Athletes are always looking for an edge over their competition, and supplements are often the easiest way to achieve that. However, it isn’t just athletes. Believe it or not, over 57% of the US actively uses some type of dietary supplement in their routines.
Well, creatine is certainly one of the most popular supplements on the market, and it’s especially beneficial to your pre-workout routine. Let’s talk about how!
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a chemical compound found in your body’s muscle cells, providing it with energy during weight lifting and other intensive exercises. While it is naturally produced in smaller amounts, supplementing with creatine can offer major performance gains.
Moreover, creatine was first discovered as soon as 1832, and supplementation gained mainstream popularity after the 1992 Olympics. Now, it is one of the most widely used athletic supplements in the world.
However, there are different types of creatine that work differently in the body. Creatine HCL and creatine monohydrate are the two most common types used in supplements.
Creatine HCL
Creatine hydrochloride (HCL) is a popular type of creatine on the market, but it’s still fairly new. It’s believed to absorb the fastest and requires a smaller dosage (usually around a quarter of a teaspoon) to receive its benefits.
Creatine Monohydrate
Monohydrate is the most common form of creatine used in supplementation, as it is 99.8% pure and it can help prevent water retention and bloating. It’s also undergone the most testing, so we know the most about the monohydrate form.
Also, it’s been around the longest, as it was the first supplement type to hit the market. Because of this, we will primarily discuss creatine monohydrate supplements.
Why You Should Use Creatine in Your Pre-Workout Routine
Creatine is one of the most widely used sports supplements, particularly in weight training, and for good reason. To understand why it’s so popular, let’s first talk about how it works.
For one, creatine acts as a weight-gainer by sucking water into your muscles, causing swelling. People who start using creatine should expect to gain at least five pounds in a short period, but don’t worry, it’s mostly water weight. However, that’s far from all it can do.
Strength Gains
Because creatine acts as an energy source within your muscles, it’s a great addition to help gain strength both in and out of the gym. When taken before a workout along with caffeine (along with adequate sleep and nutrition), your entire neuromuscular system will be best prepared for heavy lifts. You will likely start breaking new PRs within weeks or even days of incorporating creatine into your diet.
However, you don’t just lose that strength once the creatine wears off. You should still see noticeable strength gains regardless of your current creatine use after a consistent strength training routine.
Studies have shown that creatine helps weight trainers build strength by up to 14% faster and gain muscle by up to 8% faster than training without creatine supplementation.
Muscle Growth
Due to the same concept, fueling your muscles before a workout will only help with hypertrophy (muscle growth). When paired with the right workout, diet, and sleep routine, creatine will help you build muscle faster.
Always focus on progressive workouts in the gym and a calorie surplus throughout the day. You should always try for maximum intensity at the gym, increased weight or reps, and a well-balanced diet. When combined with creatine, you should see much faster gains.
Endurance
Endurance athletes often supplement with creatine as well. Creatine is best used for endurance athletes during training that involves sprints, weights, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT). However, while these claims are widely believed by endurance athletes, further research is needed to confirm these claims.
Weight Loss
While creatine is often associated with weight gain, studies show that it has no negative effect on weight loss. If you are “cutting” or looking to lose weight, you could benefit from the improvements to HIIT training, cardio, and weight training during your weight loss journey.
Misconceptions Aren’t Reality
If you’ve learned about creatine through a friend or an online forum, you may have heard of some side effects or potential dangers of creatine supplementation. However, these aren’t supported by science, so let’s go through some of them.
First, creatine is not even remotely similar to steroid usage. From what we’ve discussed already about creatine’s effects, you can tell that it does not mimic synthetic testosterone in any way.
Next, there are common myths about creatine’s alleged risks to renal health. After 20+ years of research, there is no conclusive evidence that suggests creatine supplementation poses any risks to kidneys. This myth is also perpetuated with protein supplementation, and both are entirely baseless claims.
Lastly, creatine does not affect hair loss or cause baldness. While creatine is made out to be as harmful as anabolic steroids, this simply has no basis in reality.
Now, if any of these side effects occur due to creatine supplementation, it’s highly likely that the supplement also contains other harmful chemicals. Because of this, you always want to buy from the right manufacturers. More on that later.
How to Take Creatine
With any supplement, you never want to play a “guessing game”. You always want to know what you’re taking, how to take it, and what potential side effects you should expect. Here’s how to use creatine properly.
Stay Hydrated
As we mentioned before, creatine’s primary short-term effect works by retaining water in your muscles. Consequently, we always recommend drinking plenty of water when using creatine, especially when paired with intensive weight training or sports training.
Bloating and water retention are common problems with creatine supplementation, which is why it’s important to drink as much water as possible. While this may sound counter-intuitive to some, we promise, drinking more water leads to less retention.
Use Creatine in Cycles
For all we know, this could be where the “steroid” myths began. With most supplements, including creatine, it’s recommended to use them in cycles.
Conversely, this should include a loading phase of 1 to 2 weeks with a slightly smaller dosage, a maintaining phase of 5 to 6 weeks at your normal dosage, and then followed by 2 to 4 weeks without using creatine. This is to prevent your body from relying on the supplement and allowing it to continue to naturally produce creatine on its own.
How to Choose a Creatine Product
Finally, we always want to ensure we are choosing the right supplements. We should always know the function of anything we put in our bodies, so here’s how to choose a product.
Select Your Dosage
Some creatine supplements will come in capsules and others will come in powders, so just ensure that you can determine the right dosage before purchasing. Capsules need to come in the right increments and powders need to have measuring scoops.
During the “loading phase” of your creatine cycle, the average person should take around 5 grams up to four times a day for a week. Different body types will have different needs, but that is safe for the average person.
During the maintenance phase, the average person should take between 3 and 5 grams per day to maintain creatine levels. Once you reach the end of your cycle, don’t take any creatine for at least two weeks.
However, if you don’t feel comfortable with the loading phase, you can try to take around 5 grams before each workout and see if it improves your performance. Read the directions on the particular product you’ve purchased for more specific details.
Choose the Right Store
Creatine powders are not all equal. Some are filled with different chemicals, powders, sugar, and more. Always take a look at the ingredients of a product and not just the ratings. Also, don’t just buy products from one site because you’ve used it before and it worked out for a particular product.
Even if a site is well-known in the industry, they still sell products that come from questionable sources. Of course, anything you put in your body should come from trustworthy sources. If you’re looking for a reputable supplement store, we highly recommend Wilsonsupplements.com.
Get Big This Winter!
Now that you know the importance of creatine in your pre-workout routine and how to start using it, there’s no time like the present to try it out! The sooner you do, the sooner you can see some results!
Keep up the hard work this new year and don’t forget to keep up with our latest health and fitness news!