Creatine Monohydrate Information

Well, Creatine is naturally produced in your liver, kidneys, and pancreas and is used by your body to supply energy to your muscles through your bloodstream. It is then converted into creatine phosphate, which is used for the regeneration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary source of energy for your muscles.

Considering that it is produced in your own body, creatine monohydrate is therefore a hundred percent natural. It can also be found in certain types of food, albeit only in very small amounts. Examples of foods containing this substance are salmon, herring, tuna, and red meat. The problem is that they lose most of their creatine content when they are cooked. Therefore, if you need to increase the energy level of your muscles and you believe that ingesting creatine from external sources is the way to do it, then you would do well to consider supplementing with creatine powders. The best of these supplements contain 99.9% creatine and requires you to take just a small dose each day to achieve your desired results.

As previously mentioned, creatine monohydrate travels through your bloodstream and is then stored in your muscles, where it is converted into creatine phosphate. The role of creatine phosphate is replenishing the ATP reserves of your body, which is necessary because this is the ultimate source of your muscles for short surges of energy. To illustrate, your body uses its stores of ATP to provide power to your muscles as soon as you pick up a weight off the rack. But, energy bursts from ATP are used up after about five to ten seconds, at which point your body processes creatine to make more ATP for more energy. This might seem like a long and complicated process, but it actually takes less than a second to complete.

If, however, there is not enough creatine phosphate in your body, glycogen will be used to make more ATP. The problem is that it takes several seconds more to convert glycogen than it is to convert creatine. Therefore, if you take creatine monohydrate supplements, your muscles will be saturated with all the creatine you need to produce ATP, thus giving you more energy and allowing you to build more lean muscle mass and optimize your bodybuilding and fitness gains.

Creatine Monohydrate is mostly used by Bodybuilders and Athletes hoping to enhance their performance in their respective events. In fact, most Olympic gold medalists have been known to take creatine supplements. People who wish to build more muscle mass are the ones who can benefit most from creatine supplementation. This is because the increase in energy levels creatine provides allows you to perform more reps and more sets in your workout sessions, thus resulting in increased muscle growth.

Additionally, any person who leads an active lifestyle can definitely benefit from using creatine monohydrate supplements. The same is true for women who wish to increase their muscle tone as well as for wrestlers, sprinters, and football players. Just about anyone can take advantage of the benefits creatine has to offer. And if you are a skinny person who wants to bulk up and gain some weight, then you would be pleased to know that creatine has been shown to have an almost instantaneous effect as regards weight gain. In fact, you can expect to gain anywhere from one to three pounds after taking the supplement for just a couple of weeks!

There are generally two recommended ways of supplementing with creatine monohydrate, and these are:

1. Loading
This is done by saturating your muscles with the substance within the first five to seven days of supplementing and then reducing to a maintenance dosage in the weeks that follow. If you use this approach, you should take 20 grams of creatine in 5-gram servings each day for the first five to seven days. The supplement is best taken with dextrose or a fruit juice that is non-acidic. After this initial phase, you should then reduce your dosage to 5-10 grams daily, taken after a workout session and just before going to bed.

2. Gradual Approach
This approach does without the loading phase; rather you moves straight to taking five to ten grams of creatine monohydrate each day. The good news is that both approaches have proven to be effective, so the choice as to which one to use purely depends on your personal preference.

You may also want to take note that taking creatine with simple carbohydrates has been shown to enhance its absorption to a large extent. In fact, a study has shown that taking creatine along with carbohydrate solutions results in a 60% increase in the concentration of creatine in your muscles, as compared to just taking creatine by itself.

It is understandable that any would-be user of creatine monohydrate supplements would be concerned about possible negative side effects. The good news is that no such side effects have yet been recorded in any clinical research. Of course, just like any other supplement, it can result in some negative effects when taken in doses that are too large. It is never a good idea to take too much of any supplement, and you should always bear in mind that too much of anything can be bad for you. Besides, taking more than 5-10 grams of creatine per day after your muscles have been saturated will just be a waste of money, since any excess creatine will only be excreted by your body and will not benefit you in any way. So, as long as you take creatine supplements in the right way and with the right dosage, you can be assured that it is completely safe for use.