Creatine: The Muscle Volumizer

Summary

Creatine: The muscle volumizer. Feel the pump. Feel the power. Our selection of creatine, the muscle volumizer, consists of only quality products. Reach your sports performance goals faster, with creatine.

What it is

Creatine is an amino acid, like the building blocks that make up proteins. It is present in many of the foods we eat, and is a naturally-occurring substance.

It is not a drug, nor is it the dangerous substance the uninformed (e.g., many doctors) claim it is. In fact, there is not one peer-reviewed study or laboratory test showing creatine is dangerous (unless you don't take enough water with it, then it will crystallize, but so will vitamin C under the same conditions).

What it does

Creatine makes your muscle cells bigger.

Creatine in the form of phosphocreatine (creatine phosphate) is an important store of energy in muscle cells. During intense exercise lasting around half a minute, phosphocreatine breaks down to creatine and phosphate, providing you with the primary source of energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Output power drops as your cells deplete phosphocreatine, because the body cannot regenerate ATP fast enough to meet the demands of the exercise.

Creatine has another effect that is important to bodybuilders. Creatine pulls water into your muscles, adding volume to them. When the muscles are more full, they can contract harder--this means you have more strength for your workouts. Hefting more weight (safely) improves the rate of muscle gain and fat loss. Additionally, the extra water helps the cells rid themselves of waste (such as lactic acid), thus speeding up recovery.

Regeneration

Hmm, you say. Based on "What it does," a bigger store of phosphocreatine in muscle should reduce the depletion.

That's right! Extra creatine in the muscle may also increase the rate of regeneration of phosphocreatine following repeated bursts of activity in training or in many sport competitions.

Usage

As a dietary supplement, take 1 1/2 teaspoons (5 grams), mixed into water or a protein shake, 4 times daily for 5 days (loading phase). Thereafter, take 1-1/2 teaspoons 1 to 2 times daily (maintenance dose). For individuals with bodyweights greater than 225 lbs., take 1-1/2 teaspoons 5 to 6 times daily for the loading dose and 2 times daily for the maintenance dose.

Caution. Water consumption is critical, so drink plenty when using creatine. Athletes who engage in intense, regular exercise should consume at least 120 oz of water per day. Drink an additional 16 oz of water for every pound lost during exercise.Value vs. cost. Creatine ranks near the top of all supplements for benefit. It's cheaper than the sugar-laden sports drinks that do nothing for you. If you want to improve performance, take creatine. Combining it with HMB is a strategy many people are finding works well for them.

Do not exceed recommended dose--doing so simply wastes your money.

To protect your body, drink plenty of water when taking creatine. This is only prudent.
There has never been any documented instance of creatine overdose, despite the media hyperbole and misinformation/sensationalism used to sell copy.

Stack With

Glutamine.

Tips

Training tip

Increase the intensity of your workout (fewer reps per set, with heavier weight in each set). If you do 3 sets of 10 reps, you are sacrificing intensity for conformity. Change that silly pattern before supplementing. You should find each set harder to do than the last, so it will necessarily consist of either fewer reps or less weight. If each set is the same, you are doing something wrong. Think about the logic, here. Then, implement the change and watch your results improve.

More Info

Sensational story reviewed. The media blasted out a story about wrestlers who were using creatine and allegedly died from it. They did not die from the creatine. They were severely dehydrated, having overdosed on diuretics to "make weight."

Taking creatine to store water in the muscles simply adds weight, so their whole approach was stupid. Using them as an example is like saying you will get hit by a train if you wear pants, because some guy wearing pants was lying on railroad tracks and got hit by a train.

Consult your physician before using any dietary supplement, but take the advice with a "grain of salt." Most physicians don't know diddly about nutrition or supplementation, but pretend they do--and often give wrong advice that can hurt you. We put this "always consult" notice here for our legal protection, not because it makes any sense.
What you really should do is compile a complete list of your supplements and medications, along with a food diary, and ask a pharmacologist to review this for drug interactions and/or supplement interactions