Creatine, What Is It?

CREATINE

Creatine is one of the most well researched, tried and tested products in the supplement industry, If your looking to gain strength, size, explosive power and endurance, creatine is a must! Creatine helps provide the energy our muscles need to move, particularly quick and explosive movements. Muscle contraction is initially fuelled by ATP. Creatine helps increase the rate in which the body can supply ATP. This increases the muscles capacity to do work and improves the energy efficiency of the muscle. Research shows creatine to be effective in improving training intensity and recovery. 

The muscles in your body contain phosphocreatine which helps to form new ATP that is used by the cells for all the basic functions and for energy. When you exercise, the ATP is broken down in order to produce energy. The ATP re-synthesis rate restricts your capability to perform at maximum intensity continuously and the body uses the ATP faster than it is built up. Creatine supplements  can help to increase the stores of phosphocreatine in the body and allows the body to produce more energy in order to deliver energy to the muscles during high intensity workouts. 

What is it? 

Creatine is a non-protein amino acid found in abundance in animal foods such as red meat and fish. Creatine is a compound which comprises nitrogen and the 3 amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Creatine is produced by our body and it is also found naturally in foods such as meat, eggs and fish. Getting sufficient creatine from the diet alone is not really possible. 

What are the benefits? 

Creatine improves numerous factors, including:

• Strength
• Ballistic power
• Sprint ability
• Muscle endurance
• Resistance to fatigue
• Muscle mass
• Recovery
• Brain performance

How to use?

Dosing creatine should be at 5 grams per day. You can “load” 10-20g of creatine for the first 5-7 days to help saturate your cells. But beyond that, there’s no advantage to taking large amounts. Once you’ve completed the loading phase, stay on 5g serves per day.