Creatine Benefits For Athletes

Updated on  February 25, 2023
William Toro

Published By:  William Toro

Fact Checked by: Bridget MacDonald, RDN


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Creatine is a natural substance in our body that provides energy to the muscles. The supplement enters our body with food of animal origin, but with intensive sports, its amount is not enough, so it is increased with the help of additives. The most common form among athletes is creatine monohydrate. It is both effective and inexpensive, its other forms are more expensive, but the result from their use is the same.

What Foods Contain Creatine

Most of this substance is found in such products as:

1

Fish (from 3 to 10 g per 1000 g).

2

Pork (5 g per 1000 g).

3

Beef(4.5 g per 1000 g).

4

Milk (0.1 g per 1000 g).


During heat treatment, a significant part of creatine will be lost. Hence the conclusion — if you want to get the right amount of substance when doing sports – you can not do without supplements, because our bodies need 2-4 grams per day.

The Role of Creatine for Athletes

This type of sports nutrition is especially popular among bodybuilders and powerlifters, this is not surprising, since it has many positive aspects and is absolutely safe for our body.

What does creatine give? Let's look at the main advantages of the drug:

Accelerated metabolism.

Additional energy.

Increased endurance.

Acceleration of muscle recovery after physical loads.

Helps to build muscle tissue faster.


Now let's go through each item separately.

Accelerated metabolism

The drug increases the metabolism, due to this, depending on the purpose of your training, you will be able to gain dry muscle mass (with strength training) or lose weight (with cardio training). [1]

Additional energy

When taking supplements, you will notice that your strength qualities have increased and you will be able to perform the exercise with a large number of repetitions at the same working weight. [2]

Great endurance

You will be able to perform cardio workouts for longer, which, coupled with an accelerated metabolism, will help you lose excess weight much more quickly and achieve a beautiful relief body. [3]

Acceleration of muscle recovery after physical exertion

All of us felt severe pain in our muscles after exercising, this is due to the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles, creatine neutralizes it, which reduces pain and helps to restore strength faster after a hard workout. [4]

Helps you gain muscle mass faster

The drug allows you to gain muscle mass much more quickly by accelerating the recovery of muscles. [5]


Creatine as a Sports Supplement

Creatine is produced in the following forms:

1

Capsules.

2

Powder.

3

Tablets.


Most athletes choose the powder because its price is much lower and it is often more effective than capsules and tablets, but their huge plus is that they are much more convenient to use since the additive does not need to be dissolved for use.

There are 2 most common methods of reception:

1

Without loading - you should take 5 grams per day. This should be done before classes, and when you are not engaged – in the morning. The course takes 2 months, followed by a break of 4 weeks.

2

With loading — the first 7 days you need to take 5 grams 4 times a day. The next 3 weeks should be consumed 1 time a day, 5 g a day before classes or in the morning on days when you are not engaged. The course takes 4 weeks, followed by a break for 1 month.


A minor disadvantage of this drug is that when an athlete drinks little water, a feeling of nausea may appear, so try to drink about 3 liters a day.

William Toro

William Toro ‧ CPT & Nutritionist


William is a certified personal trainer from NASM, he has also been a rehab physiologist for sports persons. He has more than 15 years of experience training people. And has featured in multiple publications like FoxNews, CNBC, Bustle, and other. 


References:

1. A. Casey, P. L. Greenhaff, Does dietary creatine supplementation play a role in skeletal muscle metabolism and performance, retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10919967/
2. A. M. Persky, G. A. Brazeau, Clinical pharmacology of the dietary supplement creatine monohydrate, retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11356982/
3. M. Engelhardt, G. Neumann, A. Berbalk, I. Reuter, Creatine supplementation in endurance sports, retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9662683/
4. Jooyoung Kim, Joohyung Lee, Seungho Kim, Daeyoung Yoon, Jieun Kim, Dong Jun Sung, Role of creatine supplementation in exercise-induced muscle damage: A mini review, retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625651/
5. Thomas W. Buford, Richard B. Kreider, Jeffrey R. Stout, Mike Greenwood, Bill Campbell, Marie Spano, Tim Ziegenfuss, Hector Lopez, Jamie Landis, Jose Antonio, International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise, retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2048496/


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