subject: How To Improve Muscle Building Exercises With Creatine [print this page] Optimal muscle building exercises are easy to reach when you know how to supplement with creatine. You can work harder, recover more quickly, and see results sooner. Most commercial sources of creatine are overhyped and overpriced. Here is how you can keep it simple and get the most out of your workouts with creatine.
Choosing Muscle Building Exercises
If you have difficulty deciding on the best way to build fast twitch or slow twitch muscles, you may be surprised to see how to build both at the same time. And you can also get the most out of different kinds of muscle motor units (muscle groups). Weightlifting in a very specific manner gives optimum results, based on real research science.
Dr. Doug McGuff and John Little show how to build strength and conditioning through their Body by Science method. Their book by the same name is a crucial handbook that explains and illustrates this method. McGuff also explains this method in several easy to follow videos for the public on YouTube.
How Creatine Works
Creatine serves as a quick energy source for workouts when it is stored in sufficient quantities in muscle tissue. Creatine specifically helps with delaying fatigue, increasing workout intensity and duration, and speeding up workout recovery. Best results are based on muscles being saturated with creatine, which is not generally attainable without supplementation.
The combination of creatine-saturated muscles and weightlifting exercise via a Body by Science workout program give you the best foundation for getting good results for building muscle. The key is to get muscle tissue saturated with creatine most efficiently. Doing so entails paying attention to recent research on the critical factors for supplementing with creatine.
What You Must Know About Creatine Supplementation
Fundamental research on creatine for exercise derives from studies using creatine monohydrate. Other forms of creatine (citrate, etc.) may be as effective as the monohydrate form, although they are not backed by research to the extent that creatine monohydrate is. This form is also the easiest to find and the least expensive.
How To Use Creatine Most Effectively
Many researchers have shown the fastest way to saturate muscle cells with creatine is by supplementation for 5 to 6 days with 20 grams of creatine monohydrate per day, spread out in 5 gram doses throughout the day. The loading phase is followed by maintenance dosing at 3 to 5 grams per day.
Unfortunately, this high dose often leads to stomach problems, including diarrhea. An alternative strategy is to start with 3 to 5 grams per day and continue with this dose over the long term. Skipping the loading phase takes longer to reach muscle saturation. Workout results therefore come more slowly (4 or 5 weeks, as opposed to 10 days or less). The advantage is the avoidance of stomach problems when skipping the loading phase.
Research shows how important it is to boost the ability of muscle cells to take in creatine. This strategy is possible by adding carbohydrate to the creatine supplement, which thereby stimulates the secretion of insulin. Insulin helps with creatine uptake and has an anabolic effect on muscles. Glucose (dextrose, or blood sugar) is the key carbohydrate. The creatine to carbohydrate ratio is optimal when it is about 5 grams of glucose to every gram of creatine monohydrate.
Creatine and carbohydrate are the key combination that you will see in many commercial creatine supplements. Additional ingredients are also often included. However, research on these is absent or insufficient to know how effective they really are. The easiest and most cost-effective way to supplement with creatine and get the right carbohydrate boost is to buy creatine monohydrate and glucose separately. Then mix them together yourself in a glass of water.
Creatine Safety
Muscle cells become more hydrated when they are saturated with creatine. This does not, as some people believe, cause dehydration.
Medical doctors often repeat the mistaken notion that the production of creatinine by creatine supplementation is a sign of kidney problems. Indeed, creatinine levels do increase when taking creatine, although this increase is not toxic to the kidneys. Creatine has been well-researched for decades, and dozens of studies clearly show it to be safe and effective for long term use. Claims to the contrary are unscientific and ignore this vast body of research. Creatine clearly offers tremendous benefits for muscle building exercises.
