The Essential Guide to Creatine for Enhancing Athletic Performance

By Dr. Mark Evans, PhD, Optimum Nutrition, EMEA Performance Nutritionist

Key Learnings

• What is Creatine and Why Should You Supplement? Creatine is an amino acid found abundantly in the human body, predominantly in the skeletal muscle and plays a role in producing energy within the muscle.

• What Does Creatine Do? The major function of creatine within the body is as a major component of producing energy within the skeletal muscle.

• How Much Creatine Do You Need? It is well accepted that 3-5 g of creatine is needed to achieve the optimal concentration in the blood to raise creatine stores in the skeletal muscle.

• Which Form of Creatine is Best? Creatine monohydrate is widely considered the best form of creatine due to its safety, effectiveness, and affordability.

• Is Creatine Safe? There is no compelling scientific evidence that the short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate has any detrimental effects on otherwise healthy individuals and the only side effect seems to be potential weight gain.

• Who Should Supplement with Creatine? Creatine supplementation is relevant to anyone with a performance goal of increasing bursts of power, strength and speed.

Contents

1. What is Creatine and Why Should You Supplement?
2. What Does Creatine Do?
3. How Much Creatine Do You Need?
4. Which Form of Creatine is Best?
5. Is Creatine Safe?
6. Who Should Supplement with Creatine?

Creatine has become a cornerstone in the world of sports nutrition and is one of the most popular sports supplements used by athletes to improve their performance. Its remarkable ability to enhance physical performance and support muscle growth by improving an athlete’s capacity and quality of training has made it a go-to supplement. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the basics of creatine, exploring its nature, benefits, optimal dosage, the best forms available, and who should take it. Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just starting your fitness journey, understanding creatine can be a game-changer in achieving your performance goals.

What is Creatine and Why Should You Supplement?

Creatine is an amino acid found abundantly in the human body, predominantly in skeletal muscle and plays a role in producing energy within the muscle. It is formed within the body in the liver and kidneys from three amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. In addition, creatine is ingested in food, mainly fish and meat1 (illustration 1).

Natural production of creatine in the body is 1-2 g / day and dietary intake of creatine is 1-2 g / day, totalling 2-4 g/day2. At the same time the body slowly breaks down and removes creatine. This means that to raise creatine concentration in the muscle a higher amount of creatine, above what is found in the diet, is needed.

Increasing creatine in the skeletal muscle to improve energy production is difficult from the diet alone. Therefore, creatine supplements area convenient addition to your diet to help increase the levels in skeletal muscle.

Individuals eating an animal-based diet, can increase their creatine stores by 60-80%, which can be further increased by 20-40% after creatine supplementation. It is important to point out that research has found much lower levels of muscle creatine in vegan and vegetarians compared to meat-eaters. Supplementation may be an effective option for these individuals to increase their stores and support their performance goals.

What Does Creatine Do?

The major function of creatine within the body is as a major component of producing energy within the skeletal muscle, known as the phosphocreatine (PCr) system. This energy system is composed of creatine and phosphate, thus forming phosphocreatine (PCr). Without this energy system movement would not be possible.

When the body needs to move quickly, either for basic daily tasks or during exercise, energy demand increases considerably. The energy currency used within skeletal muscle is known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and is required to allow our muscles to contract and relax. ATP is broken down to release energy for muscle contraction. Creatine helps re produce new ATP in the muscle for immediate energy. However, this energy system only operates for up to 10 seconds before running out. At this point other energy systems take over but are less efficient at producing ATP rapidly.

A great deal of research has shown that increasing creatine content in the muscle helps in producing more ATP and prolonging exercise intensity and duration5. As a result, creatine has formed a nutritional regime to help improve training intensity and adaptations from high intensity exercise. This is specific to sports that involve bursts of power, strength and speed over a short period of time (0-30 seconds), especially during high intensity intermittent exercise such as sprinting, power lifting, gym-based exercise and sport specific tasks such as strength and power in rugby, football and basketball5. In addition, by improving performance or the exercise intensity during training means that the adaptations caused by each session will result in superior improvements to muscle size and strength. Collectively, supplementing creatine while training and performing is beneficial to a wide range of sports and exercises.

How Much Creatine Do You Need?

To increase creatine in the skeletal muscle a larger dose of creatine than that found in the diet is needed.  It is well accepted that 3-5 g of creatine is needed to achieve the optimal concentration in the blood to raise creatine stores in the skeletal muscle. Trying to obtain this dose of creatine from food would be the equivalent of eating 11 kg of beef, which is the same as a thirty-nine 8oz fillet steaks. Using this approach, of 3-5g of creatine daily takes around 28 days for creatine to increase in the muscle6. Using the classical supplementation regime – consisting of a loading and maintenance phase – raises creatine content faster5. The basic principle is to consume a dose of 20 g of creatine per day for 5 days (loading phase), followed by 3-5 g per day thereafter (maintenance phase). Both supplementation regimes have shown to provide benefits to high intensity intermittent exercise performance. Which supplement protocol you use should be based on your individual training needs and consulting with a healthcare provider or a nutrition expert is recommended to determine the best approach for your performance goals.

Which Form of Creatine is Best?

Creatine monohydrate, such as ON Creatine Monohydrate, is the most researched form of creatine, and improves physical performance during short-term, high intensity, repeated exercise bursts. It is widely considered the best form of creatine due to its safety, effectiveness, and affordability. In over 500 studies, the only side effect, consistently reported, when healthy adults supplemented with creatine monohydrate was a slight gain in weight (1-2 kg) associated with water retention7. While creatine monohydrate was traditional made from meat-based products, it is now synthetically created, and so is suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

Although there are other forms of creatine, on the market, like creatine citrate, creatine serum, creatine ethyl ester, and creatine nitrate are available, no research has consistently found an advantage over these forms and creatine monohydrate in promoting muscle creatine storage.

Is Creatine Safe?

Creatine monohydrate is the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes in terms of increasing their ability to complete single and multiple bouts of short duration, high-intensity activity5. At present, Creatine is possibly one of the most researched supplements in the sports nutrition category over the last 20 years. There is no compelling scientific evidence that the short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate has any detrimental effects on otherwise healthy individuals and the only side effect seems to be potential weight gain8.

Who should supplement with Creatine?

Traditionally creatine was primarily supplemented in athletes focused on increasing their power and strength. However, as creatine supplementation provides the muscle with energy to perform repeated bursts of high intensity exercise, it is relevant to anyone with a performance goal of increasing bursts of power, strength and speed. Team sports, rackets sports, athletics and weightlifting, to name but a few, are some of the sporting disciplines in which creatine supplementation, along with the appropriate training, supports an increase in training intensity and overtime an improvement in performance. Athletes should consider consulting with an experienced nutrition or dietician before supplementing with creatine to find out how it could be useful for them. 

Conclusion

Creatine is more than just a supplement; it’s a key ally in the pursuit of athletic excellence. Its role in enhancing energy stores in muscle, improving power, and supporting overall training quality makes it an invaluable tool for athletes. By understanding the basics of creatine, its optimal dosage, and the best form available, you can now make an informed decision on how to incorporate this powerful supplement into your training regimen.

References

1. Bertin, M., et al. (2007) Origin of the genes for the isoforms of creatine kinase. Gene,  392(1–2):273–82.

2. Balsom, P.D., et al. (1994) Creatine in humans with special reference to creatine supplementation. Sports Med, 18(4):268–80.

3. Brosnan, M.E., & Brosnan, J.T. (2016) The role of dietary creatine. Amino Acids: 48(8):1785–91.

4. Egan B, Zierath JR. (2013) Exercise metabolism and the molecular regulation of skeletal muscle adaptation. Cell Metab;17(2):162-184. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2012.12.012.

5. Kreider, R. B., et al. (2017) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14, 18.

6. Hultman, E., et al. (1996) Muscle creatine loading in men. J Appl Physiol (1985), 81(1):232–7.

7. Kutz, M. R., & Gunter, M. J. (2003). Creatine monohydrate supplementation on body weight and percent body fat. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 17(4), 817–821.

8. Kreider,  R.B., et al. (2003) Long-term creatine supplementation does not significantly affect clinical markers of health in athletes. Mol Cell Biochem: 244(1–2): 95–104.