When people take creatine, most of the time they don’t really care when they take it. Furthermore, many people who take creatine don’t really know what it is.
This article is written to clarify some things about the supplement creatine. We’ll cover what creatine is, the side effects and the best timing for creatine.
Table of Contents
What is creatine?
Creatine is a substance that you also produce in your own body, it is produced in the liver and kidneys. The liver and kidneys produce approximately 1 to 2 grams of creatine a day.
In addition, creatine is found in food like fish and meat. If people read this, a question that often comes to their minds is ‘If my body produces creatine and creatine is found in various foods, why should I take extra creatine as a food supplement?’. The answer to this question is not complicated, but to answer it we first need to look at the effect of creatine.
Creatine is involved in the energy supply in the muscles. So logically, if the amount of energy increases due to the effect of creatine, your muscles will become less rapidly fatigued and you can train for a longer period of time. In practice, this will result in more repetitions or heavier weight and this will lead to more muscle mass.
Now that we understand the effect of creatine, we can come back to the question. The answer is simple, in food there is a relative small amount of creatine. That is why many people who do weight training want to add some extra creatine to their body.
What are the side effects of creatine?
- The most known side effect is the increase in weight due to the increased water retention. This is the reason that it is extremely important to stay hydrated when you take creatine on a consistent basis.
- Some people experience stomach and intestinal complaints. However, this is very rare.
There are many negative articles about creatine, with claims that it causes damage to the kidneys and liver for instance. When you read such things, keep in mind that none of those statements are scientifically substantiated.
Creatine is a supplement that has been researched a lot, and there are no findings that creatine has a bad effect on the human body.
When to take creatine?
When starting with creatine, a so-called ‘loading phase‘ is used. This ‘loading phase’ is a period of time, normally 4 to 7 days, in which you take a high dose of creatine; approximately 20 grams per day. After this period you take 3-5 grams per day. The ‘loading phase’ is not necessary, but can contribute to quicker results.
Many people discuss whether it is better to take creatine just before your workout or right after. But after doing research we can conclude that the timing of creatine does not really matter.
You can take it whenever suits you the best. Important to realize is that it is the best to take your dose spread out over the day.
Lifestyle coach [5+ years of fitness experience]