Creatine
monohydrate

If you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, your muscle stores are probably lower than those of someone omnivorous, which makes the response to supplementation more noticeable.

A 70 kg man stores about 120 grams of creatine in his body, most of it (approximately 95%) in the muscles. Women, having less muscle mass, store a significantly lower amount, although recommended supplementation doses are almost the same. About 1–2% of that reserve is degraded each day, equivalent to about 2 grams. The body replenishes this loss in two ways: synthesizing between 1 and 1.7 grams per day in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas, and obtaining an additional 0.25 to 1 gram through diet.

Creatine does one main thing, but it does it very well: it helps your muscles recover energy faster during short, intense efforts. That translates into more repetitions before reaching failure, more power in sprints and faster recovery between sets.

It is not a stimulant, it does not increase heart rate, it does not burn fat.

Every time your muscles contract they need energy in the form of ATP — the body’s energy currency. The problem is that ATP stores last only a few seconds. To replenish them quickly, the body uses the phosphocreatine stored in the muscle: creatine kinase catalyzes a reaction that transfers a phosphate group from phosphocreatine to ADP, regenerating ATP almost instantly.

It is an energy buffer — a reserve your body uses in the first seconds of any maximal effort. Phosphocreatine stores are depleted in about 10 seconds of maximal effort and need 3 to 5 minutes to recover fully. Supplementing with creatine raises those stores by up to 20% above baseline, which means more fuel available for every set, every sprint, every jump.

There is more: creatine also promotes intracellular hydration — it increases the water inside muscle cells, which activates anabolic signals that favor protein synthesis. The water it "retains" is not subcutaneous water that causes visible swelling, but intracellular water that contributes to real muscle volume.

For anyone who does strength training or any sport with intense, repeated efforts: weights, CrossFit, interval cycling, soccer, padel, swimming. It is also useful for runners who include intervals and for anyone who wants to improve their performance in the gym.

Beyond performance during training, it aids post-workout muscle recovery — the following sets and the sessions on later days suffer less.

It does not improve pure aerobic endurance — if you run a marathon at a steady pace, you will not notice a difference. Where it makes a difference is in efforts where intensity is high and there are pauses between them.

Creatine is not only for athletes. The most recent evidence shows meaningful benefits for older adults who want to maintain muscle mass and strength with age, and there is emerging evidence — though less consolidated — on cognitive benefits, especially in situations of sleep deprivation or intense mental stress.

You have two equally valid options:

Without a loading phase — 3 to 5 grams per day (around 3 g if you weigh 60 kg, around 4–5 g if you weigh 80 kg or more). Muscle stores saturate in about 4 weeks. It is the most convenient option and the one the stomach tolerates best.

With a loading phase — 20 grams per day split into 4 doses for 5 to 7 days, followed by 3 to 5 grams as maintenance. Stores saturate in a week. The end result is the same — only the speed changes.

Taking it close to training — before or after — is slightly better than taking it at another time of day. What matters is taking it every day, whether you train or not.

The reason taking it close to training produces better results is that exercise increases insulin sensitivity, and that favors muscle uptake of creatine. The post-workout window is especially effective for that reason.

On caffeine: a 1996 study suggested it could cancel out creatine’s ergogenic effect. Later reviews have qualified this — co-ingestion does not prevent muscle saturation, but it may blunt some acute effect. In practice, taking coffee pre-workout and creatine post-workout is a reasonable solution if you want to be cautious.

Take it with carbohydrates. A classic study showed that adding about 90 g of simple carbohydrates to each dose during the loading phase increased muscle retention by 60% compared with taking it alone. The mechanism is direct: fast carbohydrates produce an insulin spike, and this hormone helps creatine enter the muscle cells. You do not need that much sugar — a combination of 50 g of carbohydrates and 50 g of protein produces a similar effect with less glucose.

The market offers many forms of creatine. The short answer: no, they are not the same, and the difference matters.

The official position of the ISSN is clear: no form has demonstrated greater efficacy than monohydrate.

Unsealed creatine monohydrate possibly offers the best value for money if it comes from recognized brands, but if you want guaranteed quality look for these seals.

Creapure® guarantees ≥99.9% purity in the raw material. Made in Germany, it is the market reference standard and the most used in clinical studies.

Informed Sport or NSF Certified for Sport test the finished product batch by batch to detect banned substances. Relevant if you compete in sports with anti-doping testing.

The ideal if you compete under anti-doping testing: a product with Creapure as the raw material and Informed Sport or NSF on the finished product. For the amateur athlete who does not compete at a federated level, Creapure alone already offers more than sufficient guarantees.

A selection of the most cited and highest-quality studies (randomized, placebo, double- or triple-blind) except Hultman, for historical reasons. Only those carried out in humans. The link to the study is in the advanced level.

Strength and hypertrophy

Endurance and repeated efforts

Health and longevity

Cognition

Non-responders. Between 20 and 30% show little or no response. The most likely explanation is that they already have high baseline levels of muscle creatine — common in heavy red-meat eaters.

Optimal dose in women. Women have endogenous stores 70–80% lower than men. The menstrual cycle, estrogens and menopause modify the kinetics, but specific studies are scarce.

Very long-term effects. Safety up to five years is well documented. Beyond that, the data are scarce, though with no signs of risk.

Optimal dose for cognitive effects. The brain has local creatine synthesis and slower uptake than muscle. Sustained cognitive effects might require higher doses, or high acute doses in specific situations of mental stress.

Creatine is one of the supplements with the best documented safety profile. That said, consult your doctor before taking it if:

An important nuance: creatine raises blood creatinine as a normal byproduct of its metabolism. If you have a blood test while taking it, that value will appear elevated without it meaning renal damage. Inform your doctor before interpreting that result.