Creatine has long been an extremely popular supplement among weightlifters and bodybuilders, but lately, an increasing number of endurance athletes started adding creatine supplements to their diet.
Creatine is an excellent supplement to support your muscles. Its main function is to increase muscle energy levels (ATP), boost protein synthesis, and improve muscle endurance, especially during short high-intensity exercise. It also boosts strength and explosiveness.
In this blog, you'll learn more about creatine and what type of creatine is best to support your muscles with.
How does creatine support your muscles?
Creatine is present in your muscle tissue, and its main role is to provide the energy your muscles need to function by fueling the phosphagen energy system.
Creatine also boosts protein synthesis, which may lead to increased muscle gains, but further research is required to fully appreciate its effect in this regard.
The way creatine works is a little complicated. Your body uses ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to activate the protein required to contract your muscles. But your ATP stores are limited, and once you run out, your muscles will give out.
This is where creatine comes into play!
Creatine, which is used by the body to create creatine phosphate (an integral element of the phosphagen energy system), increases the concentration and the replenishment of ATP in your muscles, which basically means your muscles have more energy to play with.
Creatine plays a vital role in energy production.
How to get creatine?
Creatine is naturally produced in your body. Most creatine is produced by your liver through the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine.
You can get creatine from food rich in amino acids, such as meat, fish, and dairy products, but for the needs of an athlete, it is extremely difficult to get sufficient amounts through food — to illustrate, one kilogram of raw beef contains about 4.5 grams of creatine, but eating so much meat is not a sustainable option.
If you want to use creatine to support your muscles, dietary supplements are the way to go.
Creatine supplements allow you to easily hit the required intake of creatine — how much is that?
It depends on the type of creatine supplement you are using.
The European Commission recommends 3 grams of creatine monohydrate per day, but the standard dose is 5 grams.
If you are using creatine HCL, the required dose is much smaller, namely 1.5 grams per day divided into two doses.
Also keep in mind that you should take creatine regularly and at the same time of the day so that you preserve steady levels of creatine in your muscles.
For an athlete, the only way to efficiently get enough creatine is with supplements.
Creatine Monohydrate vs Creatine HCL
If you look into creatine supplements, you might be puzzled by the variety of different sources available.
While most are similar in terms of effect — at the end of the day, creatine is creatine — they mostly differ in terms of absorption rates, water retention rates, and price.
We will look at the two most common types of creatine, namely creatine monohydrate and creatine hydrochloride (HCL).
Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is by far the most researched and tested version of creatine on the market.
The chemical structure of creatine monohydrate, as the name implies, is a molecule of creatine bound to a molecule of water.
It has numerous benefits, such as increasing strength, explosiveness, muscle volume, and brain function. This makes it perfect for most sports with the exception of those that require great flexibility and optimal body weight.
As great as that sounds, creatine monohydrate has a downside — yes, such is life. Namely, about 20% of people are non-responders. So there's a chance you will get no benefit from it. Furthermore, sensitive individuals might experience digestive issues.
Creatine Monohydrate 4Energy is a 100% pure creatine monohydrate powder suitable for all athletes.
There are also two sub-types of creatine monohydrate available: anhydrous creatine and micronized creatine. Both types may present a reduced chance of digestive issues.
Creatine monohydrate is the most popular and researched creatine supplement.
Anhydrous Creatine
Anhydrous creatine is 100% pure creatine (with the molecule of water removed), commonly present in creatine capsules.
That said, the only potential benefit of this type of creatine might be a reduced chance of digestive issues, as it will turn to creatine monohydrate once it comes into contact with the water present in your stomach.
In our opinion, anhydrous creatine doesn't provide enough benefits over creatine monohydrate to be worth the trouble.
Micronized Creatine
Micronized creatine, on the other hand, is very interesting and may provide benefits you should know about.
While similar to creatine monohydrate, micronized creatine goes through a process the reduces its particles by up to 20 times. This makes it easier to mix and, above all, increases its absorption rates.
It might also be more pure, but that is probably a non-issue as any good source of creatine monohydrate is pure as well. Finally, better absorption might further reduce the chance of digestive issues.
You should also know that micronized creatine causes less water retention than creatine monohydrate, which — depending on your goals — might be a plus or a minus. For endurance athletes, that's definitely a plus.
Unfortunately, there are clear downsides to micronized creatine as well. One of them is the price, much higher than regular creatine monohydrate. The other is a little unusual and unconfirmed, but some athletes report feeling dizzy after taking micronized creatine.
Micronized creatine is the more expensive version of creatine monohydrate that provides increased absorption rates and less water retention.
Creatine Hydrochloride
Among endurance athletes, creatine hydrochloride (HCL) is all the hype, as it seems to provide all the benefits of creatine monohydrate without the pesky downsides — all those swollen muscles dragging us down on the road.
Creatine HCL 4Endurance Pro is designed specifically for endurance athletes who want to avoid water retention.
Chemically speaking, creatine hydrochloride is one molecule of creatine bound to a molecule of hydrochloride. In other words, creatine HCL is a creatine hydrochloride salt.
Its main benefit is better solubility leading to better absorption rates. This increases the effect of creatine and decreases the chance of digestive issues.
For endurance athletes, though, the main factor is water retention. Since creatine HCL doesn't cause water retention, it's what we recommend to our athletes.
Another potential benefit is that creatine HCL requires smaller doses compared to creatine monohydrate. While this might not seem important, it does decrease the chance of problems related to overdosing.
If there is a downside to creatine HCL, it's the price, which is higher than creatine monohydrate. You simply can't have it all.
The main benefit of creatine HCL for endurance athletes is that it doesn't cause water retention.
Conclusion
Creatine is one of the most research supplements in sports, which was primarily used in fitness and bodybuilding due to its ability to increase muscle mass.
But creatine is also crucial for the production of ATP energy by fueling the phosphagen energy system. This makes it relevant in pretty much all sports, including endurance sports — think of sprints or full body movements during trail running.
There is a variety of creatine supplements available, but the two most common ones are creatine monohydrate and creatine HCL. The main difference between the two is water retention. Creatine monohydrate swells the muscles with water, giving you that full, muscular look, while creatine HCL does not — which is why we recommend it to endurance athletes.