Do you experience early fatigue during lifting or an inability to push past that 6th rep when 10 is your goal? This is either because you are out of energy or your muscles are not strong enough to drive through those last few reps. In both cases, creatine is actually the one-stop solution. We will discuss the benefits of creatine in this article.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is made from tiny blocks of protein called “amino acids”. They are made by the body and can be obtained from food like meat and fish. It is true that a good, clean and healthy diet helps you achieve your fitness goal. Creatine helps you with improved performance and endurance.
Benefits Of Creatine
There are numerous benefits of using creatine in one's daily routine diet:
- It generates a lot of energy
- It increases the muscle building activity in the body and helps achieve a higher muscle mass when combined with a good workout regime
- It aids in fat loss and overall weight loss
- It helps during the recovery period post-workout and reduces the chances of an injury
- There are other benefits to the body’s nervous system and immunity
Is Creatine Safe?
It is completely safe to use creatine supplements. Just the way you take multivitamins on a daily basis for good hair, nails, and skin, creatine is just a conditioner for your muscles. The best form of creatine supplement to use daily would be creatine monohydrate. It is easily transported in blood, to the muscles and works well.
How To Use Creatine?
The way you take it is fairly simple. You need to use measured out quantities, the measuring spoons are easily available. When beginning to use it for the first time it is good to start with 20gs daily, for example, you take 5gs of supplement 4 times a day. This is how the body gets a good starter dose to pump the muscles with creatine. This is done for 4‐5 days and then after that, you just take 10 grams daily.
The best time to use creatine would be 30 minutes prior to or post-workout. Take it with energy-rich carbohydrates like fruits or a protein shake. It is best to increase water intake along with creatine consumption since it helps creatine build muscles more efficiently.
Does Creatine Help With Weight Loss?
Do you guys know the rule of fat loss? Caloric deficit: calories burnt > calories consumed. As surprising as it may sound, creatine helps with fat loss. It is literally a supplement for everyone. How does it do that? As it helps build muscle, it increases the amount of energy that a person uses.
For example, if a person was burning 12 calories with 1 rep of a particular move, with a higher muscle mass they probably burn 14/15 with 1 rep of the same move. This helps in producing the “caloric deficit” which is required to lose fat or weight.
Alternatively, it may also help in gaining weight if not combined with a calorie limited diet. It does so by utilising the nutrients from the diet and channelling them into building muscles.
Will Creatine Boost Your Energy Level?
Creatine boosts the energy stores by providing the muscles with energy-rich molecules to utilise while providing that extra push the muscles need to work at an optimal level. Over time the users start noticing the way they look and realise their boosted energy levels. They will begin to notice how they are still on their feet at the end of 20/30 reps of a particular exercise when they used to fall flat on the ground at 10 reps before.
Is Creatine Supplement Suitable For Everyone?
Previously, soccer players and athletes were the ones who used to benefit from creatine supplements. With creatine's proven fitness oriented benefits, around about 60% of college-level athletes have been consuming it in the west. Currently, older individuals and people who engage in recreational fitness activities have also begun using it. Not just men, women are also more open to using creatine supplements.
But slow down if you are thinking creatine works like a magic energy pill. You really have to work out to reap the benefits of creatine. You also have to be patient because it takes the body some time to build muscles.
