Okay, okay, perhaps we should all be knocking back a vitamin D as well but that’s a conversation for another day.
Today we are talking about creatine and I want to take this blog to chat about why it might be the best supplement you have ever invested in – and that investment is actually fairly small relatively as supplements go! So here goes…
So, you want to be healthy and strong, right? That’s why you’re here – because you’re interested in your health and fitness.
The research around creatine is becoming increasingly more extensive and reliable showing super positive effects in women’s health – if you want to potentially enhance your strength, your muscle mass, and simply live healthily within your body as you age or if you want to perform better at your chosen methods of physical activity but also from day to day, then read on!
Historically, creatine was seen as something that ‘gym bros’ were taking to make them big and bulky; it was also spoken about causing us to retain water and who wants to feel ‘fluffy’ because they’re holding onto water and the additional weight that comes with that? We know here by now that I’m not about how we look but about how we FEEL and that isn’t going to make us feel great, I know. Well, I’m here to tell you that times and information have changed.
First up, what actually is creatine?
NOT a steroid as used to be a popular belief! Creatine is actually naturally produced by our livers and also found in some products within our diets too, especially protein sources like red meat and fish – it is, however, only a small amount of our dietary intake and of course, vegetarians, because of the dietary sources of creatine experience, consume much less generally.
From a physical activity performance perspective, creatine works to make the muscles work harder for longer in super simple terms. It aids in the refuelling of muscle cells that allow us to keep working hard – when your muscles work, they break down what we call ATP which is, of course, limited, so when we are in short supply, it is one of the mechanisms that causes us to begin to fatigue.
So, if we are using creatine to help us work harder for longer, we are, of course, giving ourselves the opportunity to exercise with more intensity and therefore make the performance and body composition changes that we would like to see, come quicker.
Now, it goes without saying at this point, most of the research around creatine has been conducted with male subjects – what’s new?! But this is changing and there is some evidence to show that lovely ladies, we could benefit from long-term creatine supplementation too, strength benefits which we know, as we age is MASSIVE in a bid to remain functional but also things like cognitive function too!
K Vandenberghe et al. found that long-term creatine supplementation was beneficial to muscle performance in women performing strength training when compared with a group that did the exact same training but didn’t take the supplement – a massive 20-25% performance increase in fact! And it wasn’t the only study to show performance benefits and ‘favourable body composition changes’ (whatever they look like – there are no rules here about what you ‘should’ look like) either. You know I’m all about it if it’s growing us ladies strong! Strong in the gym and strong in life.
The first time I took creatine I put myself down as a ‘creatine non-responder’ – a phenomenon whereby there are some individuals that simply do not get any benefits from creatine supplementation. It isn’t really known for sure why this might be but has been linked to some people having a different composition of muscle fibres and the area ratio of those muscle fibres.
The likely issue for me at that time was that I didn’t have my ‘bigger ducks in a row’; something we speak a lot about in terms of supplements. It’s important that we are getting the basics right before thinking about supplementing our nutrition for those little nuances of benefit. I can happily say that having had a break and begun retaking creatine, I am seeing the performance benefits reported – placebo or not, I’ll take it!!
So, if you decide to take creatine then around 5g per day is said to be the ‘sweet spot’ – you can do a loading phase if you like but I suggest we are taking creatine long term to see the best effects, and if you do, your muscles will become saturated over time anyway so it isn’t essential.
You won’t see the benefits if you aren’t consistent daily – another important thing to bear in mind. Try daily for a minimum of two months to see how you feel.
Last little tip for you if you choose to try supplementation, for maximum effectiveness but not essential, take your creatine alongside a simple carbohydrate source. The mechanism by which this works is increasing blood glucose levels which results in the nutrients in your blood to be taken to your muscles for use or storage – ultimately greater muscle/strength growth!
Now before we finish, I want to address the elephant in the room that we alluded to earlier – poor old creatine has been said to cause water retention and, in turn, weight gain. The evidence shows that this is actually more prevalent among men than it is women but it IS possible, especially if we are experiencing the favourable impacts of creatine, building muscle, our weight will naturally increase, but that’s a good thing, right? It isn’t body fat.
The water retention that may come with starting to supplement with creatine will usually subside over time – stick with it, remember consistency long term is needed for the benefits to come.
This feels like a good time to remind you all that no one, apart from you knows what you weigh, you don’t have a badge on with your weight, and even if you did, it says nothing about you, how wonderful you are as a person or how strong and functional and fabulous you are!
What if you started to feel great in your clothes and about the way you look but your weight crept up a little? Would that matter?
Lastly for you, what should we look for when making that purchase? When we supplement with creatine it is usually a completely tasteless white powder and we should look for something that is mostly formed of ‘creatine monohydrate’ – anything else is probably filled with things we don’t necessarily need or want and doesn’t hold the same gravitas in the research we have available to us.
So, as you know by now if you’ve been around here for a while, I’m not here to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do and you know I’m not a HUGE proponent of supplements generally BUT the researched benefits are growing and I will be over here sipping on my creatine in my water each morning. Please, as always, be aware of changing anything within your nutrition if you take medications or have health issues; always seek the guidance of a medical professional first.
Let me know how you get on if you try.
Peace and love as always, A x
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