If you would like:
- Increased Muscle Size
- Better Workout Performance
- Faster Recovery
…then you should be supplementing with creatine.
I know a lot of you still don’t (or won’t) take it. I believe this is a mistake; creatine works AND it has been proven to be safe time and time again.
How Does Creatine Work?
So, here’s the science behind why it works….
(1) Creatine basically supplies the body’s muscles with energy, 95% of which can be found in muscle tissue
(2) The body stores creatine as creatine phosphate
(3) Contracting a muscle ‘uses up’ your creatine reserves as ATP is broken down to ADP. That’s Adenosine TriPhosphate to Adenosine DiPhosphate. Tri to Di – 3 down to 2; 1 phosphate bond is lost, this provides the energy.
(4) Supplementing with creatine increases the muscle’s reserves of creatine allowing you to complete more reps, lift heavier and get BIGGER.
It’s not hard to see why creatine is the world’s most popular bodybuilding supplement.
Creatine is a natural compound and is found in high concentrations in red meat. I would therefore especially recommend it if you are a vegetarian or vegan bodybuilder.
Even if you’re not, the bottom line is this…..
IT WORKS! TAKE ADVANTAGE
(To see which type of creatine really is the BEST, read this article).
Your Buddy!
Mark McManus
P.S. If you’re in the UK and want a HIGH quality creatine, you can get an awesome creapure micronized creatine monohydrate here!)
Mark,
Could not agree more, I take a 40gram Protein (MP True Whey), 5g L-Glutamine and 5g Creapure stack immediately after my workout and at the same time on rest days and swear buy it.
I am 2 weeks in on my second 10 week THT program and maintaining good steady growth with increased strength and shorter recovery.
As an example of progress, 1 week deadlifts 3 x 12 @ 40kg, week 13, 3 x 10 @ 125Kg. Similar performance being achieved in all other areas.
Good Diet (Low Carb + 200g Protein per day), Suppliments (as per above), 4 day THT program with rest, 1 x cardio blast (30 mile MTB Trail riding) = great results!!
Keep up the great work.
Jason
okay, so last time i tried, i got crazy bloated during the loading stage – though i did really put on some solid water weight and increased my lift weights rapidly – but the bloating was disturbing so i went off it…
question: what about skipping loading and just going on a light daily dose, maybe 8 weeks of circa half the suggested amount, then 4 to 6 weeks off, then back on?
is the loading stage really required to benefit? can it be skipped?
I disagree with the reports on creatine being safe. I took a course of creatine monohydrate for 2 months. I trained with the same intensity. I didn’t notice any extra strength or muscle. You drink more water and retain more water. After taking this for 2 months i felt a pressure in my heart. It was the first time i ever experienced this. I stopped taking the creatine immediately as that was the only change in my lifestyle/diet.
My advice for people is to ignore the reports. Medical scientist and food nutritionists claim to know everything – almost everything i have ever been told as a fact in food science has since been disproved – except for the obvious things – carbs for energy, protein for tissue growth. Listen to your body and when it gives you a warning – it’s like a computer – if you’re lucky you will fix it and be back to normal, if not you could face the fatal blue screen.
p.s. creatine can be found in many fish and meats in smaller quantities. Eat your tuna and get the same result 😉
@Jason – Happy to hear about your success man!
@Dave – While loading isn’t technically necessary, it does appear to allow the muscle to reach the saturation point sooner. You can still reach this point by not loading but it will take a number of weeks to accomplish.
@Brendan. Thanks for sharing your concerns.
I used to get a lot of cramping when I would use creatine. Did you ever experience that? And do you load when you begin a cycle?
I’ve long since stopped but wondering if my experiences were unique.
@Tyler. I never had that problem but I have heard about others who have. Yes I load at the beginning of every cycle.
Good reminders Mark.
Do you recommend cycling or just staying on creatine year-round? And how much are you taking (after loading phase)?
@Darrin. Good question. While the conclusive science on loading still isn’t in, I do recommend creatine cycling to be on the safe side i.e. we want to AVOID creatine receptor down-regulation.
I cycle 9 on, 2 off as this complements 10-week THT cycle as I also take a week off training completely after the 10th week.
I take 5 grams per day post-workout after loading.
Cheers,
Mark
some experts recomend it preworkout during maintainance. what do u recomend? pre or post ?? or 2.5 gm pre & 2.5 gm post workout, so total of 5 gm.
@Channy. Once the muscles reach the creatine saturation point, the point of taking 5g a day is simply to keep it there. Now, the best time to do this post-workout, with your protein shake.
Hey Mark,
I checked out the hardgainer projectx website once he revealed the pictures, so I read up on his lessons that he had on his website. I saw that he said to eat carbs directly after waking up because the glycogen levels are low and there is free testosterone in your body. Eating the carbs first thing in the morning causes a controlled insulin spike, because the body just woke up and the metabolism is slow, and the free testosterone and carbs are taken up by the muscles. This makes a lot of sense to me, so I thought I would try to incorporate this into the low carb diet I’m on right now. I’m on a diet like the MANS and the TSPA diet. I was thinking of trying to eat low carb fruits and no fat as soon as I wake up in the morning. That would pretty much be all my carbs for the day. Since the metabolism increases throughout the day, I would end up eating almost fat and protein and finish off my last meal with no carbs so there is no chance for an insulin spike. Another reason for eating all carbs first thing is because it’s easier for the body to breakdown carbs than fats and the metabolism is slow in the morning. Eating fat first thing would probably cause fat storage, depending on the amount eaten, because the metabolism is slow and it takes more to breakdown fats than carbs. This is just a brief overview of what I’m thinking, I could go into much more detail as to why I feel this would work and how it would help muscle building and possibly fat loss. Let me know what you think of this idea.
Thanks,
Tyler
Not quite right. Creatine that is not used in an hour or so is NOT stored it is broken down and released. Creatine cannot be stored for extended periods of time in its useful form.
By the way, extremely lean is NOT extremely healthy, in fact strength falls off rapidly with the higher levels of leaness.
And why are these guys taking on protein after a workout? it will NOT be assimilated. The only thing that should have after a workout is medium and short chain diglycerides. I even see guys drinking protein drinks DURING workouts, when it actually blocks muscle fuel transfer. Amazing.
Hi Ron – this is the first I’ve heard about protein drinks during workouts blocking muscle fuel transfer. Can you post links to the science on that? Thanks!
Hi guys,
my earlier point regarding conflicting views in food science may be validated by Ron as he opposes the articles in every fitness mens health magazine to take a protein shake 35 mins after workout and even before. Ron doesn’t qualify this and he may be right but it just goes to show how uncertain the scientific community is on body building. All I can do is mimic the greats. A point about lean muscle. I am slim and toned with very hard dense muscle. Some guys in the gym look like the hulk in comparison to me yet I can match their strenght and when it comes to leg extensions, I can beat them all. Is soft muscle weaker than harder muscle?
i mark i just wanted to ask ive been taking creatine for 2 months now my size has def increases but my arms now look puffy like when i flex my bicep its pretty ripped but otherwise my arm looks pretty biig but not cut and i know its not fat cause i had 12 inch arms when i started working out and now i have 16 so should i stop with the creatine cause i think its probebly the water weight , thanks
@usman. It probably is fat. You need to be pretty lean to have a ripped look to your arms. On your concerns with creatine ‘bloating’ read this article I wrote on the topic…
https://musclehack.com/will-taking-creatine-leave-you-bloated/
@mark thx mate so now with my whey and creatine i am adding lipo 6 and intreval traing now do u think this will help getting the bf down while maintaing mass if i keep protiens higher thx again for ur help ur an inspiration.