Creatine (Monohydrate)

Written by Coz Davis - Thu 8th Aug 2019

If you weight train or you’re an endurance athlete it can increase your training quality and strength plus it can aid recovery. Creatine can also increase your glycogen storage (the amount of carbs you can store in your muscles which can then be used to fuel exercise) & time to exhaustion (training for longer durations).

Creatine is not a pre-workout!
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Other benefits?

As per our recent whey protein post, get your parents and grandparents to also take creatine! Yep, I’m totally serious! Meta analysis supports a role for creatine supplementation in older adults (Devries & Phillips 2014). It can enhance muscle gain, strength and functional performance which reduces the likelihood of falls, age related muscle loss and bone fractures.

By taking as little as 5g/day it can also improve cognitive function (memory and intelligence). One week of supplementation significantly improved cognitive tasks in the elderly (McMorris et al. 2007) and has the potential benefit to protect against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease.

When combining creatine with resistance training it increased lean muscle and strength more than resistance training alone and has lower incidence of sarcopenia (muscle loss).

Creatine can also help improve your immune function, mental and physical performance especially if you don’t get enough of the ‘s.

When should you take creatine?

After training is usually the best time and with food (ideally with carbs).

But what if I don’t train?

Take it at any time of the day with food (ideally with carbs).

How much should I take?

5g/day (for performance based purposes taking 4 x 5g/day for the first 5-7 days is recommended).

Stick a tub of creatine by your microwave or on top of your fridge so it helps to remind you to take it everyday

P.S. Creatine doesn’t cause muscle cramps, dehydration, kidney damage or cancer, contrary to the many myths out there!

For more info on supplementation and nutrition please contact Coz on corrinne-nutrition@hotmail.com or 07786442721.