Can Anyone Explain Creatine Gains To Me?

[El Jugo Buen0]

I know creatine is essential in the process of ATP, so obviously you will have more muscular endurance. Anyway, what kind of gains do people usually get on creatine and arent most of the size gains due to water?

[Homeguard]

Hi mate,

Used Creatine in the past and can say it definately does make a diference. The gains are not just water gains. Hope the following is usefull

I am assuming we all know the ATP process.

ATP is what makes your muscles move. However, ATP eventually runs out, so it must be remade again. When fast twitch muscle fibers (the type of muscle fibers which ultimately are affected by creatine) run out of the original ATP that they had stored, they'll call upon the system that uses creatine to regenerate this lost ATP. However, this system can only last for so long, around 6-10 seconds. When this system runs out of juice, a new system involving glucose for fuel is called upon. However, this new system produces lactic acid and hydrogen ions. The buildup of lactic acid and hydrogen ions are what ultimately cause fatigue and are what cause the burning sensation in your muscles when you work them too hard. When the amount of these compounds becomes too high in the muscle, the muscle fails and your contractile capacity decreases. Therefore, by supplementing with creatine, your body can call upon the creatine system longer so that the system involving glucose is not needed and the excess lactic acid and hydogen ions are not produced.

How Can Creatine Improve Performance?

This essentially means that you can perform at a high intensity rate for a longer period of time. In weightlifting, since one would be able to perform at a high intensity rate for a longer period of time, this would translate into an increase in reps. Therefore, theoretically, because you can do more reps during a workout, your workout will be more productive and a higher degree of protein synthesis (the building of muscle) will be stimulated. Also, creatine pulls extra water into the muscles and because of this it is theorized that this extra water can stimulate further protein synthesis. Mostly, however, the exact mechanisms and beneficial effects behind creatine supplementation are not fully understood. During sprinting, one would be able to hold their highest intensity rate for a longer period of time.

However, on races such as the 40 yd dash or 100 yd dash, this would not necessarily translate into increased performance. This is because under normal creatine conditions (not supplementing), the body has enough creatine phosphate to last the entire race. The limiting factor within these short races is not your endurance at your highest intensity, it is your highest intensity, how fast you can run. However, if one were to perform repeated bouts of sprints at a high intensity level while supplementing with creatine, their endurance at this intensity would be longer because their storage of creatine phosphate is higher due to supplementation.

Side Effects of Creatine

The major side effect of creatine use is creatine's ability to pull water into the muscle cells. Because creatine takes water into the muscle cells, many other tissues of the body may not be full hydrated. In this environment, if not enough water is taken in, it is much more likely that one can become dehydrated. Therefore, it is VERY important to drink an optimal amount of water while supplementing with creatine. Creatineinformation.net recommends to "Drink at least 1-2 ounces of water daily per kilogram of body weight while supplementing".

Proper Supplementation of Creatine

Once again, because of creatine's ability to draw water into the muscle cells, many individuals experience a rapid weight gain. Some individuals experience a 7-12 pound gain in weight during the loading phase.

However, this can be mostly attributed to water weight. Gaining 7-12 pounds of muscle in that short of an amount of time is essentially impossible due to the physiological limits of the human body.

There are many other more minor side effects which can be attributed to creatine use, although most of them can be avoided by supplementing with creatine in the correct way.