Creatine monohydrate: the boring form, on purpose

Walk down any sports nutrition aisle and you’ll find creatine in a dozen costumes: buffered, liquid, ethyl ester, nitrate, blended into pre-workouts with long ingredient lists. Underneath almost all the research sits one plain white powder, creatine monohydrate. Here’s what creatine is, how it works, and why the boring form is the one we chose.

What creatine is

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound, not a hormone and not a drug. Your body makes some of it, mainly in the liver and kidneys, from the amino acids arginine and glycine, with help from methionine. The rest comes from food, mostly red meat and seafood. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), a pound of uncooked beef or salmon provides about 1–2 g.

About 95% of the body’s creatine is stored in skeletal muscle, with small amounts in the brain and elsewhere. Around two thirds of the creatine in muscle is held as phosphocreatine.

How it works

Your muscles run on ATP. During a sprint, a jump or a heavy set, ATP gets used up within seconds. Phosphocreatine donates its phosphate to rebuild ATP quickly, so you can keep producing force for a little longer and recover faster between bursts.

More creatine in the muscle means more phosphocreatine to draw on. The ISSN notes that a typical diet with 1–2 g of creatine a day leaves muscle stores about 60–80% full, and that supplementing raises muscle creatine and phosphocreatine by about 20–40%. That extra capacity is why creatine helps most with repeated short, hard efforts, and why the effect builds over weeks of training rather than in one session.

Why monohydrate

Creatine monohydrate is creatine bound to one molecule of water. It’s the form used in most of the studies. The ISSN’s 2017 position stand states that creatine monohydrate is “the most extensively studied and clinically effective form of creatine for use in nutritional supplements in terms of muscle uptake and ability to increase high-intensity exercise capacity.”

The same paper reviews the newer forms. Clinical evidence has not shown that creatine citrate, creatine serum, creatine ethyl ester, buffered creatine or creatine nitrate lead to greater creatine retention than monohydrate. Some may work about as well; none has beaten it in the research.

So we went with the form the evidence is built on. It isn’t exciting. That’s the point.

What the research supports

The ISSN position stand calls creatine monohydrate the most effective nutritional supplement currently available to athletes for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training. It reports benefits in adolescents, younger adults and older individuals, and in men and women, while noting that most studies have been in men and some suggest smaller gains in women.

On safety, the ISSN concludes there is no compelling scientific evidence that short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate (up to 30 g a day for 5 years) has detrimental effects on otherwise healthy individuals. Weight gain is the only consistently reported side effect. That’s the position of one scientific society, not a promise for every person, so the doctor check below still applies.

Who may notice more

People who eat little or no meat or fish start with lower muscle creatine. The ISSN notes vegetarians have lower stores and may see greater gains in muscle creatine from supplementing. People who already eat a lot of red meat may notice less.

What’s in Creatine Strength

Creatine Strength is creatine monohydrate and nothing else: 5,000 mg (5 g) a scoop, unflavored, no other ingredients, no allergens listed, 50 scoops a tub. Nothing else: no flavors, sweeteners or fillers on the label.

The label starts with a loading week: for days 1–5, one scoop in 8 oz of water or juice, four times a day. After that, one scoop once or twice a day, on training days and rest days alike. The loading week uses 20 scoops, so a first tub lasts about 35 days at one scoop a day afterward; refills last 50 days.

It mixes with very little taste. Stir it into water or juice and drink it soon after mixing; any grains that settle are still creatine. The label says it “supports strength, aids recovery & increases training power.*”

What it isn’t

• Not a pre-workout. No caffeine, no stimulants. It works through stores built over days, so timing around a session matters little.
• Not a protein. It doesn’t supply amino acids for muscle repair. That’s food, or Protein Strength (whey isolate, contains milk).
• Not a shortcut. It helps you do a little more in training. The training, sleep and meals still do the work.

Before you start

Ask your doctor before starting if you have a health condition, take medication, are pregnant or nursing, or are under 18.

Keep reading

How loading compares with a steady daily dose, and why rest days count: loading, rest days and water. Common misunderstandings: 6 creatine myths. Fitting it into a real week: recovery at 35 isn’t 25. Day to day: Creatine Strength, one scoop a day and the FAQ. Or Find your formula.

References

1. Kreider RB, et al. “International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2017;14:18.
2. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. “Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.”
3. Creatine Strength Supplement Facts panel and directions (the product label).