All you need to know about Creatine

No matter who you are the importance of a correct diet cannot be underestimated, and it's an even bigger concern for those with active lifestyles and strenuous training regimes.

Increased activity levels, means more demands being placed on the body and an increase in nutritional requirements. Because of this it is often difficult for active people to obtain all the nutrients they need from diet alone - and that's where correct supplementation can greatly assist in achieving correct nutrition and performance goals.

Creatine supplements are athletic aids used to increase high-intensity athletic performance.

About 95% of our body's creatine stores are found in the skeletal muscle.

Creatine is found in the muscle in the form of free creatine and creatine phosphate with the amounts varying from person to person. Creatine phosphate performs a number of important functions in exercise metabolism. Its best-known role is to provide a limited, but rapidly accessed, power system to regenerate ATP, the fuel of muscle

Muscle creatine levels may be lower in vegetarians, indicating that our body's production of creatine may not be sufficient to replace the dietary source.

Using such supplements may replenish and increase stores of natural creatine that is stored with the muscles to delay fatigue during intense exercise, as well as reduce recovery time between training sessions.

Other than directly supplying energy to muscles other benefits may include, an increase in muscle volume due to an increase of water in muscles, a delay in fatigue due to creatine acting as a lactic acid buffer, and an increase in muscle mass.

There has been a big effort to study creatine to determine how to optimally load the muscle, and how performance may benefit as a result.

The quickest way to "creatine load" is to take large doses of 20-30 g per day for around 5-7 days. It is best to spread these doses though-out the day to sustain plasma creatine levels foe instance 5g taken four to six times each day.

After this time depending on the type of training or exercise you are doing, it is suggested you follow these recommendations to maintain these levels -
- HEAVY LOADING - 20 - 30g per day for 3 - 5 weeks
- LIGHT LOADING - 5 grams per day for 30 days

Many people cycle their creatine supplementation- loading up, maintaining for a certain training period, and then stopping the supplements for a couple of weeks before reloading. This may suit the athlete's training cycle or periodisation. Whether such cyclical use is better than continual use has not been studied.

Eating a large amount of carbohydrate (about 70-100 g) with each dose increases creatine uptake via the stimulatory effects of insulin. Therefore it is useful to take your creatine doses along with a meal or substantial snack.

Alot of creatine drinks and powders come premixed with carbohydrates(sugars) and supply enough for optimal creatine uptake. So you should also read the instructions.

People using creatine usually experience an immediate weight gain of 1-2 kgs, most likely due to
the increase of fluid stores.
Other short-term effects of use that have been reported include:
- Muscle cramps
- Tightness in muscles and muscle tears
- Nausea and upset stomach - depends on the individual.
- Diarrhoea - depends on the individual.

Reports of muscle cramping with the use of creatine although this may be cause by dehydration due to extra water intake being needed during creatine supplementation.

Although there have been many other studies claiming many many other things things there are also many studies to stand up against them with alot of their research have been proven to be shaky at best.

Creatine is a commercially available product with millions of users throughout the worlds with many being unaware of their taking it due to it being added to there favourite pre-workout drink.