Creatine

Creatine is a supplementation that I took in college during our off-season. Today, I still take it for my strength gains in the gym and to help with my marathon training. There are a lot of misconceptions about the supplement and below I’ve answered some common questions regarding creatine. The answers are all based off of research from scholarly articles.

1. Does creatine lead to water retention?

The most common adverse effect of creatine is water retention in the first couple days of usage. However, this is only true of the first 3 days of taking the supplement and is not a longterm effect.

2. Is creatine an anabolic steroid?

Creatine is not an anabolic steroid. But it can increase the capacity of energy during anaerobic exercises like heavy weight lifting allowing for increase muscle power, repetitions, and overall volume which contributes to better muscle performance and hypertrophy.

3. Does creatine cause kidney damage/renal dysfunction? 

This is a common question. The answer is no, creatine does not cause kidney damage/ renal dysfunction. But that is only true if you take the recommended amounts. If the daily dosage intake is higher than the recommended values, than there is potential for possible kidney damage but that has not been scientifically proven yet.

4. Does creatine lead to dehydration and muscle cramping? 

Creatine supplementation does not lead to dehydration and muscle cramping. In fact, some studies have shown a decrease in muscle cramps with the use of creatine with the proper amount of hydration.

5. Is a creatine ‘loading-phase’ required?

A misconception is that a loading-phase is necessary to see the benefits of creatine. However, lower daily dosage of creatine have shown to increase intramuscular creatine stores, leading to greater improvements in muscle mass, performance and recovery compared to a placebo.

6. Is creatine only useful for resistance / power type activities?

Creatine is not only useful for resistance/ power type athletes. This supplement can be useful for athlete who deplete large amounts of glycogen storage during training or performance (long distance runners). There is also evidence that creatine supplementation can enhance recovery from intense workouts allowing for a better recovery from long runs.

This is a great article for more information on creatine. Check out the research article here!