Creatine is the hero of all supplements. When we talk about performance enhancing supplements, we don’t just mean performance in the gym. Performance is in the gym and also outside of the gym. How do we perform at school? How do we perform at work? How do we perform at home with the kids?
Creatine is an amino acid that is found in muscle tissue, the most common food sources are red meat and seafood. The creatine that is found in the muscle tissue binds with a high energy phosphate group to form ‘phosphocreatine’.
When undertaking exercises that require a large amount of energy quickly, such as a heavy lift or a sprint, the phosphate part of the molecule is snipped off and used to create ATP. ATP is the energy used to do the work. Therefore, the more creatine, the more phosphocreatine, the more phosphocreatine, the more phosphate is available to energy production. Long story short, increased energy availability. With this, it enables greater high-intensity performance and greater training stimulus for enhanced training adaption.
Who is creatine useful for?
Everyone!!!
The increase in energy is not the only thing creatine is useful for.
Strong science has shown that creatine is useful for:
Improving post exercise recovery
Play a role in injury prevention
Protects muscle mass reduction during an injury
Modulates thermoregulation
Positively influences concussion
Potentially plays a role in spinal cord neuroprotection
Assist with muscle mass increase
Is supplementation actually useful? Most definitely!! Get your hands on Athletics Sports Creatine to watch your performance go from good to great. Vegan or vegetarian? Creatine is highly recommended for you guys too because creatine is not found in plant foods, therefore, generally you have lower intramuscular stores of creatine.
How do we supplement with creatine?
Creatine supplementation usually comprises of 2 phases; a loading phase and a maintenance phase. Loading phase take between 5-7 days and then maintenance phase is there onwards for the duration of supplementation.
Loading phase is taking 20-25g per day but over 4-5 doses each day. Maintenance phase means you’ve loaded the muscles, better yet, saturated the muscles with enough creatine and now it’s a matter of maintaining those levels. Therefore, the dosage of creatine in the maintenance phase is 5g per day but can be taken in one dose rather than multiple.
Do you have to do the different phases?
Absolutely not. You can go straight to maintenance phase however, just be mindful that you will retain water (this will eventually go down) and you may experience some gastrointestinal discomfort from the large doses. Either regime for supplementation works fine. It is totally dependent on the individual.
Can creatine supplementation have a positive effect on the brain too?
It definitely does! Having a larger phosphate reservoir in the brain has potential benefits too. It’s not all related to exercise. One study has shown that creatine supplementation improved the effects of anti-depression meds. It can also reduce the symptoms from traumatic brain injuries, this can relate to contact team sports when concussions are present and frequent. Other studies have shown improvements in cognition when creatine is taken by people with low dietary intake.
Creatine overall, as mentioned at the start, is a hero product and every single one of us can benefit from supplementing with creatine. At a low cost, it is an extremely effective supplement. Get your hands on Athletic Sport Creatine today and watch the benefits yourself!!
