Creatine

Creatine is amino acid and is actually naturally produced by your body.

Its stored in our muscles and is used for energy on intense exercise sessions done over a shorter period of time – like lifting weights,

You will find creatine in meat (animal protein) so by eating meat you store some naturally.

Like protein you can’t stack up – eg if you have 200 G protein that doesn’t mean you make twice the muscle, you need to have enough to ensure protein synthesis happens, its a constant process of breakdown and repair – synthesis but having enough protein reduces the impact of break down – like as nature tries to throw balls to knock a wall down we are aiming to replace them or add more bricks – toning/ adding lean mass.

Training helps encourage synthesis and having enough amino acids help, they are the building blocks of protein and make up every living cell and are involved in growth and repair of them.

So we can store a limited amount but having enough can help boost your bmr – your metabolism.

Creatine is an amino acid with a difference –

It can make us look a bit more toned but it will cause you to store a little water weight you won’t notice that really other than perhaps a 1lb or 2 on the scale but ladies its not fat!

Creatine is a bit like cotton wool – it will draw water from within the body so ensure if you take it that you drink enough water – 1.5-2.5 litres per day.

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z

This study just backs ups that creatine can help recovery, injury prevention and thermoregulation – maintain temperature and keep the body in its happy place – at homeostasis.

Women naturally have lower stores to men so can often see big changes from taking it. It can also help with pms symptoms!!!

If you were trying to get creatine from your diet you would need to eat huge amounts of meat (red) and fish to hit what you can get in a supplement.

Creatine is a performance enhancing supplement (ergogenic) and studies show it can improve performance (in those shorter higher intensity sessions)

Studies have also linked creatine to increase mass coupled with resistance training gains of unto 0.9-2.2 kg (2-5lbs) more in athletes that supplement compared to those that don’t.

The ideal time to take it is 30 mins pre workout but you can equally take it as a post workout drink to aid in recovery.

This supplement is widely studied and the science comes back again and again to it being a safe supplementation to take.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407788/

Creatine can also help prevent you losing muscle and strength and while this doesn’t mean youll lose fat it can help the effectiveness of a calorie deficit by directing your body to burn fat rather than muscle for energy.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7739317/

how long should I take it for?

You should feel it work from about week 2- 4

Id recommend loading to start with 10-20 grams for a week followed by the dose on the jar (only time id tell you to overdose on anything!) this is usually 3-5 grams then aim to take it for 4-8 weeks to enhance creatine stores and then come off it (time off) the supplement for 2-4 weeks

I often have longer breaks and decide to go back on to help maintain muscle or if I feel a little less sharp, FOR ME im a lucky one and I feel stronger and more powerful when I take it,

Give it a go and let me know how you get on.