Creatine monohydrate... in a world of bodybuilding supplements that make exaggerated, ridiculous claims and outrageous promises, creatine monohydrate stands alone. Simply put, creatine is one of the few products that actually works -- and delivers measurable, noticeable results every time.
I first experimented with creatine back in 1996 after reading about it in the now defunct Muscle Media magazine, and have been using it religiously ever since.
In fact, while I've experimented with almost every bodybuilding supplement under the sun (including HMB, No2, Methoxy, Andro, and so on), creatine, along with a high quality whey protein and l-glutamine supplement, have formed the backbone of my supplement regimen since then. I'd call creatine a "no-brainer" supplement.
Sidebar: About 20% of the population, known as "nonresponders" do not respond to creatine supplementation. Nobody's really sure why -- it may be these people already have a higher concentration of muscle creatine.
Creatine is ideal for performance gains in activities that are largely anaerobic -- i.e., those exercises requiring short, intense bursts of energy at maximum effort. In other words, creatine monohydrate is a great supplement for a weight lifter or bodybuilder, and not-so-great a supplement for a long distance runner (although it may be helpful for sprinters who run very short distances at maximum intensity -- 50 or 100 meter sprints, for example).
Unlike many other bodybuilding supplements, creatine is already at work in your body, playing a vital role in the creation and replenishing of ATP, the body's energy source. Creatine does not alter the body's hormonal environment -- it's not a steroid, a prohormone, or anything similar. Creatine can be, and is acquired naturally -- there's plenty of it in beef, pork, herring and salmon (between 3-6 grams per kilo) for instance. As far as supplements go, it's as natural as it gets.
Click here for Part II of the creatine article, "How Does Creatine Work?
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