fat, the amount of creatine is calculated as follows: 81 kilograms (dry weight) is multiplied by 0.3 or 0.03. In this case, the daily dose of the drug during the loading period is 24.3, and during the maintenance period - 2.43 grams. At the same time, for correct calculations it is very important to exclude the amount of fat from the total mass, since creatine is concentrated in bone and muscle tissues, but not in fat. It is also necessary to take into account that it is important to divide a large dose of creatine during loading during the day into four to five doses of approximately 5 grams each.
Forms of Creatine Supplement
As already mentioned, there are several forms in which a creatine supplement is available: in capsules, in powder and in liquid solution.
The most convenient for taking is creatine in capsules, since it is enough just to drink it with the required amount of water. Powder creatine can be mixed not only in water, but also in any other drink. When using creatine with fast carbohydrates, it gives a more effective result, so it is best to dissolve the drug in grape or apple juice or in a glass of water with a spoon of honey.
Which creatine supplement is better?
In fact, the majority of world creatine producers have practically the same quality, therefore one of the decisive factors in choosing a particular drug is, of course, its price. Numerous studies have convincingly proven that
creatine monohydrate is still the most potent of these supplements
. And the list of the most worthy brands that produce quality creatine includes the following: Optimum Nutrition, Gaspari Nutrition, BSN, Ultimate Nutrition and Dymatize.
Can creatine do harm?
This supplement has a natural basis, and therefore there are no contraindications to its use. Also, since creatine is found in some foods, you can do without additives if you consume, for example, at least a kilogram of meat per day.
However, if the daily dose of the drug is not correctly calculated and is greatly exceeded, an excessive load on the liver and digestive problems can be a side effect.