Guide to Creatine Supplements, Creatine Effects, and Creatine Use
Everything You Need to Know About Creatine Monohydrate (1)
Creatine monohydrate, creatine supplements, creatine effects, and its use is written about extensively on our site here. We also have dozens of reviews for various creatine supplements. It has been quite sometime since we wrote our original creatine article, we've decided to do a mega guide on creatine supplement discussing a wide range of issues relating to creatine, types of creatine, and a supplement guide comparing the many creatine supplements available. So this is an early caution that this series of articles and guides will indeed be lengthy, but I'm sure we'll do our best to make it a worthwhile read!
Creatine has been around for a long time, and it is probably one of the most well researched and documented supplement available, and there are thousands of clinical studies performed on the effects of creatine monohydrate. In our preparation for this long creatine guide, we sifted through hundreds of creatine studies, and have picked out a select group of these studies to illustrate our points.
I first started weight lifting in the early 1990's, when creatine was really beginning to become popular. Soon after I started working out, I was introduced to creatine, and not knowing a thing about creatine, I went ahead and used it - with almost no knowledge of what it is, what it does, and did not bother doing any research on it; however, the results were quite amazing to me to say the least. After all these years of weight training, I've used many creatine supplements - pure creatine powders, creatine pills, creatine serum, creatine delivery mixes, you name it. Some of these gave exceptional results, while others was pretty much a waste of money.
What is Creatine Monohydrate
I'm sure most would know what creatine monohydrate is, but we'll quickly cover some of the basics about creatine, and what it is. Creatine was first identified in 1832 as a component of skeletal muscle by Michel Eugene Chevreul, but it was not until 1912 when researchers found that ingesting creatine can increase creatine content in the muscles. It is made from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine in the human body. About 95% of the body's total creatine is stored in skeletal muscles. A large part of the stored creatine comes from food sources such as meat.
Nowadays, creatine supplements are widely used by athletes everywhere. It is especially widely used as a muscle building supplement, where it is found to consistently increase energy output and improve performance. There are numerous studies that provide evidence of creatine use to increase maximum power and performance in high intensity exercises. It was not until the early 1990's when creatine gained popularity and became widely used as a sports supplement. Because creatine use is found to provide the most benefits for short duration, maximum power exercises, it is widely used in bodybuilding and weight lifting. This brings us to the question of exactly how does creatine work?
How Does It Work?
Simply speaking, creatine increases the
energy of your muscles. It does this by increasing the amount
of ATP available as the energy source for muscle contractions. In a more detailed description, ATP is
the initial fuel for your muscle contractions. (ATP stands
for adenosine triphosphate.) The ATP provides energy by
releasing a phosphate molecule, and it then becomes ADP
(adenosine diphosphate).
The energy produced by this lasts for
about 10 seconds, after which more ATP must be produced.
This is where creatine phosphate comes in and gives its
phosphate to the ADP making another ATP. This ATP again,
is used as energy. You can think of it as the more creatine
you have, you'll be able to produce
more ATP and thus generate more energy during workouts.
Your ability to generate ATP depends on
your supply of creatine. The more creatine you have, the
more ATP you can make. Having the extra creatine in your
body allows you to work your muscles to the maximum potential
- letting you squeeze every bit out of them.
There are many different forms and types of creatine supplements. The most common is creatine monohydrate. More recently, creatine ethyl ester (CEE) has been gaining wide acceptance; however, there is actually little research to backup the CEE claims as being a superior form of creatine compared to creatine monohydrate. Aside from these, there are also many other types of creatine, such as creatine serum, kre alkalyn creatine, creatine delivery mixes such as Muscletech Cell-tech, and creatine and NO matrices such as VPX NO Shotgun and BSN NO Xplode.
In our creatine guide here, we'll discuss all of these different types of creatine and creatine supplements in greater detail. In the next part, we'll look at some of the practical applications of using creatine for various sports.
>> Click here for Optimum Nutrition Creatine
>> Click here for VPX NO Shotgun
>>
Click here for BSN NO-Xplode Creatine Supplement
>>
Click here to purchase MuscleTech Cell Tech
Part 2: Effects of Creatine Supplements >>
Part 3: Types of Creatine Powders >>
Part 4: Using Creatine and Loading >>
