Let’s face it, creatine is everywhere in the fitness and sports world.

How do creatine supplements work?

Creatine is one of the most popular fitness supplement ever created. The craze for creatine started back in the early 90's. It is used by bodybuilders, athletes and your everyday gym rat or those looking to build muscle and strength.

It’s no wonder that creatine is the most popular supplement because it does what it is supposed to do and that’s to provide you with enough short term energy to get that extra repetition or two, that you otherwise wouldn’t get.*

However, as with most supplements, creatine is very misunderstood. Not only that, there are a lot of you out there who wonder “should I be taking creatine?”

I think the first thing you have to ask yourself is whether or not you are in a position to start taking creatine. That is, has your training and diet been consistent for a couple of months? Then, also ask yourself if your training and diet been improving with each week.

Watch my Workout Wednesday Video featuring Creatine below.

Is creatine safe and effective for beginners?

Creatine is a non-essential dietary compound that is found naturally in foods like meat and fish. It is also produced in small quantities (~1g) within the body (in your liver) and stored in our muscle cells, where it's used to power high intensity muscle contractions. With the limited supply available, creatine supplementation has been shown to be safe and effective.

A perfect supplement for many training attributes – whether you want to increase your strength, power, muscular effort/recovery or lifting volume and performance; all in relation to short-term, high intensity, repeated exercise bouts.¹ Although creatine is viewed more as a supplement for the strength trainer, its use offers some training benefits to an endurance exerciser, for example acute dosage (3g of creatine per day) of less than 4 weeks during a speed training phase.

How quickly does creatine work and what results should I expect?

If you're using a loading dose then you will start feeling the benefits within 5-7 days, for example an increase in muscle mass. As supplementation continues the other previously mentioned attributes may be achieved.*

Creatine powder plays a key role in the transfer of energy. It fuels the process of contraction in the muscles and helps create short energy bursts.

If you are thinking of giving creatine a try, make sure to understand what it does and why! Best of luck and happy training!

Thank you for reading,

Felicia Romero

Tags

Bodybuilding Featured Sports Nutrition

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