Creatine Myth and Facts + What the Hell Creatine Really Is

[Clickster]

Creatine Myth and Facts + What the Hell Creatine Really Is

I can't help but shake my head whenever I hear gym morons discuss creatine. It has become the ultimate " tall tail " in bodybuilding today. And the myths and stories concerning this supplement, become more and more preposterous as the years go by. The plain fact of the matter is that most people who take creatine, do not even know what it is, or exactly how our bodies use it. I find this puzzling, because I do not believe in ever taking supplements that I do not fully understand. After you finish reading this article, the myths and tall tales concerning creatine will be completely dissolved and like myself, you will shake your head when rookies in the gym, cluelessly discuss the effects of this supplement.

Questions and Answers: I receive at least a handful of letters a day concerning creatine. I will post the most frequently asked of those below.

Q: Is Creatine a Steroid?

A: I would like to dispel this myth by giving you the definition of what an anabolic steroid is. These are synthetic versions of the male hormone testosterone. Creatine, as you will see below is not. Basically anyone who says this should immediately be labeled a gymbecile.

Q: What is Creatine?

A: First, let me emphasize that our bodies already produce creatine naturally. Did you ever watch the transformers when you were a kid? Well if not, there were groups of robots called " combiners. " They would join together and form an even larger and more massive robot, crushing everything in their paths! Our liver does the same thing with the three amino acids, Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. It combines them to form creatine, much like the constructicons combined to form devistator! Ok so that was a lame example, but it explains the process quite nicely.

That being said, it is also important to understand that over 95 percent of this substance is found in our muscles. With the remainder being stored in our brain, heart and other parts of our bodies.

Q: The clerk at my local sporting goods store, explained to me, that when your body runs out of food at night, your muscles can take the creatine in them and use it to fuel their growth.

A: I don't believe I will even waste my time dispelling his explanation. How moronic can you get? My real question is, where do these people get there information from? I actually have a theory on this very matter. I believe, that there is a moronic website that is the complete opposite of abcbbodybuilding. I've tried to crack the code, but gymmorons.com just didn't work. Perhaps they are trying to hide their identity? But regardless of my theory, the guy is dead wrong!

Q: What exactly does creatine do?

A: I will break down the uses of this supplement into 4 sections.

[Clickster]

1. Supplies additional energy for your muscles!

Before I can explain how creatine provides this additional energy I will need to cover the basics, of a compound in your body called ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate). Think of ATP as a vital compound that actually contains energy. What is important to know about ATP is that the body can very quickly get energy from an ATP reaction. You have other sources of energy such as carbohydrates and fat, but they take longer to convert into a useable energy source. When you are doing an intense quick burst activity, such as lifting a weight or sprinting, your muscles must contract and need an instant source of energy. This immediate energy comes from ATP.

Here is where it gets interesting! When your muscles use ATP for energy a chemical process occurs in which the ATP is broken down into two simpler chemicals. These are ADP (adenosine di-phosphate) and inorganic phosphate. This process of ATP turning into ADP releases the energy which gives your muscles the ability to contract.

Unfortunately, we do not have an endless supply of ATP. In fact, your muscles only contain enough to last about 10-15 seconds at maximum exertion. And the ADP can not be used to create more energy for your muscles, rendering it useless!

Here is Where Creatine Comes in! - Most of the creatine that is stored in your muscles bonds with phosphorus stores in the muscles and is converted into Creatine Phosphate (CP). CP is able to react with the ADP in your body and turn "useless" ADP back into the "super useful" energy source - ATP. More ATP in your body means more fuel for your muscles.

So to recap

A. Atp(adenosine tri-phosphate) is our muscles main energy source

B. It runs out quickly leaving the useless ADP(adenosine di-phosphate) compound

C. Creatine bonds with phosphorus stores in our muscles forming Creatine Phosphate

D. C Phosphate is able to react with ADP, which is otherwise useless and turn it back into ATP!!!!

To me this is amazing. Just to try and comprehend all the millions of actions that our bodies go through each day is mind boggling. But that in a nutshell is what creatine does for our performance. It gives us more energy to workout. If we can perform more reps and more sets, then our adaptation will be that much more dramatic.

2. Pulls Water into your muscles!

Creatine has been shown to pull water into your muscle cells, which increases the size of your muscles. It also increases pumps dramatically! Even while on low carbs, creatine can help and maintain your pump in the weight room.

3. Buffer Lactic Acid build-up

Research has shown that creatine can help buffer lactic acid that builds-up in the muscles during exercise. Lactic acid build up is responsible for the hardcore burning feeling you get in your muscles when you do strip sets. Scientifically, it is a complicated process - basically the creatine bonds with a Hydrogen ion and that helps delay the build up of lactic acid.

4. Enhances Protein Synthesis

Several studies indicate that creatine helps put the body in a more anabolic state where protein synthesis can occur. The more protein synthesis - the greater the muscle gain, its that simple!

[Clickster]

Overview:

The main function of creatine is to provide our muscles with more energy. More energy means that our muscles can contract harder therefore our body must adapt to the greater amount of stress that we put our bodies through. It super hydrates our muscles and improves protein synthesis.

Q: How exactly does Creatine Apply to An Athlete?

A: We already covered the fact that creatine will give you more energy when you work your muscles to fatigue. With this in mind it's very easy to see who would benefit from this. The athlete who does sprinting, weight lifting and any other quick burst activities. You should find that by taking a creatine supplement, you are able to do more reps, sets or weights before hitting the fatigue point. This is fantastic from a bodybuilders standpoint because if they are able to push their body further, it will have to adapt with a greater response. As a sprinter, your muscles should be able to fire more quickly as you run.

For endurance athletes - it is much less clear what creatine can do. However since it has been shown to buffer lactic acid build-up - that would be a great advantage to endurance athletes. In addition, even in an endurance sport (like a marathon) - if you are really pushing yourself - and work the muscles to fatigue - you may stand to gain from creatine.

Q: What are the side effects of Creatine and in General how safe is it?
A: It is very important to understand that creatine will have no effects on any of your hormones!

There have been hundreds of studies done on creatine that all show that it is a safe supplement. There are really very few side effects reported with creatine use, but they include: upset stomach, muscle cramping, diarrhea and dehydration. Most of these side effects can be eliminated by drinking plenty of water. I personally have experienced none of them.

To further prove its safety two an a half million kilograms of creatine were consumed in the United States alone in 1999! That statistic alone speaks volumes about the safety and efficiency of this supplement! Not only that, but creatine has been the number one supplement on the market for almost a decade and no one has reported any adverse side effects from it. ( aside from the ones I listed above. )

On an even more scientific note, on November 12, 1999 at the 19th Annual Southwest American College of Sports Medicine Meeting, two long term creatine studies were presented from the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab at the University of Memphis*. Both studies showed that 9 months of creatine supplementation in athletes had no negative effects on markers of renal function or muscle and liver enzymes in comparison to athletes not taking creatine.

(Here are the actual studies referenced above:

1.Kreider R, Rasmussen C, Ransom C, Melton C, Greenwood M, Stroud T, Cantler E, Milnor P, Almada A, Greenhaff P. Long-term creatine supplementation does not affect markers of renal stress in athletes.
2.Almada A, Kreider R, Ransom J, Melton C, Rasmussen C, Greenwood M, Stroud T, Cantler E, Milnor P, Earnest C. Long-term creatine supplementation does not affect muscle or liver enzyme efflux in athletes. )

In fact some studies have shown that creatine can help reduce your chances of heart disease and adult on-set diabetes. It was found that after 51 days of taking creatine the study group had a 22% decrease in VLDL-cholesterol levels and a 23% decrease in blood triglyceride levels. VLDL-cholesterol and triglycerides are risk factors for heart disease and adult on-set diabetes. It seems that as more studies are done, more and more benefits are appearing on this supplement.

Q: Does creatine harm Kidneys?

A: There is no evidence that " exists " that creatine is harmful to your kidneys. In fact a study conducted by Dr. Kerry Kuel at the Oregon Health Sciences University presented at the 2000 annual meeting of the American College Sports Medicine used the top testing methods we know of to study kidney function in 36 healthy athletes( men and woman ) consuming 10 grams a day of creatine. There kidneys were tested on the fourth, 8th and 12th weeks. The results indicated very clearly that creatine does not adversely affect kidney function in healthy individuals.

Q: I don't workout, but do you think that creatine will build muscles and help me to lose fat?

A: No! If you don't workout I cannot imagine what supplement would help you. Creatine provides your muscles with more short term energy - but that is wasted if you do not exercise them. If you take creatine you should push yourself even harder in the gym. The idea is with more energy you should be able to workout harder. A harder workout leads to increased muscle mass.

Q: Since Creatine makes you gain weight should I not take it on a cut?

A: Yes, creatine causes your body to hold water, but that is a good thing! The fact that your muscles are super hydrated even on a cut is fantastic. I see absolutely no correlation between taking creatine and our body storing fat. If anything, creatine will assist us in maintaining more lean mass while dieting. In my mind there is no point to discontinuing the use of creatine while trying to burn fat. Except, you will want to stop taking it 2 weeks before a show, so that you are not holding water. Besides that it will only benefit you during a cut!

Q: Can I take Creatine and Protein at the same time?

A: Firstly, protein is a food product. If you couldn't take creatine and protein at the same time, then you would have to be a strict vegetarian and still you would end out consuming around 40 grams a day just from normal foods. To top this off, creatine is not much use without a significant protein intake. What is the point of pushing your muscles further than they are used to, if you are not going to provide the amino acids necessary for their repair?

Q: Which supplement is Better Creatine or Protein?

A: ( I probably get asked this question at least once a day through email.) Amino acids are the building blocks of our muscles. If you do not get enough than there is no point to working out. Creatine is an outstanding supplement, but if you have to choose from getting at least 1 gram a day of protein or getting your creatine then opt for the protein. However I do want to stress that creatine is an excellent supplement. In fact for assistance in muscular gains I would rate it second only to whey.

Q: I just got myself some creatine. Now I only started with half the dosage, because creatine fires me up and I don't want too much of a buzz in the weight room! So how should I up the dosage?

( Yes I know what you are thinking ( LOL ). I get these kinds of questions everyday though. I answer them because I was a rookie at one time too. )

A: Ummm, their are two things that come to my mind.

1. Your creatine has been spiked with caffiene or ephedrine

2. Your creatine has gone rotten and is causing you to have hallucinations ( LOL ). Or a " Buzz " before your workout.


Creatine is not and I repeat not a stimulant! It should not make you have these feelings. Read my article next month on the subject and you will see why. Until then, if your container of creatine really gives you a buzz, then. throw it away immediately!

Q: I am breaking out, is it because of the creatine?

A: ( Again ) Creatine does not effect hormone levels in any way. So the answer is no.

Q: I am a woman and I was thinking about taking creatine, but I don't want to become huge and veiny like a man.

A: If that is the case, then I would suggest that you do not eat like the " huge and veiny " men that you do not want to look like. Creatine will assist you in your workout, but only calories will make you grow. Yes, creatine is an excellent supplement for mass, but only if you are eating for mass. However creatine does make you hold water and could make you a bit bloated. If you are sensitive to those effects then don't use it.

Q: Do you feel that creatine is cheating? I want to earn my muscles the hard way and don't want to cheat to get them.

A: ( I can't stand these types of questions!!! ) Yes, you would be cheating. You would be cheating yourself out of great gains by not supplementing with it!

Q: Is there anything I can take to make creatine a more effective supplement?

A: Excellent Question!

a. The first thing I would like to emphasize is that creatine will not work if you are not properly hydrated! It relies heavily on this, so you must drink tons of water, if you want optimal results from it. Super hydrating your body will also improve your weight room pumps tremendously!

b. Have you ever heard of a stack? The definition is two supplements that when combined actually increase each others effectiveness. For example, ephedra is actually more effective at burning fat when combined with caffiene. So too is creatine when combined with glutamine. Both cell volumize, but they do so through different pathways. Together they cell volumize within and outside of our muscle cells. I cannot stress the importance of hydrated muscles. Or should I say, I cannot stress how catabolic a dehydrated muscle is!

C. Creatine also is good stacked with high glycemic carbs, because they both superhydrate you. This is recommended for your post workout meal.

Q: What is the best method, dose wise, of taking creatine?

A: For creatine to produce optimal results, muscle stores must be topped off or saturated with it. To accomplish this you need to load the creatine for 5 days at 20-25 grams, spread out throughout the day into 4-5 servings. This is the quickest and in my opinion the " best " way to saturate your muscles with creatine. Following this phase, all you need is to take 5-10 grams a day to maintain your saturation levels. After this, any creatine you take will be excreted as creatinine.

Q: Do I need to take my creatine with carbohydrates to make it effective?

A: Ok whenever we digest carbohydrates our pancreas releases the hormone called insulin. The simpler the carb, the higher a burst of insulin our pancreas releases to deal with them. The good thing about insulin is that it actually drives nutrients into our muscles to assist them in recovery. If you take creatine with fast burning carbs, it will increase the absorption rate in your muscles. However, insulin is also responsible for fat storage. So my suggestion to you would be to only use a sugar spike like this with breakfast and your post workout meal. This is because these are the least likely times that your body will store fat. If you are prone to storing fat or dieting then save the insulin spike for your post workout meal and just take the creatine after your normal meals. Insulin control, is a massive subject that I will address at a latter date in the magazine. Furthermore, if you use the spike, I would recommend drinking a protein shake also. Your muscles will get a threefold benefit from this.

a. replaced glycogen stores
b. quicker saturation of creatine
c. a first class delivery of precious amino acids

Just be careful because too much sugar can easily be stored as fat!

Q: Do I need to Cycle Creatine?

A: I believe that the answer is yes. My recommendation is to load for 5 days, followed by a 5-10 gram maintenance dosage for 4-6 weeks. Following this, you should take one to two weeks off and then start the cycle over. I personally get results best from this method. However, several athletes will never come off of it. They will load it for 5 days, maintain for a few weeks and then reload again. I prefer cycling off for one week, but there are some valid points to not cycling.

Conclusion

Creatine, like a classic novel has stood the test of time and yet so many people have picked it up without reading it. My intent in this article was to fill this void and if I answered just one of your questions than it was worth writing. If there was something that I did not cover, than feel free to ask about it in our forums. Until then, indulge yourself in perhaps the most revolutionary, natural supplement to ever hit the athletic market!

[cuderbeast]

This was a great read and i learned alot. You should do it with more than creatine though.

[thatjeepkid]

Clickster-

Awesome writeup, helped me understand a lot better how it truly works. After a few semesters of organic and biochem since my last dealing with creatine in high school, I understand a lot better how it affects us, works with ADP/ATP, and what needs to be done to maximize results.

I was wondering if you could touch on any of the differences in the new ethyl-ester versions of creatine over the old monohydrate. All that I remember from my monohydrate experience was intense water-weight gain with not much to show for it. I've read a lot of reviews praising CEE as a godly innovation in creatine with little to no water retention (as in the anti-aesthetic properties, I know extra water is force-fed into muscle fibers....you know what I mean).

I've been using NO as a pump-enhancer cause I've been hesitant to get back on creatine for the weight issues (trying to maintain a steady weight class), but this summer I was considering trying to move up a class from 170 to 185, and was looking into some of those powder-stacks that use CEE, glutamine, and NO.

Any insight/advice/words of wisdom you came across in your studies?

[Trans_Isomer]

Click did you write this?

[Clickster]

Creatine is the shiznit. ;)

[Sabastien0666]

What is the best form of creatine?

[Trans_Isomer]

What is the best form of creatine?

Honestly I think Magnesium Creatine Chelate.

Dicreatine malate, Creatine orotate are all good choices too, I think there was a creatine pyruvate too that would of been interesting to try.

[Clickster]

Creatine Ethyl Ester still remains my creatine of choice.

[stevieg18969]

excellent write up click. great info.

[Voodoo]

it also eliminates back pumps from phs. more a side of creatine, due to water retention from the product it counters dry ph's effects on cell hydration.

but hell, i havent had pumps on 120mg a day of tren, which is some kind of record im sure.

[GunzandBunz]

More of a hypthesis on creatine supplementation for endurance athletes, but wouldnt the water retention yeild a better hydration level for say a runner? Ive only thought about this so maybe its been dispelled already.

[Voodoo]

actually i looked into this and basically the hydration is only effective for a few minutes, then the body gets depleted of salts apparently. so gatorade might be a better option with creatine supplementation in endurance sports?

[GunzandBunz]

If only gatorade didnt have so much damn sugar!:x Glad to hear your point of view voo, makes sense to me.

[liftin9]

My 2 cents:

The phosphate in creatine phosphate is higher energy than the phosphate in ATP, but since muscles directly use ATP for movement, creatine phosphate, due to its high energy, is able to convert ADP to ATP very fast, much much faster than it would take to replenish ATP through metabolism.

[incredibalguitarist182]

whats the difference between creatine monohydrate and creatine Ethyl Ester, Just your body's ability to absorb?

[liftin9]

whats the difference between creatine monohydrate and creatine Ethyl Ester, Just your body's ability to absorb?

The issue is of CEE's potency is debatable. CEE is useless until it becomes creatine in the body. I'm a believer that CEE converts to regular creatine in the stomach, as the stomach acids catalyze that reaction, thus you get no advantage in absorption.

Here's a read from another forum:

1) CEE is a true covalently bonded ester and is absorbed into blood and
tissues as the intact molecule. This is the picture that the
manufacturers would have us believe and is the basis for why they claim
CEE is superior to creatine monohydrate. However, inside cells CEE
will be unreactive with creatine kinase and may be a potential
competitive or non-competitive inhibitor to the enzyme. This would
make it toxic to brain, heart, testes, muscle and all other CK
containing tissues. People by now should be dying, but clearly are not
and this means 2) and 3) are the more likely. Nonethess, CEE should be
treated as a potentially toxic phrarmaceutical and in the US should be
treated as a drug, which requires multi species studies
to estimate LD50's and potential sites of tissue damage etc. However, recently I have been told that CEE did get new dietary ingredient status (scary).

2) CEE is hydrolysed to creatine on absorption from the gut. In this
case CEE offers no advantage over creatine monohydrate which has a
bioavilability of 100%. Indeed if hydrolysis of CEE is less than 100%
then it will be inferior to the monohydate. But in the case of
hydrolysis there are no circumstances in which it could be better than
the monohydrate in increasing tissue creatine levels. Obviously CEE
manufacturers would prefer 1) except that they then shoot themselves in
the foot over the issue of potential toxicity.

3) CEE is not a true covalently bonded ester. The whole of this is a scam
with the compound ionising in solution to free creatine, as does the
monohydrate and all salts of creatine. In this case CEE would again
represent no advantage over creatine monohydrate, except to the seller
who can double the price.

[Eyayo]

Great read bro

[jdee297]

Wow, how do these manufacturers get away with these crazy claims?
I learned alot in the few mins it took me to read this thread

VERY NICE WORK!!!

[drpimpvandal]

Creatine ethly ester is some nasty, scary messed up stuff. I call it creatine ether ester! This stuff tastes nasty, it tastes and smells just like ether cut cocaine. Yes, I'm telling you cee tastes like really bad cocaine cut with ether! So nasty! I'm allergic to cocaine, hurts my nose way bad. When I took cee I got head aches, was crazy thirsty, so thirsty I swear that cee was killing my body. I never get head aches, I get maybe 3 a year. Never had head aches with other supplements, cee is some janky stuff. Read the labels of several cee products, they have some serious warnings! Creatine mono doesn't have health precautions on the label. I have a theory about the taste too, anything tasting that bad can't be good for you! Your mouths, taste is your 1st sign your shouldn't be consuming this junk. Seriously it tastes that bad!

[B-natural]

Well, I have heard of plenty of studies on creatine, and ltd studies on cee. So I'd like to see some studies if anyone has any, remember to copy&paste tho. if dinoiii has some info here that would be good. I have the cee hcl version which I believe is a more potent/pure form in being effective.

But if cee is just a bunch of hooplah, then thats great cuz crea mono versions have become much cheaper :D

[GunzandBunz]

Some serious studies only please. While I may have biased opinions about a lot of things, I try to look at the pros and cons of everything so if possible, post some info regards exactly that, the Pros and cons.

On the topic of bonds though, what do you guys think of the Gluconate bond? Ive heard that it is very closely related to glucose and as such would be a very absorbable transport system.

[zippy0502]

I like creatine gluconate and creatine ethyl ester the best. I have noticed the best results from those two. monohydrate bloated me too much when I used it.
Gluconate is creatine bound to a gluconic acid molecule (this is different than glucose). The gluconate isn't anything magical and it doesn't make absoption any better, it balances the molecule and make it slightly more stable.

[liftin9]

I like creatine gluconate and creatine ethyl ester the best. I have noticed the best results from those two. monohydrate bloated me too much when I used it.
Gluconate is creatine bound to a gluconic acid molecule (this is different than glucose). The gluconate isn't anything magical and it doesn't make absoption any better, it balances the molecule and make it slightly more stable.


See, if you bloat, that means that creatine is in the muscle and it draws water in. By idea, all other creatines have to convert to creatine monohydrate
when they reach the muscle. Thus you should have the same effect if
you have working creatine in you.