Creatine – The Full Supplementation Guide!

So you wanted enhance your workout, increase your power or speed and have taken creatine but it hasn’t worked? This article will address the issues that people face when they choose to take creatine.

What is it?

Creatine is a substance that is created within the body. Creatine is formed by the amino acids glycine and arginine in the kidneys. The creatine then enters the bloodstream and travels to the areas where it is needed, including the skeletal muscle of which 95% is stored, with the rest distributed to the heart, testes and the brain.

How Do I Take It?

With the different creatine products available in both powder and tablet form it can be difficult to decide what to take. Thankfully this article will give you an idea of what to take and when. The most effective way is to load!

Loading Phase

The common protocol for creatine loading is to ingest 20-30g per day for 5-7days (1). The first test to observe the effects of creatine loading was Harris et al (2), in this study they looked at different levels of creatine supplementation, it was found that 1g had little or no effect on creatine concentration in the muscles; however ingestion of around 20g of creatine resulted in a significant increase in skeletal muscle creatine. It has shown to be unanimous in other studies that this protocol works (1, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Maintenance Phase

The creatine levels in your muscles drop daily so it is important that after your loading you purchase the tablet form and take up to 3 tablets or 3-5g of powder a day for 28 days to ensure you creatine levels do not fall.

Flush out Phase

It is important after 28 days of the maintenance phase that you stop for 4 weeks in order for the creatine to flush out of your system ready to start the phase again.

Responders vs. Nonresponders

Despite having undertaking the creatine loading protocol some people have found it not to work. A reason why this might be is due to participants already having a large amount of creatine in the muscle before the loading phase. If this is you do not fear!A way around this is to consume a high amount of carbohydrate whilst ingesting creatine. Green et al (7) looked at participants who consumed a high amount of carbohydrate (90g) with creatine (5g) compared to a creatine only group (5g/day) and found that much larger increases in total creatine in participants who consumed creatine with carbohydrates.

What to do?

If you are looking at taking creatine the best way to do this is to first buy the powder and take 20g a day for 6 days with a can of cola or carbohydrate gel as you will need to get enough carbohydrates in case you are a non-responder! Once the 6 days are through, purchase the tablets and take 3 of these a day for 28 days to keep your creatine levels topped up.Any further questions about creatine or how/when to take any other supplements?Email – [email protected]

1 – Greenhaff, P.L., Bodin, K., Soderlund, K., Hultrnan, E. (1994). The influence  of  oral  creatine supplementation  on  muscle phosphocreatine  resynthesis  following  intense  contraction in man. American Journal of Physiology, 266(5), 725-730.2 – Harris, R. C., Soderlund, K. & Hultman, E. (1992). Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation. Clinical Science. 83(3), 367-374.3 – Balsom, P. D., Soderlund, K., & Ekblom, B. (1994). Creatine in humans with special reference to creatine supplementation. Sports Medicine. 18(4), 260 – 280.4 – Lemon, P.W.R. (2002). Dietary Creatine Supplementation and Exercise Performance: Why Inconsistent Results? Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology. 27(6), 663-680.5 – Myburgh, K. H., Bold, A., Bellinger, B., Wilson, G., & Noakes, T. D. (1996). Creatine Supplementation and Sprint Training in Cyclists: Metabolic and Performance Effects 483. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 28(5), 81.6 – Vandenberghe, K., Goris, M., Van Hecke, P., Van Leemputte, M., Vangerven, L., & Hespel, P. (1997). Long-term creatine intake is beneficial to muscle performance during resistance training. Journal of Applied Physiology, 83(6), 2055-2063.7 – Green, A. L., Hultman, E., Macdonald, I. A., Sewell, D. A., & Greenhaff, P. L. (1996). Carbohydrate ingestion augments skeletal muscle creatine accumulation during creatine supplementation in humans. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism, 271(5), 821-826.