Creatine: What is It and Why Should You Use It?

Many people are confused about creatine...what it is, what it does, and is it bad for your body. Well, this should help answer some of your questions.

What is it?

Creatine is made naturally in the body when daily intake of it is low. In a normal non-vegetarian diet, we eat approximately 1g./day. Creatine is a natural constituent of muscle used in energy production.

Creatine Monohydrate

This is a type of synthetic creatine people take as a supplement. 5g. of this can increase blood creatine levels 10-20 fold. Somewhere between 1g and 5g, muscles stop absorbing the intake of creatine. Because of this, taking more than 5g of creatine at one time is a waste of creatine. Your body's ability to store creatine depends on the amount of muscle you have. The unabsorbed creatine in the blood is cleared by the kidneys and excreted in urine. Athletes who use creatine will typically go through a loading, maintenance, and wash out cycle. You should always talk to a professional to adjust your creatine dose to match your body weight.

How does it work?

All cell activity, including muscle contractions, require the use of ATP. Creatine quickly replaces the used ATP phosphate needed to produce activity. The more ATP you have, the more activity you can do.

What is it good for?

Taking a creatine supplement enhances performance during explosive bouts of activity. Exercises that benefit most are sprinting events that last less than 10 seconds, and repetitive maximum effort movements (power lifting).

Is it bad for the body?

In general no, but taking too much creatine supplement can inhibit the natural creatine production by the body. Also, creatine causes muscles to retain water and swell. While this may be desirable in the fact that it makes your muscles look bigger, it may cause dehydration and cramping if not compensated for by proper fluid intake.

Lastly, during the loading phase of a supplementing cycle, the kidneys work extra hard to remove unabsorbed creatine from the body. For most healthy people, this should not be a great problem, but it may be dangerous for people who have conditions that effect the kidneys.