The Ultimate Guide To Creatine Supplementation Part 2

In the Part 1 of this series, I explained what creatine is and what it does in the body. The details may seem unimportant. Most of the so-called “experts” seem to think that. But in order to understand and interpret the science, we need to understand creatine at the most basic level so we can correctly interpret what researchers observe, allowing us to develop the most beneficial protocols instead pulling something out of our ass.

Now that we know what creatine is and what it does at the cellular level, in this section let’s look at what supplementing with creatine can do for you.

Muscular Hypertrophy

Let’s face facts. Creatine didn’t make such a massive splash in the supplement industry because of its ability to bridge energy systems and possibly help with getting one or two reps more than normal. Creatine supplementation is touted as an extremely effective muscle builder, and research supports this wholeheartedly[1-10] and this has been verified through meta-analysis[11].

The myth spread by people who think any mass-market supplement must be junk—like your doctor—is that creatine supplementation doesn’t increase lean body mass, but only increases fluid retention. If you’re lucky, your neighborhood bro-scientist will tell you the same thing. This is false. Creatine supplementation has been shown to cause a net flow of extra fluid into cells and even into the space between cells[5,12]. These intra- and extra-cellular pools do increase in fluid content[13-15], but creatine does, in fact, increase muscle mass.

What’s more curious is that even in the absence of resistance training, creatine supplementation can increase lean body mass[10].

Creatine Is Anabolic

Remember, your body is in a constant state of protein turnover. It’s constantly tearing down muscle tissue, then rebuilding it. The normal turnover rate for a lean, healthy individual is roughly 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight (0.8g/kg)[16-17]. This means that a lean 200 pound male would need to consume at least 72 grams of protein per day simply to maintain body mass.

If we shift this balance—even in the absence of resistance training—so the protein turnover is less, and more protein is synthesized than destroyed, it would be possible to gain muscle taking in a small amount of protein. This is typically how anti-catabolic agents work. They don’t increase growth signals per se, but they slow muscle protein breakdown. This is likely how creatine works to increase muscle size.

Creatine shifts the body’s metabolism to grow more muscle by doing both: increasing muscle protein synthesis and decreasing muscle protein breakdown. Specifically, creatine enhances growth of myosin heavy chain (MHC) type I and particularly type II fibers[18-20]. MHC type II fibers are the “fast twitch” muscle most responsible for the extreme amounts of muscle mass that one can achieve through resistance training[21-22]. This is particularly true for MHC IIa and IIx fibers[23].

 (NOTE: You may have expected me to talk about MHC type IIb fibers, like everyone else, including medical texts, but humans don’t actually express the super-fast twitch fibers, type IIb. We possess a slightly slower counterpart called type IIx[24].)

Creatine is Anti-Catabolic

Like I said, we can increase hypertrophy of muscle tissue in one of two ways, by increase muscle protein synthesis—the anabolic process—and by decreasing muscle protein breakdown—the catabolic process. As I described, creatine is definitely anabolic by shifting toward greater protein synthesis. Creatine also slows muscle protein breakdown.

Creatine has been shown to decrease myostatin, one of the most catabolic and size-limiting genes in the human body[25]. By decreasing activation, you get a bump in the maximum size you can obtain. Theoretically, though, it should reach maximum effectiveness quickly. This coincides with the current rate of research, and it explains why creatine supplementation can be used to prevent muscle wasting during old age and cancer treatment[26-27].

Creatine, Glycogen, and GLUT4

Creatine has a few more tricks up its powdery sleeve—ones that make it a prime candidate for use with Carb Back-Loading and even Carb Nite. Research has shown that creatine supplementation can increase muscle GLUT4 expression for up to 24 hours after resistance training above normal[20, 28-30]. If you’ve read Carb Back-Loading 1.0—or any of my many readily available articles about CBL—you already understand the importance of this. In short, the more GLUT4 transporters a muscle has, the greater its ability to absorb glucose, replenish glycogen stores, and prevent fat cells from storing glucose as part of body fat.

Researchers have also demonstrated that creatine supplementation can allow for supercompensation of glycogen levels within muscles, but only with resistance training.

And, on the flip-side, ingesting carbs can increase the retention of creatine levels within muscles[31-33].  So if you’re Carb Back-Loading, the creatine boosts the response to carbs (in terms of glycogen storage) and the carbs boost the creatine retention. This makes creatine the ideal supplement on Carb Back-Loading and on Carb Nites.

There’s also another benefit to creatine supplementation that I find interesting and that could be of use with cyclic-ketogenic diets like CBL and Carb Nite. After supplementing for a couple of weeks with creatine, the body burns more glucose than normal while at rest[45]. Now it’s hard to say how this research translates from the case studied–the participants all ate a standard mixed diet–but if it does hold true, then through the non-carb portions of the day, the body may clear out glucose reserves faster. On Carb Nite, this would be beneficial because your body will get back into a pure ketogenic state faster. On CBL, however, this could cause problems. To date, no negative effect of creatine on body composition has been reported, so it’s probably not something worth worrying about on CBL, but it might be worth a shot at accelerating results with Carb Nite.

Brain Boost 

Every cell in your body has mitochondria along with a creatine/creatine phosphate transport system, including the cells of the nervous system. By allowing an efficient and low-cost recycling system for ATP, creatine keeps cells running smoothly and allows them to navigate short-lived energy demands as though nothing has happened. This is true even in brain cells[34-35]. In a study that tested creatine supplementation in vegetarians, cognitive function was found to increase[36-37]. This isn’t surprising, because vegetarians and vegans don’t eat the primary dietary source of creatine—meat—and have lower level than omnivores[38]. This is also likely why you never see vegans competing at a world-class level in power sports like sprinting or powerlifting.

Creatine also helps fight against cognitive decline with age[39].

Longevity

There’s evidence in rat models that suggests that creatine could increase lifespan[40-41]. Since we now know what creatine actually does in cells, this isn’t a surprising discovery. If your mitochondria don’t need to do the extra work of converting ADP directly into ATP, we actually get a lower production of metabolic waste products. I’m referring specifically here to positive ion carriers, which can put stress on the cellular machinery. The buildup of positive ion carriers is what causes fatigue in muscles, not excess lactate. Free potassium (K⁺), magnesium (Mg⁺²) and calcium (Ca⁺²) along with free hydrogen (H⁺, what lowers pH and increases acidity), are the sources of muscular fatigue[42-44].

By supplementing with creatine, we prevent this excess mitochondrial respiration from activating—except during periods of physical exertion. During these periods, these effects can be beneficial—as you can see when you open any physique-oriented magazine and look at what results.

Coming Up Next…

Obviously, creatine is a super supplement, we just need to know the best way to supplement. Because of all the questions I’ve received about the type, timing and amounts of creatine to ingest, I’ve written what would be an overwhelming amount of information for a single post. So, want to know how much creatine to take and which kind is best? Come back next week. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. 

The Ultimate Guide To Creatine Supplementation Part 1 

The Ultimate Guide To Creatine Supplementation Part 3

 

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