What is Creatine?
Creatine is a natural compound made in our bodies to supply energy to our muscles. Its chemical name is actually ‘methylguanido-acetic acid’, but who wants to pronounce that in day-to-day life! Creatine is formed from three amino acids; arginine, methionine and glycine. The chemical process is not worth explaining as its relevance is null and void to training circumstances.
Creatine is produced in our liver primarily, and our pancreas and kidneys also. Its transported to our muscles via our bloodstream and is converted to creatine phosphate, this is achieved by the enzyme creatine kinase, which helps bond creatine to a high energy phosphate group.
Where can creatine be found?
The richest source of creatine is found red meat. However, when loading your body with creatine, we need to take into consideration the practicality of consumption. For example, to load your body with creatine you would have to consume ten pounds of raw steak a day for five days. You would have to eat raw, because when you cook red meat the creatine is removed.
Dietary guidance would tell us this isn’t recommended! So for that reason, we can use creatine supplements to increase the amount creatine levels.
What does creatine do?
Simply put, creatine provides your muscles with extra energy when it needs for explosive movements.
Creatine is stored in the muscles, it is the body’s first fuel source. The body turns to creatine first because it can be converted into energy faster than any other energy source. So creatine is basically used when the body required instant energy. Creatine is converted quickly, but the body can only store so much of it. Thus, the energy provided by creatine can only last for about 10 seconds. Then the body turns to it’s second energy source, glycogen.
Creatine supplements work by increasing the amount of creatine in your muscles. The more creatine is in your muscles, the more fuel is available instantly. What doe this mean? It means more explosive power when you need it. For example, without creatine you could bench press 8 reps at 200lbs. With creatine, the number of reps you can do may increase to 12 with the extra fuel that’s provided. This leads to more muscle growth, as you’re training harder.
Effects.
We cover both the positive and negative effects of creatine on the creatine effects page.
More info…
This site teaches you everything you need to know about creatine. Have a look around using the links on the right hand side. You can post questions at the bottom of any page on this site and they will be answered by admin staff.
