Creatine Monohydrate is advertised as the most cost-effective dietary supplement on the market, in terms of muscle mass and strength gains.
As well as boasting impressive gains, Creatine Monohydrate also goes as far to say that it will increase your body’s fat stripping power, and that it is an essential supplement for sports requiring high intensity, explosive movements such as sprinters and powerlifters.
Where marketing states that Creatine is ideal for those looking to improve their power, strength, lean mass and speed, does it actually deliver, or is it all smoke and mirrors like so many supplements available today? In this review we will address how Creatine Monohydrate works and whether it delivers on it’s advertised promises.
How Does Creatine Monohydrate Work?
Creatine is naturally found in the human body, as well as in foods such as animal materials although the majority is denatured during the cooking process. Over 90% of creatine present in our body is found within the muscles, and extensive research has found that it’s closely linked to protein and energy synthesis. Therefore, it’s logical to see that increasing the levels of free creatine in your system will have the knock on effect of increasing protein synthesis, and energy synthesis by speeding up the ATP-CP pathway.
It’s these knock on effects that have the potential to lead to increases in muscle mass, and give the extra boost of energy needed to push out those extra reps when you start to feel the burn. The body is most sensitive to creatine influxes post workout, so consuming with carbohydrates after a gym session gives the highest rate of absorption and the quickest way to seeing results.
Benefits of Creatine Monohydrate
In terms of delivering on the advertised promises, it’s clear to see that creatine massively enhances your strength and speed. You’ll find that after following the directions for dosage, creatine helps to set new personal bests at both weight and rep number. It’s this increase in performance that leads to the increases in muscle mass, rather than the supplement itself. Users have flocked in their thousands to sing the praises of creatine monohydrate, and its benefits are clear for the eye to see.
The benefit to cost ratio however, is absolutely unrivalled by any other supplement on the market. At just £4.19 for 250g, creatine monohydrate is a no brainer. It requires a much lower level of intake than whey protein based supplements, needing only 20-30g per day, split across 4-5 servings, meaning that it really delivers on it’s cost effectiveness.
Shortcomings
Where creatine monohydrate is without a doubt an essential product for any body builder and powerlifter, there are a couple of areas where it doesn’t deliver. The first of these is it’s promise of fat stripping potential. It’s really a bit cheeky to advertise this as a direct effect of creatine monohydrate, as there is no evidence for it increasing or decreasing your metabolism of fats. However, it’s more the other associated effects that lead to the loss of fat, than creatine itself.
Furthermore, there are some associated side effects. They are all minor, and can be mitigated by upping your intake of water. Creatine has the potential to upset the ionic balance of salts and water in the body, which can lead to fatigue and easy dehydration. By increasing your water intake, hydration levels stay at a healthy and stable level.
Conclusion
In short, creatine monohydrate is essential for anyone looking to improve their strength and speed. However, if you are sheerly looking for fat stripping, products like CLAs are going to do a better job.
Our recommended choice for Monohydrate Creatine is MyProtein version. It’s one of the cheapest products in the market and does the job extremely well, being rated in store as 4.5 stars after over 750 user reviews.
