FROM: Muscle & Body Magazine
Follow our 10 rules of creatine and watch your muscles grow like crazy.
Follow M&B’s 10 laws of creatineand harness the firepower from the most effective muscle-building sports supplement ever.
When it comes to supplements, creatine is the biggest fish in the biggest pond. It’s the big kahuna of sports supplements, the nutrient that can do the most to help you get your biggest — and best. But you probably already knew that.
In fact, you may think that you know all there is to know about creatine. But you don’t, and there’s a good reason for that. Researchers continue to learn more about this versatile and efficient supplement, finding increased benefits for creatine. Also, manufacturers have been innovative in finding different delivery systems and stacking combinations that give a new twist on the most familiar form of the supplement: creatine monohydrate.
So don’t fall behind the curve. Learn M&B’s 10 rules of creatine. Follow these simple strictures and watch your muscles grow.
The most important time to take creatine is 30 minutes before your workout. The second most important time is 30 minutes after.
/// Rule #1 ///
Learn the basics about creatine.
Creatine is not a single amino acid like arginine; instead, it is made in the body from three amino acids: arginine, glycine and methionine. Once these aminos enter your muscle cells, your body attaches a high-energy phosphate molecule to the creatine molecule, and the whole entity becomes creatine phosphate.
This phosphate is more critical than the three amino acids that make up creatine. That’s because the phosphate gets donated and quickly forms adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This is the rapid energy that your muscles need to contract during weight training. Since most sets last about 40 seconds or fewer, the ATP that your muscles need has to be immediately available, and that energy comes from creatine phosphate-forming ATP. The more creatine phosphate you have in your muscles, the more energy that’s available. The primary reason why creatine supplementation enhances muscle strength and growth is because it allows your body to generate more ATP.
Creatine also increases muscle size and strength by cell volumization. Because creatine is a protein, it pulls more water into muscle cells. The more creatine that’s in your muscle cells, the more water they will fill with, creating cells with greater volume and size. This process also stretches your muscle cell membranes, triggering a response that results in the muscle cell growing larger to accommodate the increased water.
/// Rule #2 ///
Understand the latest creatine research.
There have been hundreds of studies done on creatine, but the results have sometimes been mischaracterized, especially in the early days of creatine research. Today, there is consensus that creatine is effective for boosting muscle strength and size, and that it is safe when taken for long periods, even in teenagers.
The myths that have circulated regarding creatine — such as creatine causing dehydration, muscle cramps, muscle tears and even death — have been refuted with carefully designed scientific studies. In fact, if anything, creatine has been found to promote health in addition to performance (see Rule #3).
Newer studies show that creatine not only enhances muscle strength and growth by providing the muscles with more energy and by pulling water into the muscles, but also by causing molecular changes in the muscle itself. This means that the creatine molecule acts as a messenger inside muscle cells to signal muscle growth.
One 2006 study from the Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen found that subjects taking creatine for 12 weeks had increased muscle nuclei content. Since one major way that muscle grows is by increasing the number of nuclei in muscle cells, this indicates that creatine can directly signal muscle growth.
Another study, from Belgium, found that subjects taking creatine for five days had higher expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which is a critical component in muscle growth and strength gains.
/// Rule #3 ///
Know the health benefits of creatine.
Today we know that creatine not only enhances muscle strength and size, but also provides numerous health benefits. Research confirms that creatine provides antioxidant protection, enhances cognitive function, protects the brain against damage, protects against heart disease, helps Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and, according to new research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), lessens the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. On top of all this, new research has even found that creatine can help to protect the skin from sun damage. You should realize that when you are taking creatine you are not only providing your body with the raw materials to maximize muscle building, but you’re also taking a powerful supplement for preventing many undesirable conditions and diseases.
/// Rule #4 ///
Time creatine around your workouts.
The most important time to take creatine is within 30 minutes of your workout. Taking creatine before workouts is important to ensure that your levels of creatine are saturated with creatine phosphate to provide as much fast energy as possible.
In fact, one study from Victoria University (Australia) found that trained lifters taking a creatine-containing supplement immediately before and after workouts gained significantly more strength and muscle mass than those who took the same supplement in the morning and before bed.
/// Rule #5 ///
Choose the form of creatine that works best for you.
If you walk into your local Vitamin Shoppe, you will notice numerous forms of creatine, from creatine monohydrate to creatine ethyl ester. What’s the difference? For starters, creatine monohydrate is the simplest and cheapest of the creatine forms. It’s also the most studied.
Most people will do very well with creatine monohydrate. Just be sure to get creatine monohydrate that has been micronized, which means that it has been ground down into small particles. This enhances absorption. If you find that even micronized creatine monohydrate upsets your stomach or causes you to
retain water under your skin, you may do well with other forms of creatine.
Creatine ethyl ester, which is creatine bonded to an ester (an alcohol and an acid), may work well for you in this case. That’s because the ester group enhances creatine’s ability to pass across cell membranes such as the intestinal and muscle cells, which enhances its absorption and uptake.
Creatine-alpha-ketoglutarate — creatine bound to alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) — may also work well for those who have problems with creatine monohydrate. The AKG (along with the creatine attached to it) gets readily absorbed by the intestines and is easily taken up by muscle cells.
/// Rule #6 ///
Use creatine after workouts to enhance recovery.
The second most important time to take a dose of creatine is within 30 minutes after your workout. The reason you need to take creatine after workouts is to
replenish your muscle creatine levels to maximize muscle cell volume and levels of IGF-I for enhanced muscle growth. Immediately after workouts, your muscles are primed for enhanced uptake of nutrients such as creatine.
/// Rule #7 ///
Make sure you take the proper dosage.
Most scoops that come with creatine products, particularly creatine monohydrate, provide about 5 g of creatine per dose. That’s an effective amount per dose. However, if you want to save money, and as long as you weigh 200 lb or less, you can get away with as little as 3 g per dose (for a total of at least 6 g per day — 3 g before workouts and 3 g after).
If you are using creatine ethyl ester or creatine alpha-ketoglutarate, you can use as little as 2 g per dose (for a total of at least 4 g per day —2 g before workouts and 2 g after).
/// Rule #8 ///
Take creatine with complementary supplements.
To get the most from your creatine supplementation, you want to enhance its uptake by taking it with other nutrients. Because creatine is dependent on insulin for uptake into muscle cells, you should take creatine with nutrients that maximize insulin levels and/or boost insulin’s effects on the muscle cell. That is why you should take creatine with your pre- and postworkout protein shake with carbs. The carbs, particularly fast-digesting carbs (white breads, sugar, etc.), will boost insulin levels, as will whey protein.
In addition to a protein shake and carbs, there is a supplement that can further enhance creatine uptake: Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is known as the “universal antioxidant” because its main job in the body is to take care of the other antioxidants. It helps to recharge them when they have been altered after scavenging free radicals in the body. ALA basically takes the free radicals from the other antioxidants. This can help protect muscle cells from free-radical damage and aid muscle recovery. But ALA can also enhance insulin sensitivity. A study from the University of Saskatchewan found that subjects taking ALA along with creatine and sucrose increased creatine levels in muscle significantly more than those taking creatine and sucrose or creatine alone. Go with 300–500 mg of ALA with every dose of creatine you take.
/// Rule #9 ///
Learn when to load creatine and when to take a load off.
Back when creatine first popped up on supplement shelves it was recommended to use a loading phase. Typically, this consisted of taking 5 g of creatine four or five times per day for about five to seven days. This was thought to be the only way to saturate the muscles with creatine. Today, we know that a loading phase is not critical for saturating muscles with creatine. However, a loading phase will give you results in the shortest amount of time. You can still get results with just taking the standard 2–5-g dose of creatine before and after workouts. But it will take several weeks to see decent results as opposed to using a loading phase, which can provide results in less than a week. So, a good time to load creatine is when you want to see fast results. Otherwise, you can just follow M&B’s typical dosing information (Rules # 4, 5 and 7).
/// Rule #10 ///
Cycle creatine for even better results.
Some experts have reasoned that if you take creatine for too long, your creatine receptors will get burned out. No research has confirmed this is true, but you may want to consider cycling creatine anyway.
After several months of taking creatine, your results will likely start to plateau. At this point, you may no longer be responding to creatine. Now is the time to cycle off.
If you stop taking creatine for about a month, you won’t lose any of the gains you made, as researchers from the University of Saskatchewan showed, and when you resume taking creatine you’ll get another boost in your gains.
Again, you don’t need to cycle creatine unless you notice a decrease in its results. But if you do see this downturn, then take about one month off between five- or six-month supplementing cycles.
Apply The Rules: The Creatine Supplementation Schedule
Regardless of the type of creatine you take (monohydrate, ethyl ester, alpha-ketoglutarate), you should take creatine every day for a cycle of five or six months, then go off of it for one month to give your body the chance to reduce its muscle creatine saturation. Then, when you go back on, your body will respond more strongly to it. Follow this daily schedule during the “on” part of your creatine cycle:
Those who weigh 200 lb or less: Those who weigh 200 lb or more:
Workout days (five days a week, including days when you only perform cardio) Workout days (five days a week, including days when you only perform cardio)
›› Take 3–5 g creatine monohydrate shortly before your workout (or 2 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate)
›› Take 3–5 g right after your workout (or 2 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate) ›› Take 5–10 g shortly before your workout (or 3 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate)
›› Take 5–10 g right after your workout (or 3 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate)
Nontraining days (two days a week) Nontraining days (two days a week)
›› Take 3–5 g with a protein shake at a time of day that is convenient (or 2 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate) ›› Take 5–10 g with a protein shake at a time of day that is convenient (or 3 g ethyl ester or alpha-ketoglutarate)
Research confirms that creatine can boost muscle strength and size, and is safe when taken for long periods, even by teens.
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