Creatine: What It Is, Whether You Need It, and How to Take It

Creatine is one of the few sports supplements with an unambiguous, well-replicated body of evidence. Understanding what it actually does tells you immediately whether it's useful for your goals.

The ATP System

Muscles run on ATP (adenosine triphosphate). When ATP releases energy, it splits into ADP (adenosine diphosphate) plus a free phosphate. The problem: ATP stores last only a few seconds of maximum-intensity effort. The body continuously resynthesizes ATP from various substrates throughout exercise.

For heavy, explosive work � powerlifting, sprinting, bodybuilding sets � the first and fastest resynthesis pathway is phosphocreatine: ADP + creatine phosphate ? ATP. The more creatine phosphate available, the faster and larger this ATP resynthesis can be.

This is what creatine supplementation does � it increases the available creatine phosphate stores, enhancing the primary fast-resynthesis pathway.

Who Benefits and Who Doesn't

Beneficial:

• Powerlifters and weightlifters during mass and strength phases � more creatine phosphate allows slightly higher maximum lifts and one additional set
• Sprinters and short-distance effort athletes
• Vegetarians � dietary creatine comes primarily from meat. Vegetarians are often creatine-deficient and see the largest response to supplementation

Not beneficial:

• Endurance athletes (distance runners, cyclists, CrossFit athletes) � prolonged aerobic effort doesn't depend on the phosphocreatine system
• People on a cut or diet phase � creatine increases muscle hydration, which is undesirable during cutting. Also, the goal during cutting is to utilize fatty acid oxidation pathways, not the phosphocreatine system

How to Take It

Loading phase: 20 g (0.7 oz) daily for 5 days (or approximately 3 g (0.1 oz) per kg of lean muscle mass for more precise dosing). This saturates the stores rapidly.

Maintenance phase: 2-3 g (0.1 oz) daily. This maintains saturation levels.

Form: Creatine monohydrate. Not creatine ethyl ester, buffered creatine, or other marketed variants � monohydrate is the form with all the research, it's inexpensive, and due to its low manufacturing cost, counterfeits are essentially nonexistent.

Timing: Doesn't matter significantly. Take it consistently at whatever time fits your routine.

Water: Drink adequate water. Creatine increases muscle cell hydration and creatinine byproduct excretion requires water.

The Mechanism Summary

Creatine ? stored as creatine phosphate in muscle ? used in ADP + creatine phosphate ? ATP reaction ? allows slightly greater maximum intensity and slightly more volume before exhaustion.

It doesn't increase endurance, doesn't burn fat, doesn't build muscle directly. It allows the phosphocreatine energy system to function at higher capacity for the first several seconds of maximum effort � which, across repeated heavy sets, translates to marginally more total training volume and slightly higher peak loads.

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