Creatine Supplementation

Should you be taking it?

Which supplements should you take?? It’s confusing with so many products and advertisements out there! The problem with many supplements is this: just because your body naturally produces and uses the substance doesn’t mean you can use the extra amounts of it you’re supplementing!

I could and probably will do a post on all of the common supplements out there, but today we’ll be talking creatine. Creatine is a naturally-occurring compound found in our muscles, and it helps with ATP (adenosine triphosphate) cycling, meaning it increases how quickly our muscles can reuse the chemicals they use for energy.

Why supplement creatine? If your goal is strength and building muscle. Studies on creatine have shown significant increases in strength, lean body mass percentage, and faster recovery between bouts of high intensity exercise when compared to the same routine without supplementation. It’s also fairly safe, with no negative side effects observed over a 5 year period.

The general guideline for daily dosage is up to 0.1 gram of creatine per kilogram of bodyweight, or about 0.05 grams per pound. There are benefits to taking it both before AND after a workout, so you can split your daily dosage and do both, or just do one or the other.