subject: The Science Of Muscle Growth With Creatine [print this page] The Science Of Muscle Growth With Creatine
Creatine was originally introduced to the bodybuilding industry in the early 1990s. Ever since, literally thousands of other supplements have come and gone. So why is creatine still around? The reason is that it simply works. Let's take a look at what it does inside of our bodies so that we can have a better understanding of why it works so well. Your muscles (and all the cells in your body) use a substance called ATP for energy. ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate. This is a molecule called adenosine with three phosphate groups attached. In order to create energy one of the phosphate groups is broken-off, which releases energy to the muscle cells for muscle contraction. This is where creatine comes in. There is creatine phosphate (CP) in your muscles. When a molecule of ATP loses a phosphate, CP can come and give the broken ATP molecule its phosphate. This regenerates the ATP molecule so that we can break-off that phosphate once again for more energy! This cycle of CP donating a phosphate to the broken ATP molecule is only one way of regenerating the ATP molecule. Specifically, this is how ATP is regenerated during intense, short duration activities, especially those of 10 seconds or less. This fits right in with training for muscle growth. Let's say you do a set of 5 reps on the bench press and each rep takes you 2 seconds to complete. That's 10 seconds of total work. During that 10 seconds CP is constantly being used to replenish your ATP stores so that you have more energy.
This is allows your muscles to do more work than they would be able to without CP. If you are following a proper nutrition and recovery program doing more work will lead to more muscle growth.
The first type of creatine to hit the market was creatine monohydrate (CM). This is the creatine that nearly all of the research has been done with. CM has been shown in study after study to make you stronger and help with muscle growth. It is also the cheapest form available.
The typical recommended dosage of CM is 3-10 grams per day, depending on body weight. At one time a higher dosage was recommended for the first week of use (know as a "loading phase"), but most studies have shown this isn't necessary. The loading phase simply serves to increase your creatine stores faster.
Since the introduction of CM, there have been a variety of variations introduced to the market: liquids, effervescents, ethyl esters, and many more. Despite the high cost for some of these variations, none of them has ever been proven to work more effectively for muscle growth than CM.
So how much will it improve muscle growth? You can expect a 2-3 pound increase in muscle mass in the first few weeks of using it. Some have claimed this just water weight, and this partially true. Creatine will cause you to hold more water in your muscle cells, which is why you need to drink plenty of water when taking it. The fact that much of the weight gain is water weight does not negate creatine's benefits though. The additional water makes the muscle more anabolic and also increases your strength. You should expect to be able to get one or two more reps on your heaviest sets.
These are great gains, but remember that they are short-term increases. To keep increasing you muscle mass and strength you will need to follow a properly designed training and nutrition program for muscle growth.
Always remember that supplements are just the icing on the cake!
