One of the most popular types of sports nutrition is creatine, whose properties simply captivate the imagination. And if you take it correctly, then the increase in male strength and endurance, as well as the growth of muscles will occur literally before our eyes, delighting athletes and inspiring them to further accomplishments.
Origin of supplement
Before we begin to understand in detail how sports nutrition works, what creatine monohydrate has, which is the most common form of supplement, we first find out where such a substance came from. So, it was discovered in 1835, when the French chemist Michel Chevrel conducted experiments with meat juice and accidentally isolated an unidentified substance. That is why later it was called creatine, which means “meat” in Greek.
However, despite the fact that the substance was discovered, as much as 160 years passed before it was used in everyday life. But in 1992, creatine was first used as sports nutrition for athletes performing at the Barcelona Olympics, and in 1993 Experimental and Applied Sciences launched the creatine Monohydrate drug, which has since become the most popular type of creatine that promotes accelerated muscle growth. And since then, this nutritional supplement has been used by athletes around the world who want to quickly achieve amazing results.
What is an additive?
Before we begin to analyze how the properties of creatine are used in sports and everyday life, let's figure out what this supplement is. So, it is a completely natural product formed as a result of the interaction of three different amino acids with each other - methionine, arginine and glycine. When they combine, then an acid is formed containing nitrogen and having a protein nature.
When ingested, creatine accumulates in the tissues, promotes muscle growth, regulates the functioning of nerve cells and is involved in metabolism. Since a similar substance is found in a number of food products, an ordinary person with food consumes about 2-3 grams of creatine daily, while an athlete has to take it additionally as an additive, and then he becomes stronger, more resilient and shows incredible results in sports.
Types of sports nutrition for muscle growth
It is also very important to find out the properties of creatine, to understand the types of this substance, of which there are a considerable amount, before starting to get acquainted with the supplement.
- "Creatine Ethyl Esther" is a mixture of supplements with ether, which contributes to better absorption of food and increases the speed of its transportation to the muscles.
- "Krekalin" is a mixture of a substance with alkali, which increases the bioavailability of sports nutrition due to the neutralization of the acidic gastric environment.
- "Creatine Alpha-Ketoglutarate" is an additive with ketoglutaric acid salts that enhance the pumping effect while taking a pre-workout complex.
- The most popular form of this sports nutrition is "Creatine Monohydrate", the composition and properties of which are the most studied. It contains 12% water, is a completely natural substance and is characterized by a high degree and rate of assimilation of the body.
- “Creatine Anhydrous” does not contain water, but the content of pure substance is increased by 6%, but this does not give the drug any advantage over other species.
- “Creatine HMB” is a combination of a supplement with a leucine metabolite, which is considered a growth activator and promotes accelerated muscle recovery and muscle gain.
- “Creatine Malate” is a mixture of a substance with malic acid, which makes the supplement attractive in that its use increases endurance and does not cause such a side effect as abdominal pain.
- Creatine Tartrate is a combination of creatine and tartaric acid. This product retains its beneficial properties over time.
Why do I need an additive?
Now let's find out with you what properties creatine monohydrate has on the human body, why you need to take this sports nutrition. So, when we eat, our body accumulates energy and instantly converts it into adenosine triphosphoric acid, due to which muscles contract in the future.
Over time, its level drops, and then a person experiences fatigue and loses working capacity, which happens even faster during training in the gym. Therefore, it is necessary for him to additionally take creatine, whose properties allow you to postpone the breakdown in time. Thus, the supplement helps the athlete work harder, stronger, harder and lift a lot of weight. And this leads to the fact that the muscles contract longer and grow at an incredible speed, especially if the intake of the substance is supplemented by proper nutrition.
Benefits of Creatine
Let’s see what other benefits the body brings Creatine Monohydrate. After all, she can help so many people with a variety of goals.
- For vegetarians, the substance is the main source of energy and extremely beneficial for their health.
- For athletes and bodybuilders, the supplement helps briefly improve their strength performance.
- Athletes nutrition allows athletes to build muscle mass and increase strength and endurance as soon as possible.
- People who want to be in excellent physical shape can take the substance in order to increase their vitality and increase intellectual activity.
- Elderly people can use an additive to block age-related changes in their body, delaying symptoms of old age such as loss of strength and a constant feeling of overwork.
Additive Functions
And now let's look at the properties and functions of creatine and all its many species, which appear at the moment when the substance is absorbed by the body.
- During intense workouts, muscle strength and endurance increases by 20-30%.
- A rapid increase in muscle mass occurs due to an increase in working capacity and the fact that muscles can work for about 6-15 seconds.
- Due to water retention and increased endurance in training, the roundness and bump of muscles is improved.
- If a burning sensation occurs during sports, it means that lactic acid has accumulated in the muscles, but due to the properties of creatine, it is not released so often, which reduces the time of their recovery after working out on simulators.
- The supplement helps restore blood vessels and effectively protects the heart muscle during training, when there is a lack of oxygen.
- It normalizes the level of cholesterol in the blood, which positively affects the health of the athlete.
Harm of sports nutrition
Despite a number of positive properties of “Creatine Monohydrate”, as well as any other types of substances, this supplement also has several disadvantages, due to which its intake can lead to certain side effects.
- The substance can cause fluid retention in the body, so when taking this drug, you should drink plenty of water (about three liters per day) in order to avoid dehydration, because the muscles will take up almost all the fluid and the body will be severely missed. In addition, people who are prone to edema, it is better not to take creatine at all or to take, but in small doses.
- This type of sports nutrition causes digestive upset, which can result in diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain in the athlete. However, most often it is caused only by an excess of additives, therefore, to avoid such a side effect, you just need not exceed the dosage of the substance. In addition, to reduce the likelihood of digestive problems, you need to buy only a quality supplement (preferably in capsules).
- The substance may cause toxic effects on the liver and kidneys, since its excess has an additional burden on them. Therefore, people suffering from diseases of these organs should refuse to take the drug and try to get it only from food.
- It is very rare for an athlete to have acne, which is easy to fix if you take care of your skin.
However, if you carefully look at the instructions for the substance, which shows the properties and contraindications of sports nutrition "Creatine Monohydrad", you can see that, in principle, there are no people who could not take sports nutrition. Just consume it should be in the right doses, being careful. Before taking the supplement, you should consult your doctor, then everything will be fine.
Taking supplements without loading
If you carefully study the instructions for sports nutrition, especially the section on the properties and use of creatine, you can understand that it is best to use it gradually, without loading your body. To do this, you should regularly take 5 grams of sports nutrition after class on the day of training, and during rest - 5 grams of the substance in the early morning.
The advantages of such a system will be an extremely economical consumption of the substance and the minimum risk of any side effects. So for those who suffer from kidney, liver, and water imbalances, this principle of supplementation is best suited. However, this method of consuming creatine also has its drawbacks. In this case, the result from sports nutrition will be shifted by at least a month, and there may not be much real effectiveness. Therefore, if you decide to use a similar method of applying the supplement, you should also use more herring, pork, beef, tuna, salmon, cod and milk, which also contains creatine.
Taking supplements with loading
However, there is another way to take the supplement, which will maximize the manifestation of all the properties of sports nutrition "Creatine". It involves the rapid accumulation of a critical amount of a substance in the body. To do this, you need to load sports food for five to six days in a row, that is, take 4 grams of an additive dissolved in a sweet drink 4-5 times a day. And the rest of the time, that is, the remaining 2 months of gaining muscle mass, you just need to maintain a high level of creatine in the body. For this, it is enough to take the same 5 grams of creatine dissolved in a sweet drink, but only once a day.
The advantage of such a system is as follows: the effect of it will be obtained already 7-10 days after the start of the intake of the substance, which is repeatedly proved by clinical trials. It is this method of administration that allows you to get the best results and gain muscle mass in the shortest possible time. However, such a system has its drawbacks. In this case, sports nutrition is heavily consumed and the likelihood of developing certain side effects increases. So, taking the drug with maximum load is best only for those athletes who are completely healthy in order to avoid negative consequences.
Note to athlete
Now that you know how the properties of creatine monohydrate affect the human body, it remains only to remember a few important aspects due to which the consumption of this substance will bring you the desired result and will not entail any problems.
- The additive should always be dissolved in a liquid or washed down with juice. Moreover, the drink must be sweet, otherwise the body’s absorption of creatine will slow down. Insulin helps accelerate the absorption of sports nutrition, therefore, along with the supplement, you need to take 20-30 grams of fast protein or 5-15 grams of amino acids.
- On training days in the gym, the substance should be taken after work, and on rest days it is better to do this in the morning, because at this time there is a high concentration of growth hormone in the body.
- So that the properties of creatine monohydrate for the body show their best, you should take it at the same time in between meals. So before starting to use this drug, it is better to draw up a daily routine, which then will need to be strictly followed.
- You should buy the supplement only in specialized stores, choosing the most famous brands, checking before the purchase the shelf life of the product and the integrity of the package in which it is contained.
- Creatine, which does not have any additives, is odorless, tasteless and colorless, and does not dissolve completely in water. Therefore, if you felt some kind of flavor in the supplement or caught a foreign smell, then it is better not to take it, as it may be a fake or poor-quality sports nutrition that will not bring the athlete anything good.
- An ideal regimen for the use of the drug would be a two-month intake of the substance and a break for 30 days between courses of administration.
Lack of result
Some athletes claim that the properties of creatine are somewhat exaggerated, and taking this substance has not brought any benefit. But here the whole point is only that they made several common mistakes during the use of the substance.
- Insufficient calorie intake can lead to a lack of results, because the performance of heavy exercises causes a high calorie expenditure. Therefore, in order for the muscles to grow, you should not only take the supplement, but also eat with a calorie surplus.
- An insufficient amount of creatine in sports nutrition can cause a critical mass of substance to not accumulate in the muscles. Therefore, before buying supplements, you should familiarize yourself with the composition of the drug.
- Insufficient work on your body in the gym will completely nullify your enhanced proper nutrition and creatine loading. You should not have too high hopes for sports nutrition, since in order to achieve the desired results you need to work hard in the gym until the seventh sweat.