The Science Behind Creatine Made Simple.
There are so many misconceptions about Creatine that we’re sharing the fundamental science of Creatine to help you make your own decisions. Creatine, and particularly, Creatine Monohydrate, is one of the most widely studied sports nutrition supplements out there. For a long time, it was seen as a supplement only for bodybuilders. But, any athlete whose training or sport has a strength or speed component can potentially benefit from using it.
Where Does it Come From?
Creatine is made in the body from the Amino Acids: Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. It’s also delivered to the body when we eat a diet rich in creatine-containing foods. Animal meats like chicken, beef & pork, and seafood all typically contain varying amounts of naturally occurring Creatine. For example:
· 4 oz. (113 grams) of chicken breast contains about 450 milligrams of Creatine
· 4 oz. (113 grams) of beef contains about 500 milligrams of Creatine
· 4 oz. (120 grams) of pork contains about 575 milligrams of Creatine
Plant-based foods generally don’t contain intact Creatine. However, plant-based sources like pumpkin and sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds and pine nuts, often do contain small amounts of the amino acids the body uses to synthesize Creatine.
A healthy adult body naturally produces around 1 gram of Creatine a day, and then we typically take in about 1-2 grams in the food we eat assuming we are consuming animal-based foods. That’s about 2-3 grams, daily, in total. This total amount can actually decrease significantly depending on how your food is prepared, as overcooking can easily damage or destroy the Creatine in foods.
Vegans, vegetarians and plant-based individuals may be somewhat lower intake per day depending on food choices.
Increasing Creatine in the muscles to improve energy production in training and competition is widely recognized to impact performance positively for most healthy adults. As you can see from what you have just read, this is difficult to achieve on diet alone. Especially considering that 5 grams per day on a continuous basis is what is widely recognized as the amount we typically want to target to help support performance improvements.
Supplementing with Creatine supplement such as Creatine Monohydrate is a great way to help increase Creatine concentration levels in the muscles.
How Does Creatine Enhance Energy Production?
Before we can understand how Creatine works, let’s take a look at how energy is produced in the body.
Every cell needs energy to function. Muscles cells need energy to contract. In the body, this energy takes the form of a molecule called Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP for short.
Technically, ATP is a nucleic acid made of a nitrogenous base called Adenosine, a Ribose Sugar and three bonded Phosphate Groups. But don’t worry about that science. It’s those Phosphate Groups we are really interested in here. Having a tough time following? Just imagine three tennis balls covered with Velcro stuck to the outside of a basketball.
Look at the image below. On the lefthand side of the image, notice the phosphate group circled?
Energy is produced when one of the phosphate groups (one of the tennis balls) is removed from the ATP molecule. This process called dephosphorylation, requires water. This is one of the reasons your body is two-thirds water, and another good reason to stay hydrated.
Once the one phosphate group is removed (pulling a tennis ball off the basketball), two remain. The molecule containing the two remaining groups is now called ADP or Adenosine Diphosphate. ADP can be reconstituted or rephosphorylated back into ATP and used again. To do this, as part of what is known as the ATP-ADP Cycle, ADP needs energy and Phosphates. This is where Creatine comes in.
Creatine helps to supply energy by assisting in the conversion of ADP back into ATP. The body converts orally consumed Creatine into Creatine Phosphate which can donates a its Phosphate group to ADP, ‘recycling’ it back into ATP.
You might have heard ATP called the “body’s energy currency” as virtually everything in the body runs on ATP. However, unlike currency being held in a bank account, the body doesn’t store ATP very well. While some cells in the body might have sufficient ATP to maintain function for up to one or even two minutes, the available ATP in skeletal muscle lasts typically for only seconds. So, what does this all mean? More ATP means more energy for working muscle cells to contract!
What it Means for Performance
Since Creatine can help support energy production in cells, e.g., a muscle cell, you might be able to see how additional Creatine beyond our food works as a performance supplement. If a muscle cell has more stored energy available to contract, then it can potentially complete more repetitions before tiring. Whatever your goals and overall program are, this means including nutrition, sleep and recovery, for gains in overall strength and performance.
It might sound like Creatine only supports lifting weights, but it’s beneficial to anyone who utilizes explosive movements such as running, sprinting, rowing and many more. More ATP More ATP means more energy available in muscles, and it can support performance for any athlete. Great for the fitness buff who trains in successive burst, or any short-term, high-intensity anaerobic activity at the gym, the pitch, or on the track.”
Consistency is key with Creatine supplementation. Taken continuously in a dose of 5 grams per day, it helps the production of short-term, explosive energy in the muscle, allowing you to increase the intensity of your strength training session. The more you increase intensity each session, theoretically, the greater your performance adaptions become(faster, bigger, stronger)!
Simple Supplementation Facts
Creatine in supplement form is different from Creatine in food. However, it’s important to understand both sources support performance. Creatine Monohydrate (the most well understood and used form) supplements are made in very controlled settings. They use Sarcosine and Cyanimide with very specific parameters for pressure and heat. Operating outside of these controlled parameters can yield an inferior product with varying levels of unwanted metabolites. As such, it’s very important to choose a premium Creatine Monohydrate manufactured under exact quality controls. Creatine Monohydrate as a supplement is approximately 88% Creatine and 12% water and is highly stable in a dry powder form as well as being very well absorbed in the body.
How To Consume Creatine
· Creatine supplements don’t work acutely, they work chronically. In other words, you can’t take a Creatine supplement this morning and expect a better training session tonight. Creatine supplements need to be consumed consistently over time to increase the amount of Creatine Phosphate in the muscle.
· It takes a repeated, daily dose of 5 grams of supplemental Creatine to achieve an optimal concentration in skeletal muscle. As a reference, to achieve the same levels of creatine from your diet alone, you’d need to eat about 1.1kg of beef or around ten 8 ounce (230 gram) fillet steaks per day.
· As Creatine supplements need to be consumed consistently over time, consume your supplements on both training and competition days as well as rest days.
· Specific timing of Creatine supplements in the day seems to be of little importance. As such, consume your Creatine supplements at a time of day that is convenient for you, and you will remember.
· The body uses Creatine supplement from powder and capsules in exactly the same manner so use whichever for you prefer.
· Creatine is highly soluble and well absorbed on it’s own. You don’t need to consume with high-glycemic carbohydrates. You can consume with water, mix the powder in a protein shake or semi-solid like yogurt – literally whatever cool or cold beverage or food you enjoy.
Saturating the Muscle with Creatine Supplements
Essentially, there are two well-accepted ways to saturate the muscle with sufficient Creatine to positively affect performance in healthy adults. Both will ultimately achieve the same result (once muscle is saturated with Creatine it won’t absorb more), the only difference being how soon you can potentially expect results.
The “quicker” method is often known as “loading” as you will consumer multiple servings per day for a shorter period of time followed by a “maintenance” period.
1. Loading Phase – Take 4 X 5 grams of Creatine throughout the day, for 5-7 days. (20 grams /day in total)
2. Maintenance Phase – after the loading phase, take 5g per day to keep Creatine levels saturated optimal.
The “slower” method (same long-term outcome) is to simply consume one 3 to 5 gram serving per day.
With loading many individuals report benefits in as few as 10 days. With one serving per day, benefits are typically reported around the one-month mark. How long you continue the maintenance amount of 5 grams per day is up to you.
Both methods of supplementation have shown good results in supporting performance, lean body mass, strength and power
Creatine Checklist
· Creatine Monohydrate is one of the most widely studied and research-supported sports nutrition supplements out there with now over 500 published studies.
· Creatine Monohydrate can be used by both healthy adult men and women.
· Prioritise the use of Creatine Monohydrate to periods of your training and competition schedule where strength, speed and power are your focus.
· Consume either Creatine Monohydrate powder or capsules daily to increase your muscle Creatine levels.
· Both the loading phase and maintenance phase supplementation strategies have shown great results for healthy adults looking to achieve benefit from Creatine.
Now you know the fundamental science, consider taking some action and adding Creatine Monohydrate to your diet (hyperlink to recipes). Planned, consistent intake of Creatine supplements for healthy adults while training can potentially bring great results!