Creatine Supplements: How To Start

Creatine Supplements: How To Start

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If muscle-building is one of your workout goals, then it's likely your at least a little familiar with creatine supplements. If you aren't already famililar with them, now is the time!

The first lesson is this: Creatine is NOT a steroid. Creatine is something already created by the human body to give energy to your muscles. It can also be added to the body through diet or dietary supplements. What exactly does creatine do for muscle-building? While you participate in intense activity, like bodybuilding, your body produces something called Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP, to give your muscles the energy they need to complete the tasks. Adenosine Triphosphate dissipates fast, but the body can convert creatine into more ATP.

How Can Creatine Supplements Help Me?

Bodybuilding supplements like creatine are designed to boost how effective your workouts are but are not a replacement for working hard. The important process of converting creatine in the body to additional energy can mean the following for your workout regimen:

A boost in the intensity of your workouts
More frequent training

Increasing the creatine in your body adds a power boost to your exercises and decreases the time it takes to see results.

Why Should I "Load" Creatine?

To load creatine means to overstocking your body with creatine supplements for a limited amount of time, then keeping those levels up with a smaller intake. It's recommended to take bodybuilding supplements like creatine in cycles -- a loading phase, then a maintenance phase, followed by an off phase where no supplement is taken.

The idea of cycling is to let the body keep up a normal production of creatine rather than coming to depend on supplements for it entirely. Remember, bodybuilding supplements are meant to give a boost to the normal body processes, not replace them.

The recommended timeframe for loading and maintenance phases has wide variation. An example of what a cycle might look like is this: Loading phase -- 5 days; Maintenance - 6 weeks; Off - 4 weeks.

What Kind Of Creatine Dosage Should I Take?

Recommendations differ in accordance with the different forms of creatine supplements you might use, and you should pay close attention to what the recommendations are for the form you select. One example of what a daily dose might be, based on a 5-day loading phase then a maintenance phase, is:

Woman, 140 pounds: 6 grams (loading); 1.5 grams (maintenance)
Man, 160 pounds: 18 grams (loading); 4.5 grams (maintenance)

While in a loading phase, you should space dosages throughout the day. If you can, take before and after workouts to increase creatine levels prior to your workout, then replenish them after.

How Do I Take Creatine?

Creatine supplements are available in several forms, including powder, which can be added to liquid, pills, and chewies for people who are always on the go. While creatine powder has been the most popular form of the supplement, the pills and chewies forms have become increasingly popular because of their portability.

No matter which form of the bodybuilding supplement you decide works best for you, here are a few tips to increase how effectively it works for you:

Increase water intake
Cut down on caffeine
Consume protein in conjunction with your supplement dose

About the Author:
Slacor Supplements has a great selection of the creatine supplements you need to give your workouts that power boost you've been seeking. Visit our site for reasonably priced bodybuilding supplements to suit any needs.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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