Creatine Monohydrate is a natural training aid which will help boost your performance, enhance cell growth, and help you achieve a better pump. Creatine supplement benefits include allowing your body to access energy for training and is very good for adding muscle mass and strength. It is super easy to take and works out really cost effective!

Creatine is a substance which is naturally found in muscle cells. It helps during high intensity or heavy lifting exercises.

Speaking chemically it shares many of the same similarities as amino acids. Your body can produce it from glycine and arginine.

There are certain factors that can affect your creatine stores these are as follows:

• Meat intake

• Exercise

• Amount of muscle mass

• Levels of hormones like IGF-1 and testosterone.

95% of creatine is stored in our muscles in the form of phosphocreatine. The remaining can be found within your brain, kidneys and liver.

Supplementing with creatine will increase your stores of phosphocreatine. This is what it is stored as in your cells to be used for energy. It helps the body produce more of a high energy molecule called ATP.

ATP can be thought of as the body’s energy currency. The more you have the better your body can perform during exercise. Creatine changes several cellular processes that lead to increased muscle mass, strength and recovery.

I will now go on to look at 4 amazing benefits of taking creatine!

1)Totally safe to take

More than ever before people are becoming health conscious, many of us have started to read the ingredients label of the supplements we may decide to take. I hope you do this as it is important to check the nutritional content to make sure there are no unnecessary additives. If you take creatine the only ingredient on the label should be pure creatine mono hydrate and nothing else.

On the whole Creatine is one of the safest most researched and effective supplements out there. It is legal, does no harm to your body, and produces the best results. Creatine is produced naturally within your body, it is found in food, and helps both men and women achieve their fitness goals. If you are a vegan it would be a great idea to add creatine to your diet.

Creatine is found in beef, chicken, milk and cheese, but the problem is the amount is very small you would have to eat 2-3 pounds of meat per day to get the same amount as that found in one teaspoon of powder form.

It is our energy currency found inside the body and also naturally within food so is totally safe to take. If you are not taking it already I recommend adding it to your diet, your body will thank you for it. As far as supplements go creatine will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

2)Helps you gain muscle and strength.

Creatine is very effective for increasing muscle size and strength. It is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes. Research shows that using creatine can double your muscle size and strength when compared to training alone.

Adenosine triphospate (ATP) is a form of energy in our body’s cells. It plays a role in metabolism and muscle function.

We can only store enough ATP for about 8 – 10 seconds during high intensity workouts. After this your body must produce more ATP to match the demands of the activity. Your body produces more ATP during maximum intensity per second than your body can produce. This is why you can only sprint for a few seconds at maximal intensity. Or only lift a really heavyweight a few times. Your stores of ATP energy run out.

So how does creatine help?

Creatine supplementation increases your body’s stores of photocreatine, which is used to produce new ATP during exercise. This will give you extra energy during workouts before fatigue sets in. Allowing you to workout harder and increase your strength, which in turn will help you gain muscle and strength.

I found that when I take creatine supplementation it is easier for me to do a few extra repetitions, additionally I have more strength so can lift heavier loads.

I took a month of from creatine to see what effect the supplement had on my performance. I used a method called 5 by 5 method strong lifts, whereby I lift a weight for 5 repetitions and 5 sets.

Without creatine I was able to lift 110kg while doing the bench press for 5 reps and 5 sets, however on the last rep I could only manage 4 repetitions so was one short. I remained at this level of strength for the whole month without seeing any increase in strength.

When I added creatine supplementation to my diet I saw a significant amount of change in my training. I was able to complete 5 sets and 5 reps of 110kg, not only this but I was able to add an extra 10kg and still mange to complete 5 reps and 5 sets. This is when I came to the realization that, “creatine really does work”, and I would definitely recommend all hard gainers to take advantage of creatine.

Creatine not only makes you stronger but it also makes your muscles look bigger. It will cause your muscles to store more water. Muscles in turn will look fuller and larger. This may happen within a few days or weeks. Please do keep in mind that if you are trying to drop weight this water retention may not be something you desire. As mentioned before creatine will help you lift heavier weights at more volume. In turn this will make your muscles bigger from the increase in intensity.

3)Creatine can Speed up recovery

Intense exercise causes inflammation by tearing your muscle fibers. Research does suggest that creatine reduces cell damage and inflammation that will occur when you do intense training. Meaning the faster you recover, the more you can train and achieve those gains.

4)Strengthens your brain

The bulk of your creatine is found within your muscles, there are also smaller amounts found in your testes and brain. It takes a quite a lot of energy to power your brain, just like in your muscles, the energy transfer is carried out though ATP. Creatine has been found to play a role in ATP levels in the brain.

It is found that higher stores of creatine in the brain can result in improving your mental performance. This will help you to stay focused while working out.

I have found that while on creatine supplementation I am able to stay focused during my workouts and am easily able to remove all distractions and concentrate on the session. Not only this but I can concentrate more on other areas of my life such as writing blogs, reading and studying.

Optimum nutrition Creatine review

The product that I am taking at the moment is optimum nutrition micronised creatine. This is a great product and contains only creatine mono hydrate and no added ingredients. There is a massive 93 servings! you only need to take one or two servings per day. It mixes well with water or even in your favorite smoothy. What I like best is that it is very affordable at only £6.99!

Click on the image below to order yours today.

Conclusion

I hope you now have an understanding of creatine supplement benefits. It helps you increase muscle size and strength, aids in recovery and can also be beneficial for your brain. With all these positive benefits why not use this product as there are no side effects and creatine is naturally found in our body and the foods we consume.

There are a lot of expensive products on the market that are filled with artificial ingredients and do little to improve your health and performance. If I had to recommend one supplement for gaining strength and muscle mass it would be creatine.

Please do leave your comments below and let me know if creatine has made improvments to your workouts.

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