05/05/2022
Creatine is a performance enhancer. It is an amino acid but it isn’t used to make protein.
It’s found in foods like beef, pork or fish. It’s also naturally produced by our bodies in our cells.
1.3kg of beef is the equivalent of one scoop of creatine!
Why do we use it?
The main role of creatine in the body is energy production. Specifically high intensity energy production. Beneficial for short, explosive movements like lifting weights, sprinting, powerlifting etc.
It gives you a more constant level of energy by assisting with the ATP cycle. (I’ll do another post on ATP).
Basically, more creatine in your muscles allows you to train harder for longer and helps you to recover better post workout, meaning more muscle growth 💪🏽
A study over 10 weeks shows 1 group who took creatine had 25% more maximal strength, as opposed to another group who didn’t take it. The creatine group also showed 60% more fat-free muscle mass as opposed to the other group!
One other benefit of creatine is brain health and cognition 🧠 it improves memory and intelligence.
How to take creatine?
3-5g per day is all you need. Just mix it in with your EAAs, shake or squash.
If your more muscular or bigger, up to 10g is fine. Don’t worry about taking too much, it will get excreted through your urine 🤓
It can take up to 4 weeks to fully saturate your muscles with creatine (which is the aim). However, if you want to speed up the results, you can do a loading phase for a week where you take up to 20g a day then maintain at 3-5g a day thereafter.
It doesn’t matter when you take it. It doesn’t have to be pre workout/ post etc, just as long as your consistent with it everyday and your muscles are getting saturated with it.
Some people get gastro issues from using it but that’s nothing to worry about. Just make sure you take it with a full stomach.
You may also see your weight go up, again nothing to worry about - it’s just water weight!! Not fat.
Hope this helps 🤓
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