Creatine FAQ

All Your Questions About Creatine Answered

Creatine has been around for a long time now, and it is one of the mostly widely used supplements for enhancing strength and workout performance. Even so, there's always a lot of questions asked about creatine. Hopefully the frquenctly asked questions posted below with answers will offer some help for those who are seeking answers.

Q: What is creatine?

A: Creatine is made from a combination of the three amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Read more about creatine monohydrate in this article

Q: What does it do?

A: The main function of creatine is providing energy to your muscles for movements, especially quick and explosive movements. Your body gets its creatine from food and/or supplements. You can imagine then, that taking extra creatine monohydrate will help you out during workouts.

Q: Should I take it and why?

A: It's your decision whether to take creatine or not. Many (I'd say most) bodybuilders use creatine some at point in their lives, and it does work. However, before you start, find out all the facts first.

Q: Should I cycle creatine?

A: There is support for and against cycling creatine, and you're going to hear different stories as well. From personal experience, I'd say that most athletes do cycle creatine. The beneficial effects taper off after a period of time, and cycling does seem to help fight that off. Read more on Creatine use and creatine cycling here.

Q: What's the difference between creatine serum and powder, and which is better?

A: This is a hot debate ever since creatine serum was introduced to the market. The only major difference between the two is that creatine serum is a liquid. Which one works better? Some people swear by the liquid products, while others prefer powders. To find out facts about each, and help make your decision, read this article: Creatine serum vs. creatine powder.

Q: Are there adverse side effects of using creatine?

A: No studies have shown creatine to have any serious adverse side effects. However, some studies have shown atheletes to experience gas, bloating, and diarreah problems with over using creatine. This problem went away after lowering the amount of intake. No long term side effects of creatine have been shown either. Positive effects include more energy, strength, and weight gain.

Q: I heard about that creatine is unstable in solution, is this true?

A: Yes, it's true that creatine is unstable in solution. It eventually degrades to become creatinine, a useless substance to your muscles. So it's recommended that you shouldn't leave your creatine dissolved in water or juice for too long (no longer than 6 to 8 hours).

Q: What is the best brand to use?

This is hard to say with so many types and brands. However, here are some popular products that people have had good results with: Prolab Creatine, AST's Micronized Creatine, MuscleTech Cell-Tech.

Q: How much does it cost?

Again, this really depends on what you plan on buying. Obviously, price is also a good indication for quality (but not always). You can expect to pay around $20 to $30 bucks for an average sized creatine - about 500g to 1000g container. If you're price sensitive, shopping online is a good idea - you'll usually find lower prices than retail stores.

Q. Is micronized creatine just hype or is it really better?

A. Micronized creatine is very interesting. Basically, it’s produced through a process that finely grinds or “micronizes” the creatine particles themselves into particles that are 10, 15, even 20 times smaller than regular creatine particles. There’s no doubt that micronized creatine dissolves better in liquid—this just makes sense.

It’s also theorized that the smaller particle size leads to easier and faster digestion and uptake into the blood. Individuals who report stomach upset with regular creatine intake almost always find the problem alleviated by switching to the micronized version. Many of the top creatine monohydrate products on the market—including AST’s Creatine HSC—have already switched to using micronized particles. This trend is likely to continue and accelerate in the near future.

>> Click here for Micronized Creatine
>> Click here for Optimum Nutrition Creatine
>> Click here for Prolab Creatine