Creatine a.k.a. ”the most researched” bodybuilding supplement has been promoted heavily over the last few decades. Many consider it a must for natural bodybuilders.
Is the hype backed up by real results?
Function: The main function of creatine is to facilitate the recycling of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).
ATP is known as “nature’s energizer” and is produced by almost all living things. ATP is essentially the “spark that lights the fire”. It triggers cellular metabolism. Without ATP cells have no energy to repair, reproduce and function.
Creatine is an amino acid first synthesized in the liver. 95% of it is transported to the skeletal muscle. When the need for energy is high, ATP is rapidly re-synthesized with the use of phosphocreatine (PCr) through a reversible reaction with the enzyme creatine kinase (CK). Since creatine increases the muscles’ PCr stores, the body’s ability to re-synthesized ATP improves as well. Consequently, muscle endurance goes higher.
Creatine is not an essential nutrient. The body can produce creatine from the amino acids L-arginine, glycine, and L-methionine. Protein sources rich in these amino acids provide all the creatine needed for good health. Supplements never put that on the label, do they?
Experts believe that since creatine supplementation increases energy, one should be able to do more repetitions. In return, more reps (volume) are supposed to stimulate more muscle growth. However, it’s hard to tell if those extra reps are not just a placebo effect. Moreover, how are a few reps supposed to change your physique anyway? Besides, you can just do another set and reach the same overall lifting tonnage.
Excessive amounts of creatine has been used by many lifters. There are people who have been using the stuff for years and years with zero results. This is not a surprise because supplementation plays a very small portion in the process of getting bigger. Nutrition and training are more important.
The big believers in creatine are easy to spot in every gym. They are the smallest guys with the thinnest wallets.
Everything about creatine can be summarized in a few lines:
- Creatine is not an effective muscle builder. Most of its effect is based on placebo and wishful thinking of the highest order.
- Creatine is not an effective strength enhancer – strength and endurance are two different things. Strength coaches consider creatine supplementation unimportant when you perform low repetition sets.
- Creatine promotes water retention and decreases your muscular definition.
- Creatine often causes diarrhea.
- Creatine can cause kidney problems. The risk is low but it’s not zero. People who are more likely to be affected are patients with pre-existing kidney problems.
- Some people don’t feel anything from creatine. I am one of them. It does nothing for me.
- You don’t need creatine to hit the natty limits.
Turn off the TV, read more, love more and don’t trust the bodybuilding propaganda.
References:
http://www.bidmc.org/. Creatine. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Retrieved 2010-08-23
http://www.shankara.com/. What Is ATP? What does it stand for and what is the mechanism by which it energizes cells?.
http://www.sportsci.org/. Creatine and kidney damage?. Will G Hopkins PhD, Physiology and Physical Education, University of Otago, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
Bahahhaha that was a good joke man
Joke is you throwing your money away. I wonder if you already passed the 300lb benchpress with your super supplement. People had awesome physiques since forever, creatine supplements emerged in early 90s. Throwing 5grams of some white powder to your throat every day, in order to better your physique, goes against a common sense.
you idiot cannt tell you,
first things first
what is the ´secret receipt´ of an authentical study
youre right,
the DOES a control group,
anything different wouldn’t make any sense
anyways
so there are enough studies to believe which works as simple as that #science
how do yo ´nattyornot´ changed any plateaus after the first two years of natty needle in ass sticking of naturaly natty ass bulking
huuuh???
which btw which plateau definetly has to happen AT LEAST AS SOON AS youve done your sixth mesocycle. IF YOUVE DONE IT RIGHT, which and that i have to say whicha would no expect from somelike youif iuve done it propahhliy
yes, you have to build up some strength to git sm strength wars done what a hell
keep looking forward to amazin blog without throwin that kind that sort of shit it
beg greeting from germany
love ya m momo
After 3 years of body building, running, basketball, I felt I’d hit a limit. From 129/6ft/6% body fat to 175lbs/6ft/6%body fat. Wanted to get more ripped. Added creatine to the diet. Barely noticed a difference. Took a grad level nutrition course at NC State and discussed creatine with the professor. Prof said it wasn’t a big difference maker and the little difference in muscle definition came more from water induction into the muscle cells. Hypertrophy but not true muscle growth. When I discontinued creatine I lost a pound or two but no change in reps/strength. I’m an omnivore who timed my meals around workouts and recovery. Maybe I was just getting enough creatine from my diet already? Some placebo effect? I do know that like vitamins and meat for that matter, you can take/eat all you want. Your body is going to use what it needs and you’re going to overwork your kidneys excreting all the supplemental/redundant stuff.
Quote: “And how are a few (extra) reps supposed to change your physique anyway?”
You appear not to have a clue about strength training and how added weight or added reps builds more muscle/strength.
I grant you that DLB doesn’t come across as the brightest star in space…but you don’t glow much either.
The one thing we agree on is that Creatine is a waste of money for the gullible.
Another thing you might want to add is that Creatine can cause insomnia.
There´s a bit of research going on in that direction. Found quit some information regarding this topic.
It always comes back to eating clean and working out frequently. That´s it, for those that want to stay natural and thus functional for ages!
Your body produces about half your normal creatine level (this half suffices for normal function). The other half comes from eating normal portions of meat.
As a mostly-vegetarian who works out, I take a very small amount of creatine to compensate for the meat I’m not eating.
I’m no expert, but the one thing I strongly disagree with here is the assertion that creatine empties out your wallet. That’s bullshit. Creatine is one of the cheapest supplements out there. Ten bucks will buy you enough creatine to last two months, and that’s the small container.
Truth seeker, you need to keep searching! I am neither a supporter or critic of creatine, but if it allows you to do one or two more reps after failure, then it would be effective. Resting and doing more reps would not produce the same effect. Any equation involving muscle building would involve energy expended over TIME. Try doing one push up a day for the next year and then do 100 push ups consecutively and see which approach makes your muscles sore. Creatine is not expensive and in my 25+ years at the gym, it’s always the largest, most fit guys that use it. I can not attest to its effectiveness personally, but I think the fact that the greatest athletes in the world have been using it to enhance performance effectively for more than 50 years might be a clue.
Creatine works, I’ve used it, my friends have used it and people in the gym use it and we all agree it not only works, but the effects are very noticeable and we are jot alone, Creatine is probably the most studied sports supplement in the world with over 10,000 studies to its credit.
If it works then why did he feel nothign? The study results are questionable at best. Clearly it’s not just “it works”.
Also. “biggest guys with cancerous levels of water retention” use it, so it works? Did you just read a word of the scientific points this guy said? Water rentention with Creatine is a well known side effect.
Creatine helped me with my articulations, and so helped me doing more. But yes, the water retention is real, even with 1.5gr per day. Creatine helped me with depression too, but it’s maybe just a placebo.
Don’t forget it thins hair as hell and increases hair lost. And everybody knows that real men must have thick hair all over their bodies, yes even on feet. A good way to tell if a guy at the gym is on creatine is to see if he waxes or shaves his legs. Another way is to see if the guy has a slightly long haircut or curls to hide his incipient baldness.
Sorry, but you’re completely wrong, you were probably disappointed about creatine, probably because you hadn’t take it properly. First, you shouldn’t take more than 1gr of creatine in a single dose, even if you’re a vegetarian. More of this means wasting it. For runners, 1gr per day is more than enough, 2gr for powerlifters. If you take too much creatine, it gonna bloat your bowel, face, thighs and that’s not what you want. Second, you have to mix it intensely, more than 30s in a shaker, you can try micronized creatine but that the same, you have to mix it properly or you gonna get diarrhea for sure. Furthermore, hypertrophy should not be a goal, having balanced body is. I saw so many young guys and women with extra large shoulders and bloated belly/abs because they did too much at the gym even with less than 12% of body fat. Propaganda is propaganda, you, me, anybody else couldn’t do anything for this.
Creatine transformed me into a beast, man! I think it’s dht mania. I literally raped a girl at a festival because of it, super creepy! Hopefully I found some girls who like that roughness on dating apps now. Unfortunately, I have to cycle it because my body is getting used, every 4 months, I stopped two weeks. Water retention lasts only the three first weeks, you should retry, and yes it’s ugly, you’re a little bit less shredded, but after that, it’s hell on earth, I can lift twice more without any fatigue at all. In bed it’s just night and day, I can cummed six times in a row, I dont have to hold on anymore to stay hard for more than a hour, it becomes natural.
Creatine works! Steroid works! Weight lifting is just a way to build your dream physique. Don’t listen this depressed guy too much. He is his own propaganda.
The NUMBER ONE side effect of creatine is SEX DRIVE REDUCING. Look at this French bodybuilder, Tibo Inshape, he was used to fuck 3-4 times a day with his partner, but now it’s maybe 3-4 times a week. He said it’s normal because he is 32, BUT HELL NO!
I haven’t took creatine but my wife tried it for two months, she was receptive and increase her working out volume pretty much. But damn she lost sex appetite and it almost killed our relationship. She stopped and it’s just night and day.