What should you know about creatine?
Creatine is an amino acid that is naturally found in the body. It plays an important role in the contraction and energy supply of muscles during workout. Creatine is naturally found mostly in meats and the body can produce it from other amino acids such as arginine, glycine or methionine, but this will probably not suffice if you train very hard. Before going into the protocol for use, it’s important to understand exactly what creatine is.
95% of the creatine in your body is found in the muscle cells.
How does creatine work?
Your primary energy source is ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and as the name suggests, it consists of 3 phosphate molecules of which one molecule breaks off during utilisation. Creatine passes this phosphate molecule to the remaining ADP – which is now adenosine diphosphate – and creates ATP again that can be used as a new energy resource unit.
Therefore, the more creatine is available in your body, the more you can extend the intensity of your training sessions.
Who is creatine supplementation recommended to?
It is recommended to anyone who is doing not long-term, moderate or low intensity workout. It means that creatine is an excellent choice for sprinters, athletes, power sports and bodybuilders for enhancing their training intensity. In case of moderate or low-intensity workout the body does not run out of ATP, and after a while it uses body fat to gain energy from.
Creatine replenishment or not?
It is a generally accepted view that a creatine treatment should start with a replenishment phase, then a reduced quantity should be maintain for a specific time period. Many people, however, suffer from stomach and digestive problems because of the larger creatine consumption during the replenishment phase. For them it is not recommended to start with larger quantities.
The typical method would be to consume 20 g creatine for 5–7 days, then reduce it to 10g for the following period, which could be up to 2–3 months. The specified quantities should be consumed in 2 to 4 parts. Of course, this primarily refers to the monohydrate form of creatine.
In the case of modern products that contain more active ingredients which help digestion, absorption and efficiency the recommended consumption may be different. There are products with added citrulline, caffeine and arginine such as Creator in capsules that contain 5 types of creatine, therefore a smaller quantity can produce better results. However, there are other products, such as Creatine ph-X also in capsules, which doesn’t contain any other active ingredients, but the buffered 3g creatine format is very efficient in helping the absorption. When it comes to powders, in addition to 2 different types of creatine CreaTrans also contains amino acids and a special carbohydrate matrix to assist better absorption. It is specifically recommended during bulking. The Crea Flash powder formula contains an energising complex, but without any sugar, therefore it can be useful if we require some extra energy. The practical, single-serving packaging makes it easy to take with you and use it whenever you need it!
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