Enhancing Supplements for the Natural Bodybuilder: Creatine

As discussed in post “Supplementation for Natural Bodybuilders”, enhancing supplements contribute to optimize your body functioning and in this way accelerate your gains. Creatine monohydrate is probably the most popular supplement in this category. This is a well-deserved popularity, backed up with empirical evidences. This post, which initiates a series covering the most popular enhancing supplements for the natural bodybuilder, describes the benefits of creatine and provides some guidelines for its supplementation.

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that is present in the body. Under the right circumstances, the body can manufacture it from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine. In addition, small amounts are taken in through food, mainly from red meat and fish. Creatine contributes to regenerate ATP stores in the muscles. This ensures a short-term burst of energy that can increase anaerobic strength levels, enabling you to lift heavier and train harder. Creatine also increases retained water in the muscles. This exerts a temporary size increase but also draws more nutrients in the cell and stimulates protein synthesis, which can contribute to muscle growth.

There is some controversy on how and when to take creatine. One approach consists of cycling the intake. The cycle starts with a loading period (in order to saturate the area surrounding the cells) in which you consume 4 servings a day of 5 grams each during 4-5 days. A possible schedule could be having the creatine with breakfast, mid-afternoon before workout, immediately after the workout, and right before bed. After the loading period, a daily amount of 5 grams for a period of 6-8 weeks is recommended. During this period, bodybuilders can benefit from taking the creatine in a single dose after the workout, which contributes to recovery and stimulates muscle growth, or in two doses, one of them 15-30 minutes prior to the workout, which maximizes ATP stores and increases in this way workout performance, and the other just immediately. Finally, this steady period must be followed by a break for 2-4 weeks, giving the receptors a chance to upgrade again. At this point, another creatine cycle can be started. On the other side, some studies suggest that a low-dose continuous approach works too. In this case, having a daily single dose of 3-5 grams for the long term would be enough.

To get the best absorption, creatine in powder form is recommended. In addition, the presence of insulin in muscle cells is required. For this reason, creatine is best taken with high GI carbs. This is another reason for taking it with your post-workout shake (which includes protein and high GI carbs), or with breakfast on non-training days.

Supplementing with creatine has proven to be safe. However, some bodybuilders have reported dehydration, stomach upset and diarrhea, especially with higher dosages. In order to prevent dehydration, it is very important to drink a lot of water, especially during the loading phase. People experiencing stomach upset and diarrhea can give a try to the continuous approach (without loading period), or even better, use micronized creatine, in which size of creatine particles has been reduced. This allows creatine to be faster absorbed, while avoiding stomach upset. Finally, keep in mind that creatine, once in a solution, destabilizes in very short time, rendering it useless. This is why liquid creatine serums are not recommended. For the same reason, you should take the creatine as soon as you mix it.

More information about how creatine works and how to supplement it can be found in the article “All About Creatine” by Jeremy Likness, and in the following articles by Big Cat: “Top 10 Supplements For Bulking”, “Creatine, Ribose and Insulin Potentiators”, and “Creatine Updates!”.