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Creatine is one of the most researched bodybuilding supplements. It became popular in the 1990s for enhancing athletic performance and building lean body mass. Before you get set to separate myths from the facts, you need to know the basics.

What is creatine
How creatine supplementation improves performance
Creatine myths and facts
How to use creatine
Creatine’s claim to fame lies in the fact that it delays the onset of fatigue thereby, allowing you to exercise longer with more intensity, ultimately improving your strength and muscle size.

WHAT IS CREATINE

Know more about one of the most researched supplements. Creatine is normally found in foods like meat and fish. Your body processes creatine in the kidney and liver. In the liver, three amino acids arginine, glycine (non-essential) and methionine (essential) combine to form creatine. Creatine is transported through the blood and is used by muscles that have high energy demands, such as the brain and the skeletal muscle. In fact, around 95 percent of creatine in the human body is stored in the skeletal muscle. Around 1.5 to 2 percent of creatine is converted to creatinine daily, a metabolic product of creatine and it is the biomarker of the health of kidneys.

HOW CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION IMPROVES PERFORMANCE

The primary benefit of creatine supplementation is that it increases power output and lean muscle mass. Looking back at your biology lessons, ATP (Adeno-triphosphate) is the energy currency stored in your muscle cells. Each time your muscle contracts during a training session, it loses a phosphate and changes into (Adeno-diphosphate). The dichotomy is that the body is unable to use ADP, as energy. Therefore, the body has to dip in the energy reserve, phosphate creatine reservoir (PCr) to borrow a phosphate to transform ADP into ATP, the acceptable energy currency for the body.

Now, here lies the paradox.

When you are training, your energy requirements multiply. As a result, the body is compelled to dip into its energy reserve (PCr) to replenish the lost energy. The sooner your energy reserves will exhaust, faster fatigue will set in. Supplementation with creatine serves to increase creatine stores and PCr availability in in the body, resulting in faster ATP formation. Supplementing with creatine improves your athletic and gym performance, as it tops off your energy reserve, thereby making you last longer in the game.

When the cell has sufficient ATP, creatine is converted back to phosphocreatine.

MYTHS VERSUS FACTS ON CREATINE

Creatine is one of the most researched sports supplements and there is no research to prove that it is unsafe. Creatine supplementation improves the functioning of the heart and the brain. Yet, many myths are doing rounds on creatine supplementation

MYTH # 1 Creatine damages your kidneys

Unless you have a pre-existing medical condition, you should not worry about creatine use, as it will not damage your kidneys or liver.

Several studies have found no adverse effects of creatine supplementation on how well the kidneys filter blood. No study so far has found any significant change in renal, hepatic, cardiac or muscle function due to creatine supplementation.

In one study, an individual with slightly damaged kidney was loaded with 20g creatine and no problem was found. A study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine in 2010 reported the kidney function of 36 healthy male and female athletes who consumed 10g of creatine per day. The study was for 12 weeks and at the end of it it did not find any adverse effect on kidney function of sportspersons.

MYTH # 2 Creatine causes hair loss

According to The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine studies have shown that creatine monohydrate increases the levels of Dihydrotestosterone in your body, an androgen synthesized in the hair follicles. This androgen can interrupt the transfer of nutrients to the hair follicle. Still, the fact remains that hair loss has a significant genetic component. If your father had a receding hairline, you may inherit it.

MYTH # 3 Creatine causes excessive water retention
The water retention usually comes when creatine is of inferior quality and loading is done in higher doses. Cheaply manufactured creatine contains excess sodium which can cause water retention.

MYTHS # 4 Creatine causes stomach upset

Stomach upset due to creatine use is a rare occurrence and only 5-7 percent of people who take creatine experience stomach aches. It can occur if you do not drink sufficient water with creatine or you take a lot of creatine in one dose or on an empty stomach. If stomach upset comes from taking too much creatine at once, you need to spread out the dosage over the day or take it with meals.

MYTH # 5 Creatine causes cramping and dehydration

It is falsely believed that in hot and humid environment creatine supplementation can cause cramping or dehydration. The fact of the matter is that creatine supplementation increases total body water and helps the athlete maintain the hydration status. Several studies have found that creatine supplementation can enhance performance in hot and humid weather and it has no effect on muscle cramping.

HOW TO USE CREATINE

Usually, creatine is supplemented in two phases: a loading phase and maintenance phase

Loading phase: To get the full benefit of creatine, you must saturate your muscle cells with creatine. Therefore, you need to supplement with 20g of creatine for 5 days. However, if you have a sensitive stomach, reduce the dose and increase the duration. Like you can supplement 10g for 10-12 days.
Maintenance phase: After the loading period is finished, then you move to maintenance. Some people will maintain on 5 g per day, but for most individuals, 2-3g each day will be sufficient. However, vegetarians have to increase their supplementation to 5g.
Creatine in powder form can be easily mixed with other powder supplements, as a pre or post-workout beverage. In order to increase absorption, you should have creatine with a sugary beverage to enhance absorption, since it increases insulin levels. Riding on an insulin spike, creatine is able to achieve the objective of hitting the muscle cells quickly.

Bottom line: Supplement with creatine to replenish energy reserve, which can result in fierce workout sessions and explosive lifts. As a result, you gain in muscle size and strength. Do remember to increase your water intake with creatine supplementation.

References

www.examine.com

http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/creatine/background/hrb-20059125

As a gym enthusiast, you know that a post-workout supplement is critical for optimal muscle growth. Religiously, after a gruelling training session you consume a post-workout shake to promote muscle repair, replenish energy reserves and reduce muscle breakdown. However, have you ever given a thought to a pre-workout supplement? It can add the bang to your workout that you wish to achieve each time you hit the gym, but attain sparingly. Just imagine running your car on near-empty gas. Will you be able to traverse long distance or at a high rev? No. Similarly, your performance, intensity, and rigour suffer when you train without supplementing your energy reserves.

Anyone who has flirted with fitness knows that glycogen, a readily mobilized storage form of glucose, stored in muscles and liver is the source of energy for intense or not-so-intense workouts. As soon as your glycogen levels deplete, the body resorts to proteins (stored in muscle tissues) and fats for energy. In the lack of sustained energy, fatigue will set in and your workout will be a bit less than satisfying.

As a result, there will be fewer reps and sets and you will not be able to push the muscles enough to the verge of failure. This situation is going to trap you in the fitness rut, where you will work out but not grow. Pre-workout can rescue you from this situation. To know how and why read further to know what’s in your pre-workout supplement. Fuel your workout with a pre-workout supplement to boost energy, focus and augment muscle pumps.

TOP TEN INGREDIENTS IN A PRE-WORKOUT SUPPLEMENT

The role of caffeine is well documented in enhancing alertness. Ask anyone who is studying for exams. Caffeine, the foundation of any pre-workout supplement stimulates central nervous system, decreases the perception of fatigue during workouts for greater training intensity. Caffeine also has a mild fat burning effect. Caffeine keeps your energy signals perked up amps up your body by preventing energy producing signals from being naturally degraded. The recommended dosage is 100 to 200 mg equivalent to one or two strong cups of coffee.
Creatine invariably finds a place in all pre-workout drinks. Creatine keeps your energy reserve primed because more creatine is equal to greater ATP, the energy currency of the body. Naturally, when you have more energy, you will be able to lift greater weights and build more muscles. A 2002 study of 20 athletes in the journal Nutrition found that creatine increased their body mass and gave them peak power during short sprints.
Citrulline gets converted to arginine and then to nitric oxide in the human body. It’s a proven energy booster and promotes better muscle endurance and bigger muscle pumps.
L-Arginine is an essential amino acid for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO). Nitric Oxide causes potent dilation of blood vessels that increases blood flow to the muscle for a fierce workout and faster recovery.
Beta-Alanine supplementation increases muscle levels of carnosine, that helps fight fatigue during high-intensity exercise. One study showed beta-alanine increased total work done during a strength training session by 20 percent
Bioperine is a pepper extract and it is used in a pre-workout and other supplements to improve absorption of ingredients and nutrients. It even helps improve fat metabolism and improves the body’s rate of fat burn.

7. Whey is a high quality quick digesting protein that contains high levels of BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids) Having 10-20 g of whey protein, 30-60 minutes before a workout can increase protein synthesis by delivering more amino acids, building blocks to the muscle that get incorporated into proteins.
8. Taurine is an amino acid found abundantly in skeletal muscle and enhances endurance and muscle strength
9. Tyrosine is an amino acid that serves as the precursor for norepinephrine (NE). NE is an important hormone that acts in the brain to stimulate metabolism. Prolonged, intense physical stress can deplete NE levels, which is associated with a decrease in performance.
10. Carbohydrates fuel your workouts and provide a readily available source of glucose. The basis for consuming carbs before exercise is to provide fuel for your muscles for mean training sessions ahead.

A pre-workout drink will carry a mix of these top ingredients to boost your stamina and endurance.

HOW TO USE A PRE-WORKOUT SUPPLEMENT

It is advisable to use pre-workout 20 to 30 minutes prior to your training session. In case, you drive to your gym, you need to calculate the traffic and the distance before you take your pre-workout drink.

Follow strictly the dosage of your pre-workout drink. Most pre-workouts have caffeine. Therefore avoid mixing it with an energy drink or carbonated beverages that have caffeine.
It is likely that you will build tolerance in respect to your pre-workout, therefore, once you have figured out your pre-workout regimen, avoid sticking on it every single day. Rather, cycle the pre-workout drink to maintain its effectiveness.
It is always advisable to begin your pre-workout at a lower dose so that you are able to assess your tolerance in respect to it.
Whether you are training to build six packs or are a plain fitness enthusiast and wish to get leaner, an average workout sticks you in a stubborn growth plateau. Transcend beyond the ordinary by supercharging your workouts. Include a pre-workout supplement to your training regimen. The difference is unmistakable and the results are going to surprise you.

Most importantly, pre-workouts will help you get the required kick while you gym. However, in order to maintain it, you need the support of BCAA while you work out and finish your kick-ass workout with a much-needed whey protein shake to build the body of your dream.

Whether you are a busy executive or a muscle seeker living by the reps and sets, diet determines your success in achieving your fitness goals. Paleolithic diet, the latest buzz word in the realm of diets reverts to the eating behavior of a caveman living, before the advent of agriculture. The idea of a Paleolithic diet can be traced to the work in the 1970s by gastroenterologist Walter Voegtlin. Later the idea was popularized by Loren Cordain in 2002 in his book The Paleo Diet.

WHAT IS A PALEO DIET

In an attempt to correct the modern day dietary excesses, a paleo diet goes back to a caveman’s dietary choices. In this diet, you eat foods as they look like in nature. In a paleo menu, you will find grass-fed meat, fish, organic eggs, nuts and fruits with a limited concession to oils. Healthy fats from nuts and seeds are included in paleo diet food list. Milk, grains, salt, legumes, processed foods, like cheese, cookies and cakes are out of bounds for someone on a paleolithic diet.

Eating out on a paleo diet requires a few intelligent tweaks. You should order a meat or fish-based main dish. Get extra vegetables instead of bread or rice. Request the restaurant to cook your food in extra-virgin olive oil.

Simple paleo snacks are baby carrots, hard-boiled egg, a bowl of berries, a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts.

BENEFITS OF PALEO DIET

A low-carb diet by design, paleo diet reduces weight, improves insulin sensitivity, digestion and provides a perfect balance of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Since your food is closer to nature, you start feeling energetic and active on a paleo diet plan. The benefits of the early man’s diet for the busy executive and muscle building enthusiast are:

1.Stabilizes blood sugar. Since such a diet omits hi fructose corn syrup, table sugar, it can help in stabilizing your blood sugar level. As a result, unnecessary food cravings go down and your success rate increases in maintaining weight.​

2. Lowers risk of chronic diseases. Moreover, limited intake of omega-6 fatty acids found primarily in cooking oils coupled with generous doses of nuts and fish reverses the omega-6 and omega-3 imbalance. Ideally, omega-3 and omega-6 should be taken in equal ratio. However, modern diet has skewed the ratio completely and it’s widely believed by many scientists that this shift in dietary intake of fats has led to many of the chronic diseases of ageing, like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and depression.
3. Enables weight loss and muscle gain. For someone who is insulin resistant, obese and struggling with weight loss, a paleo diet is invaluable. All he needs to do is to get in a calorie deficit mode, eat adequate protein, get roughly 100 grams of carbs from vegetables and whole fruit, and make up the rest of his calories from healthy fats. Since protein is difficult to digest nutrient, it keeps a weight loss aspirant sated for longer. Moreover, it keeps blood sugar stable and reduces cravings. Folks, who are on the anabolism trail, a protein-rich paleo diet provides enough amino acids for synthesis of muscles, along with a generous helping of good fats and complex carbohydrates, just the way nature intended.

CASE FOR PALEO-HYBRID DIET

Yet, like all things in life, it’s not all good with a strict Paleolithic diet, particularly for weight lifters. Since this diet allows carbs in restricted quantity, you may start to feel energy starved, This calls for going the Paleo-Hybrid route by introducing starchy vegetables and wholesome grains like brown rice and steel cut oats in the paleo diet. This will help eliminate the below-mentioned disadvantages of the strict Paleo diet and keep you energetic enough.

1. Fiber overload. If you train ferociously, your calorie requirement shoots up. If you’re aiming at 4000 plus calorie with 2000 coming from carbohydrates, where your dietary choices are restricted to fruits, you’ll morph in a walking balloon while attempting to fill in those calorie needs.

The middle path of the paleo-hybrid gives you the flexibility of choosing high-calorie fruits like banana and pineapple may help you deal with fiber overload.

2. Lesser bang in your workouts. The physiological state of someone who trains is different from a sedentary person. The muscle seeker in you knows that glycogen is the quick-burning fuel for that awesome workout. In the event of chronic carb depletion, your body is unable to replenish the glycogen reserve and begins to break down amino acids as reserve fuel to provide glucose during high-intensity training. This gives rise to a skinny-fat condition, whereby your muscles have been degraded to fuel your workouts.

Resorting to a paleo hybrid by incorporating wholesome carbs, like grains and oats is the only sensible option to spare the muscles and refuel their glycogen reserve. In case the inclusion of carbs is giving you guilt, say goodbye to it, as a recent report in the Quarterly Journal of Biology goes on to argue about the presence of carbs in a paleo diet 12000 years ago.

Be sensible and include starchy spuds like sweet potatoes and goodness of grains, like brown rice and old fashioned oats in your diet in sensible portions while on a paleo diet. Not only will it help break the monotony of meat, it will provide the much-needed energy for awesome workouts.

Going to a gym is more than fitness. A passport to adulthood, it has become an integral part of growing up. But, gyms can be intimidating too! The condescending stares of the pros and the casually thrown gym glossary unnerve beginners. No wonder, more than 50 percent of gym memberships do not last beyond a month. Is your gym membership also gathering dust because you are not acquainted with the fitness speak? A to Z guide of gym terms decodes commonly spoken gym terms or gym vocabulary for fitness beginners so that you continue to build with confidence.

Anaerobic Training

Anaerobic Training stumps newbies. All the while after listening to aerobic training, suddenly the new word baffles them. Putting it simply, when you run like you stole something, it is anaerobic training. Naturally, it is hard to run for a longer duration in this way. In anaerobic exercise form, you perform a high-intensity exercise for a couple of seconds to a minute or two.

Bulking

Bulking or anabolism is what drives gym regulars. A keyword for the muscle maniacs, it means building new muscle mass and transforming your physique. The proof of bulking lies in biceps swell, bulkier chest and massive shoulders.

Compound Exercises

Compound exercises require movement of two or more major joints in the body in a straight line path. A key contributor towards building endurance and muscle mass, compound exercises mimic real world functional movements, like pushing your car or picking up your kid. Squats, pushups are compound exercises that work as starting point of compound exercises for beginners. The benefits are increased stability and maximum calorie burn.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts scare beginners. The word means lifting a dead weight lying on the ground and is a must to build physique and total body strength. Regarded as the king of mass builders, deadlifts build your core strength. Of course, you feel like a dead while lifting that weight away.

Glutes

Posterior, behind and butt has a new name commonly used by the muscle building enthusiasts. Glutes maximus your primary butt muscle is the largest muscle in your body and the most inactive too, for a lot many people who spend most of their waking hours sitting on it. Each time you perform lunges, leg presses deadlifts, squats, you engage your glutes.

Hiit Hypertrophy

High-Intensity Interval Training High is a short burst of intense cardio activity where you pour in your 100 per cent, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods. This type of training gets and keeps your heart rate up and burns fat in less time. With a HIIT session, you end up burning more calories towards the end of the day, even when you’re not doing anything.

Hypertrophy is Another Name for Growing Bigger in Muscle Size.

Isolation Exercises

Jumping Jacks

Jump your way to fitness. Fun to do jumping jacks is a good for your heart. Each time you stretch your arms over head and legs, blood flow stimulates to different muscle groups. ThE best part you do not need any equipment to do it.

Knee Wraps

Heavy muscle heads use it when they are dealing with barbells loaded with huge chunks of weight. Providing extra support and protection the knee wraps work on all variants of squats.

Lats

Lats is the broadest muscle covering your back and they are important in defining the bodybuilders physique.

Meal Replacement Shakes

The name says all. Anyone serious about fitness carries it so that they don’t succumb to an impromptu urge to snack on unhealthy foods. The meal replacement shake combines the convenience of a shake and the nutrition of a well-planned meal in a limited calorie format. Enriched with proteins, vitamins and minerals, it works as a guilt-free, on-the-go nutritious snack and a wholesome in-between meal that easily integrates with a busy lifestyle and delivers healthful advantages.

Newbie

A term used as a slang for a beginner, the word will get thrown around, if you are short on gym etiquettes, like leaving a sweaty bench, talking on the phone. Be aware of gym etiquettes.

Olympic Bars

Olympic bars are the maxed out version of the barbell and they are used by international sports competition. A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment (a long bar with weights attached to it) and it is used in weight training, bodybuilding and power lifting.

Pushups Pecs Pilates Plateau Progressive Overload

The bare bones of muscle building exercise, pushups target, arms, core and chest simultaneously and they are really difficult for a beginner. A compound exercise and a barometer of your fitness level, pushups are not as simple as they look.

Pecs are the Bulk of Chest Muscles.

Pilates is an exercise form and it demands focus. Fluid looking body movements in Pilates exert immense control.

Plateau is to remain in a state of no-growth. When plateau sets in muscles stop growing or weight refuses to budge.

Progressive Overload in simpler words means to take it easy and to increase the weights gradually, during your training so that the body adapts and makes changes accordingly.

Quads

Quads or quadriceps is a large muscle group on the front of the thigh. Stretching out the quads Stretching out the quads is a must do after hiking, cycling, running, stair-stepping, or any other activity that gives your thighs a workout.

Reps & Sets

Reps refer to repetitions and a set comprises of the number of reps. You will often hear people saying something like, 3 sets of 5 reps. This means that the particular exercise will be done for 15 times. After a set, you may rest briefly.

Soreness: Doms

Soreness of muscles: a necessary evil or an avoidable pain? An outcome of punishing workout schedules, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness kicks in after 6 to 8 hours of exercise and peaks after 48 hours. DOMS is often considered as a reward for increasing muscle size, but be careful because overtraining can stunt your muscle growth.

Related Article: Building Muscles and a Lifestyle

Training

Training is often used interchangeably for work out. It’s the action of undertaking a course of exercise and diet in preparation for a sporting event.

VO2

As you increase your exercise intensity, your oxygen consumption goes up. VO2 Max is a measure of the maximum volume of oxygen that an athlete can use. VO2 Max is measured in ml/kg of body weight per minute. For most people, the number of VO2 max is between 30 to 60.

Whey Protein

Whey is the first tub of protein that a fitness enthusiast buys. And from here begins a lasting relationship that grows stronger with each passing day. Whey Protein is not only for huge muscle heads. It’s for any regular guy who begins to gym, eats clean, but is still not able to see the definition of his muscles.

X-Training

X-training is also known as Cross training or boot camp and offers an alternative to group fitness training activity It is an alternative to typical group fitness training found in gyms and provides an overall total body workout!

Yohimbe

Yohimbe is often found in fat burners and it blocks fat receptors. The other key ingredients in a fat burner are garcinia cambogia, grape fruit extracts and cayenne pepper. Together they work to improve metabolism and boost fat burn when done with a workout.

Zzz

Sleep is the most important bit of muscle building. Rest is critical for muscles to grow stronger. If your growth is getting stunted, try investigating your sleep pattern.