Hack Your Hormones
Creatine 101: Help! I’m Creatine Curious
If you’ve ever wondered, what does creatine do, let WillPowders work our magic and move you from creatine curious to creatine confident with our beginners guide to why you need this supplement in your life.
Despite the fact that Creatine might sound like a Marvel superhero character, you’ve been eyeing the stuff up for years, furtively fingering the packaging in the local health shop then immediately walking away feeling a little embarrassed. And ok, so you’ve succumbed a couple of times to deadlifting the industrial size barrel tub from the shelf and staggering to the counter with it, wondering all the while if you are about to be hoodwinked into taking an anabolic steroid by any other name. It’s only because of the pumped up prices that you’ve managed to keep yourself just about this side of the line, for now, well, that, and the fact that you don’t own a muscle vest. Besides, you know for sure that the stuff will make you fart like a matronly ruminant in a Summer meadow.
And yet, and yet …
… there's still something enticing about the idea of a supplement that will, seemingly mystically, as far as you're concerned, give you moulded muscles and supply them with the energy of a hyperactive five year old in a spin class. Well, your curiosity is understandable, and as far as WillPowders goes, utterly forgivable - creatine supplementation is currently one of the most popular supplements in the world. Since 1994, it has gathered in its wake considerable robust evidence that it has the ability to produce the desired result in increasing strength, body muscle mass and performance in high intensity, short duration exercise tasks while making your muscles fatigue resistant. But are those the only benefits of creatine because, quite frankly, you’d much rather lift the TV remote and point it at the screen! But first, let’s bust one myth before we go further - creatine powder will not make you fart! The whey and pea protein powders it’s been all too often found in, will! Thank the WillPowders that we don’t adulterate our creatine in that way!
WTF is Creatine, anyway?
Well, it’s natural and your body produces it, for a start, so you can calm your nervous system right down. Plus, it’s never set foot near an anabolic steroid! The two chemical structures are simply not the same. Creatine helps skeletal muscles flex (that’s contract for the uninitiated) and supports those muscles, with the help of your naturally produced enzyme, creatine kinase, by generating a more constant supply of energy so that they can keep on working when you’re exercising. You know when the gym instructor is shouting, two more, and, in that moment, you would rather have your eyeballs taken out with a teaspoon than produce another brace of bicep curls? Yeah, it helps with that.
If you eat red meat, shellfish and drink animal milk, then you’ve got some creatine in your diet already. But, your body also makes it in your liver, pancreas and kidneys. Those three bad boys will be able to supply your skeletal muscles and the rest will go to support your heart, brain and other tissues. So, now you can be the expert in the pub when someone asks, what is creatine?
WTF would I want to supplement with it, if I’m already producing it?
People who work out a lot, do lots of exercise or have particularly active lifestyles often choose to supplement with creatine. If you’re looking to get stronger (which most people should be as it seems to go hand in hand with more years in health as you age), creatine creates quick burst energy and increased strength and so helps you improve your performance. However, creatine is not a one trick pony! It may have been hijacked by the gym going fraternity for its benefits to exercise, but it also packs a punch when it comes to a whole tool box full of benefits. It seems that it can provide protection for the brain, gird up your efforts to guard against sarcopenia (that’s the muscle wastage you see in older generations), could steer people away from depression, keep you in more years in health as you age, improve cognitive function and help you exercise in conditions that are a little more heat challenged (so, sorry, no more, it’s too hot to move, excuses - be careful what you wish for, huh?), amongst other things.
WTF will it do for my physical performance and physique?
Creatine has, seemingly, been the province of our gym bothering menfolk for a long time. However, it’s more unisex than you might think. And, while we don’t often separate the goats from the sheep around here, sometimes, biology does dictate that we must. Because of the way that male and female bodies work differently, strength and muscle mass are not as strongly reported in females and those assigned female at birth with creatine supplementation. But, they are reported, ladies, so don’t be downhearted! The fact that, in general, women have a higher percentage of body fat than men means that those muscles might be a little less close to the surface and so less noticeable can be a little disappointing when you’ve been putting in the work, we get it. Menfolk, you tend to be ahead in the muscle mass arena because your system’s coursing with more testosterone. You go, Tiger! In essence, WillPowders Protein Powder with Creatine can’t override your sex hormone’s individual predilections for muscles and performance, or not, as the case may be.
But, …
… for all genders, if you are purposefully aiming to become muscularly stronger anyway, and the truth is (we’ll say it again) you ought to be for an improved number of years in health and physical strength, creatine can be your ally when it comes to building muscle mass. That’s because, in supplementing with it, you will get effects that you wouldn’t have achieved if you didn’t supplement. So, if you love to multi-layer tasks for time efficiency, creatine means that exercise time could become more efficient since you can do that bit more in just about the same time, bar the odd few seconds to do another couple of bench presses or scrambles over the boulders in the river, or a shimmy up the pole when your toddler gets stuck in one of the chambers at soft play, whichever is your bag. Talking of layering for efficiency, if you are already with protein powders, of which we do a lovely line here, and you want to know, can you mix creatine with protein powder, then, yes, you can. However, we did it for you in this product. We’re nothing if not ever helpful! If you’ve had your eye on a stronger, tennis player-type physique and you’re willing to put in the weight and movement work, then powder yourself with creatine to amplify results. Creatine and protein could help recovery from activity - bonus!
WTF is Creatine Loading? Should I bother?
Now’s a good time to discuss the unnecessary practice of ‘creatine loading’. In short, you’ll be able to hold your own in any gym conversation in the land if you get this one down. And it sounds a suitably aggressive thing to do, as well, if you’re about to embark on some sort of Scott of the Antarctic expedition (but even then, you’d need to think twice as creatine’s not really a human endurance supplement, though there is some evidence that, taken with adequate calories and protein post exercise, it can help recovery). The truth is, the science that heralded in the idea of ‘creatine loading’ was cracked out in the early 1900s and it ends up having exactly the same result that can be achieved over, say a four week period, by taking a ‘daily maintenance’ amount. Creatine loading is just a quicker way to get there. If you’re one of those people who are all in on a new obsession, then, sure, creatine load, but, by week four, the tortoise has caught up with the hare anyway so maybe the hare and the tortoise can both cross the finish line together in one of those heart-warming viral sports videos …
But, if you’re suddenly lifting some extra weights because your spouse booked a short-notice, spontaneous romantic getaway, and you’ve never taken creatine before, then sure, fill your boots and creatine up. However, if you know that getting stronger will now be a way of life for the foreseeable future, then, ‘3-5 g/day of creatine for a minimum of 4 weeks in order to experience similar skeletal muscle saturation levels [to those who creatine loaded for 6 days at a 20 g/day for 6 days to arrive at a maintenance level]’ is all good too. You do you!
Ultimately, what you aim for with creatine, is to have your muscles have a good supply ready to go when you work it, baby, work it. And don’t fall into the idea that you need to take it at a specific time before you head off to strenuously move about or go to the gym. When to drink creatine, then, I hear you ask - well, make it part of your day but you get to choose the time.
WTF has creatine got to do with the brain?
So, you’re old enough to know yourself by now and have enough years under your belt to have maybe realised that you aren’t now likely to turn into a committed gym bunny. But, in all the noise about creatine and muscle mass, the voices that discuss creatine as vital to cognitive function have, unfortunately, been drowned out. WillPowders is here to hand those qualities a megaphone! Performance doesn’t just mean physical performance; we have to perform everyday with brains that can flex quickly, even when we are feeling overwhelmed. Such brain stressors as insomnia or sleep deprivation (looking at you, baby and toddler mammas), depression, and even exercise itself, could mean that you might benefit from a creatine supplement [*]. There is also some evidence that, even in the absence of these stressors, when there is short burst mental fatigue, creatine could reduce the force of it. There’s still some jiggery-pokery to be done in determining the best doses of creatine to support cognitive function by the science boffins, these things take time, but, in the meantime, you most certainly won’t be hindering your brain by taking a creatine supplement, and you might well just be helping it. Couple up with the odd WillPowders Brain Powder or our other cognitive function supplements and you might well be doing the maths conundrum on Countdown while helping with the kids’ homework at the same time as stacking the dishwasher with all the panache of a Swiss architect. Or, impressing your boss with your afternoon precision strategist’s view on their latest spreadsheet - whichever, whatever.
WTF - I’ve heard it gives you water retention, fuck that shit!
You know when someone somewhere says something once and it becomes gospel without a good old fashioned fact check? Well, this creatine water retention thing is just that scenario. We did our usual for you and had a WillPowders dig around in the science and discovered in a meta-analysis (one of our favourite ways to get to the facts as meta analyses look at statistical data from a range of studies, so we don’t just rely on one wham, bang, thank you ma’am lucky dip!) that ‘while there is some evidence to suggest that creatine supplementation increases water retention, primarily attributed to increases in intracellular volume, over the short term, there are several other studies suggesting it does not alter total body water (intra or extracellular) relative to muscle mass over longer periods of time. As a result, creatine supplementation may not lead to water retention.’ [*]
And, while that’s not a definite no, it isn’t a definite yes, agreed. But, the Chief Medical Editor, Dr. Howard LeWine, at Harvard Health Publishing, offers this conclusion on creatine and water retention, ‘Some people will retain a couple of pounds of fluid during the first week they start creatine supplementation. But this is temporary, and studies of long-term use do not show a persistent problem with holding onto extra water’. You live in your body and we certainly won’t override your judgement on it, so, if you perceive you get water retention with creatine initially, and it doesn’t settle over time, then you are your own sovereign nation and you get to decide if creatine is not for you.
Creatine is an osmotic substance so the greater the amount in your muscles, the more water it will pull into the muscle. If you perceive that this leads you feeling dehydrated because it seems your total body water content seems to now be residing in your quadriceps, rest assured that it isn’t. It’s been established in tests as a perception only when scientists asked athletes to self-report on whether they were dehydrated. But, if you want to suck it and see initially, then, don’t forget, that if you notice some water retention, or you feel you need a hydration boost, we have an absolute dream of a product in our WillPowders ElectroTide Electrolyte Drinks when it comes to a gentle diuretic combined with electrolyte hydration - cherry, citrus or watermelon, take your pick. They’re all amazing, being sugar and sweetener free and hiding no nasties. It might just help you give creatine a fair try.
WTF? I can use it for hyper-hydration when I’m about to be Ironman in the sun?
Ok, so it’s more niche to some of us than others, but creatine supplementation can help athletes to hyper-hydrate for those times when exercising in heat is the order of the day. Hyper-hydration enhances tolerance to exercise in the heat. It could well be that creatine supplementation may reduce the risk of heart-related illness when you Iron Bods train or compete in hot and humid environments. So, on those days when even lifting a little finger has you breaking out in a sweat, knowing that you’ve been taking your daily dose of creatine will help you hoick yourself up off the sofa and have you skipping to the start line, and, could give you a greater chance of getting over the finish line [*].
WTF will creatine do to my kidneys?
Answer: nothing adverse. It’s another myth that creatine is bad for your kidneys. Who starts these games of telephone, that’s what we’d like to know. I mean, if you have kidney issues, then you’re going to talk to your doc about taking supplements of most varieties, of course, but the evidence that creatine damages kidneys simply doesn’t exist if it is taken at the right dosage. If you’ve eaten a steak or hamburger, you’ll have creatine in your blood. If you have a bigger muscle mass, you’ll have more creatine in your blood. Your kidneys are products of the whole of homo sapien bio-adaptation at the hands of evolution over time malarkey and, as such, they are designed to, well, filter! Within specified amounts, your kidneys will not start to suffer some sort of creatine filtering overwhelm and fatigue. Our kidneys weren’t formed in the snowflake generation! Besides, with our Scandinavian Protein Powder, boosted with monohydrate creatine and shilijat, is designed for those times when you want to boost performance, whether that be at the gym, on a walk, doing yoga or continually hefting your two year old onto the climbing frame for the thousandth time! We know that as full time everythings, that you won’t want to sip creatine all day, anyway. Hell, sometimes, you’re just going to want to sit down!
WTF will I do if I sprout hair in random places or lose my crowning glory?
Well, you won’t find a study that suggests either of these things are possible with a creatine supplement in the literature so, hallelujah! No spikes in testosterone, sorry chaps, so no hair loss or baldness caused here. (Note: at WillPowders, we absolutely do not mind baldness and often admire it!). But, even we can’t account for the other things your body might be genetically predisposed to do naturally when it comes to hair, but you can rest assured, it would be pointless to point the finger at creatine. Neither will those weirdly long, singular random hairs that suddenly sprout from shoulders in middle age be traceable back to your creatine supplement. Those hairs are just one of the crosses to bear if you’re going to insist on getting chronologically older (and we hope you do). Let Mother Nature have her little joke and keep a good ring light and a pair of tweezers nearby. But do keep taking the creatine!
WTF, WillPowders, you’ve busted the myths and made me feel invincible
And that’s what we are here for! Now that you’ve moved from creatine curious to creatine confident, there’s only one thing to do and that’s start reaping the benefits with our delicious no nasties, performance protein powder. Have it as a protein shake mixed with water, bang it in with a blitzed banana, avocado, full fat milk, you know the drill, blast it through your full fat Greek yoghurt, or have it as a cosy drink while you do a cryptic crossword (it could well help with that, too, as you now know).
Psst! If you are getting stirrings about the role that shilajit plays in this product, hop over to our shilajit blog, where we help you answer questions such as what is shilajit and how to take shilajit.
Further Reading for Creatine for Beginners
For some reading on creatine loading (or not, as the case may be) try Muscle creatine loading in men. Hultman E, Söderlund K, Timmons JA, Cederblad G, Greenhaff PL. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1996 Jul;81(1):232-7. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1996.81.1.232. PMID: 8828669.
An all round good egg of a meta-analysis that we found for your perusal is
To read more about where science is up to in finding out about creatine supplementation and cognitive function, try Creatine Supplementation and Brain Health
To catch up with what Harvard Health Publishing has to say about creatine and water retention, try here What is creatine? Potential benefits and risks of this popular supplement.
For further reading that dispels the myth of creatine causing dehydration and muscle cramps, have a gander at Putting to rest the myth of creatine supplementation leading to muscle cramps and dehydration
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Disclaimer
Our blogs are written with love in the hope that they go some way in helping you feel like the rockstar you are, and whilst we do our due diligence, research like maniacs and fact check our stuff, we know everyone’s journey is different. They are intended to educate and empower you, not usurp medical advice. We would never advise you to stop, adjust, or modify any prescription medication without the direct supervision of your healthcare practitioner, but don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor about your new found knowledge, brought to you by the marvels of nature because they don't know everything! Blogs are always informed by Davinia but often written by a member of the team. Not all blogs reflect Davinia's experiences and sometimes provide alternative perspectives