Should I Take Creatine?

"Should I Take Creatine ?" - A question asked by many indeed especially people eager to put on muscle mass fast.

But before we proceed to answer this interesting question, let's look at some creatine facts and why has it become so immensely popular among sports enthusiasts and athletes.

What is creatine?

Creatine occurs within the skeletal muscles of our body and it comes naturally in foods that we consume daily like meat, milk and fish.

In 1912, Harvard University researchers Otto Folin and Willey Glover Denis found proof that ingesting creatine can dramatically boost the creatine content of the muscle. In the late 1920s, after finding that the intramuscular stores of creatine can be increased by ingesting creatine in larger than normal amounts, scientists discovered creatine phosphate, and determined that creatine is a key player in the metabolism of skeletal muscle. The substance creatine is naturally formed in the vertebrates.

While creatine's influence on physical performance has been well documented since the early twentieth century, it only recently came into public view following the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. An August 7, 1992 article in The Times reported that Linford Christie, the gold medal winner at 100 meters, had utilized creatine prior to the Olympics, and an article in Bodybuilding Monthly named Sally Gunnell, gold medallist in the 400-meter hurdles, as another creatine user. Several medal-winning British rowers also used creatine during their preparations for the Barcelona games.

Since then on, creatine has been a marketed widely as a performance-enhancing supplement and iswildly popular among people looking for an edge in strength training and sports performance. One study indicates as many as 16% of teenagers use creatine, and 57% of people who frequent health clubs also take the nutritional supplement.

Creatine is marketed as a supplement in various form but the most popular ones are creatine monohydrate and creatine ethyl ester (CEE).

How does creatine works?

When you exercise or training, your muscles will need energy to carry out the activities. The source of energy within the muscles comes from a molecule call ATP. ATP is the molecule that are used by our body to store and release energy in muscles. ATP is converted to ADP once it releases the energy store within itself. For ADP to be converted back to ATP once again, you need the availability of a phosphate molecule and this is where creatine role comes into play. Creatine provides this phosphate molecule to ADP and makes ATP readily available again for the muscle activities. Hence, creatine can increase muscle strength, and delay fatigue, allowing athletes to train harder and achieve greater muscle gains beyond normal capacities.

So now to answer your question on whether you should take creatine…

Well, that really depends on the type of exercises or activities you are involved in. If you are into bodybuilding or muscle building or any high intensity exercises, then It’s a big YES. It’s not necessary for people involved in long duration activities like aerobics etc.

If you want to gain those desired muscle in the shortest possible time, then it really would make a difference if you were to take creatine.

Having said that, your choice of creatine type and how you dose yourself with it matters.

 Is creatine safe and How to use creatine?

To date, because of its popularity, you can find many different brands and dosage forms of creatine in the market. My advice is that you choose one of reputable brand to ensure that you are getting one of high purity instead of one with substandard quality. As of now, creatine is considered safe and it does not come under the regulation if FDA as it is classified as a supplement and not a drug. So it pays to ensure that you are consuming a pure and high quality product to avoid any unwanted side effects that may be cause by other harmful additives added to it.

For you to get the most out of consuming creatine as a supplement, it’s important that you know what dose to take, when and how to take it. I’m by no means an expert in telling you all these information but you definitely can get first hand information from Dr. Franco-Obregón who has done some extensive research on the proper use of creatine. In his book "Creatine: a practical guide" he teaches what dose of creatine to take and how you can fully benefit from taking creatine and what creatine health problems to be concern with. Not all brands of creatine available commercially are good. Dr Franco Obregon provide in addition to his guide a full creatine supplement reviews of different brands of creatine and tells you which is the best creatine that will work.