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Does Creatine Work
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How Well does Creatine Work
Creatinew works very well to help build muscle mass and more in the gym, it also help weight gain and muscle hardness. There is very little question that Creatine does work but the problem is that in order to get the maximum amount of Creatine uptake in your muscles you need to take it at certain times. A good example is that a study has proven that Creatine uptake is sodium dependent and mediated by insulin.
What this means is that taking creatine with large amounts of glucose (e.g., 80 to 100 grams) or carbohydrate/protein (e.g., 50 to 80 grams of carbohydrate with 30 to 50 grams of protein), is known to increase blood insulin levels and therefore may be an effective way to enhance creatine uptake.
But it is also all about timing and when you take creatine because intense exercise increases anabolic hormone release. Various studies show that ingesting carbohydrate and protein or essential amino acids following intense exercise may accelerate glycogen re-synthesis as well as promote protein synthesis.
Since insulin levels enhance creatine uptake, taking creatine after exercise with a carbohydrate and/or protein supplement may be an effective way to increase and/or maintain muscle creatine stores. There are many different reports that explain the rapid mass gain you get when taking creatine is mostly water.
The result was that there were more studies commissioned in order to establish effects of creatine supplementation on fluid retention. The conclusion to these studies show that body composition changes and that although total body water increases, the increase appears to be proportional to the weight gained. Muscle is about 73% water. Therefore, if someone gained 10 pounds of muscle, 7.3 pounds of the weight gain would be water.
The question about the long term use of creatine is also something that has concerned the users of this product although athletes have been using creatine as a nutritional supplement since the mid 1960's. To date there have been no long-term side effects observed in athletes (up to 5 years), infants with creatine synthesis deficiency (up to 3 years), or in patient populations (up to 5 years).
How Fast Does Creatine Work
Most people using creatine will start to see results in about 2 weeks although some make take a little longer but if you don't see any results after two or three months then something is wrong, either it's not high quality creatine or you are using it wrong, not taking enough, etc.
This article is too short to include all the variations of the various recommendations of how one should take creatine, how much and when to take it. For example mixing creatine with caffeine has proven to enhance the creatine uptake but to a point so having too much caffeine is counter-productive and will reverse the effect.
It is issues like this which seem to be constantly changing as new research comes to press. The best option is to keep yourself up to date with the latest developments when it comes to creatine supplementation.
Does Creatine Work