Benefits of Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is an organic acid that plays a key role in supplying energy for muscle cells during intense activity and is produced naturally by the body and also found in small quantities in animal products. It’s stored in muscle cells and helps produce ATP, which is the primary energy currency in the body, especially when it comes to high intensity, short burst exercise such as weight lifting, sprinting etc.

Creatine (behind whey protein), is probably the most well researched supplement on the market and a number of studies have shown numerous benefits to strength, size and endurance when it comes to including creatine as part of your supp stack.

• Increase in muscle size: As a cell volumizer, creatine causes an increase in the water content of muscles, making them ‘larger’. More water in your muscles isn’t a bad thing, as more water = more oxygen. More oxygen to your muscles means you’ll be able to train harder and longer and thus reap those gains!
• Improved athletic performance:  Creatine itself simply increases the available energy supply (ATP) for muscle contraction. There’s a reason why sprinters can only sprint for 10-15 seconds and that’s due to the fact that their ATP stores are depleted after a short time.  Creatine helps top this up which can make an athlete faster and stronger when performing high intensity activity.

If you walk into any supplement store, you’ll quickly see that there are many different kinds of creatine available. From creatine monohydrate, creatine ethyl ester, creatine hydrochloride (HCL) creatine AKG just to name a few. The oldest, cheapest (and most studied form) is creatine monohydrate. For this reason, we recommend this form over the newer, non-research backed forms.

Creatine users often do a “loading phase” of taking 20 grams throughout the day for 5-7 days before moving to a maintenance phase of 3-5 grams per day. Research has shown this to increase the rate at which muscles become saturated. However, loading is not necessary for creatine to exert its positive effect. Take 3-5 grams of creatine monohydrate with either your pre or post workout shake. Should you choose to load, take 5 grams 4 times per day for 5-7 days followed by 3-5 grams pre and post workout.