You've probably already heard of creatine. You may have already heard of its
benefits, maybe even heard of some side effects. But what is correct and what
isn't?
There has already been thousands
of studies done on the use of creatine; the majority of which showing a greater
amount of positives than negatives. Here I will discuss the use of creatine,
it's benefits, any side effects and how it should be used.
What is creatine?
Creatine is produced naturally in
the body, mainly in the liver and kidney from amino acids and helps to supplies
energy to muscles.
Why is creatine supplementation
useful?
At any given moment, the body has
enough ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) storage for your muscles to contract
maximally only for a few seconds. By supplementing with creatine, you can
increase your maximal muscular contraction time, force and speed.
How?
In order to contract muscles you
need energy. In order to create energy, you will need chemical reactions to
take place in the muscle. Energy is created when an ATP bond is broken and
becomes ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate), however, you cannot use ADP for energy;
Creatine will boost your energy supply but resynthesising ATP stores quicker,
therefore allowing you to produce more energy.
So an increase in ATP stores will
give you more energy, thus allowing for a maximal muscular contraction for
longer and with greater force.
What are the negative side
effects of creatine use?
There have been many articles
claiming negative side effects when supplementing with creatine. But the truth
is, negative side effects such as diarrhoea and stomach cramps are rare, very
rare. The main 'negatives' include water retention into the muscles, resulting
in weight gain (isn't that partly the point -increased size and strength?),
muscle cramps and the body requiring increased hydration because the muscles
are retaining water. Hardly negative don't you think? And if you follow correct
dosage instructions, then you really will not have a problem with creatine
supplementation.
What are the benefits?
Well as explained earlier,
creatine supplementation will help to increase energy stores, but how does this
help.
Think of it this way; if you are
lifting weights, or sprinting during training, then this extra energy boost
will allow your muscle to add extra reps, take shorter rest, help you sprint
for a few seconds longer and improve recovery times.
If you can add all of this extra
training into your workouts, then results are only going to be enhanced, and
your performance on the field will inevitably improve.
Recommendation
Here at Synergy Fitness Systems, we recommend
that you take 3-5 grams each day. Use the powder form and mix it with water. It
does not really matter what time of day you take creatine, because it can take
about 6 weeks to build up in your system, resynthesising ATP stores and
boosting energy.
Creatine is a great supplement,
one of the only supplements which actually works, with thousands of research
papers to back up the results it offers. So if your an athlete, amateur or
professional, a fitness fanatic or even a recreational gym user, then we
definitely recommend creatine use if you want to push your performance to the
next level.
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About the author
Matthew Healey is a
qualified personal trainer and sports therapist. Matt is the owner of Synergy Fitness Systems in
the UK which has been helping people change their body and improve human and
sports performance for several years.
Matt has worked with many
different types of clients from professional athletes, to recreational sports
people to the general fitness population.
Matt has extensive
experience in the fitness industry and has worked in many different settings
including a top human performance
centre in San Diego owned by Todd Durkin as well as working
with sports teams and individual athletes and clients.
Matt’s area of interest is
human and sports performance, and injury prevention and rehabilitation.
At Synergy Fitness
Systems, Matt focusses on improving the function, efficiency and
performance of each of his clients and athletes.
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