Creatine is one of the most popular nutritional ergogenic aids for athletes. Studies have consistently shown that creatine supplementation increases intramuscular creatine concentrations which may help explain the observed improvements in high intensity exercise performance leading to greater training adaptations.
In addition to athletic and exercise improvement, research has shown that creatine supplementation may enhance post-exercise recovery, injury prevention, thermoregulation, rehabilitation, and concussion and/or spinal cord neuroprotection.
Creatine for Health and Exercise
Creatine can improve health and athletic performance in several ways.
In high intensity exercise, its primary role is to increase the phosphocreatine stores in your muscles.
The additional stores can then be used to produce more ATP, which is the key energy source for heavy lifting and high intensity exercise.
Creatine also helps you gain muscle in the following ways:
- Boosted workload. It enables more total work or volume in a single training session, a key factor in long-term muscle growth.
- Improved cell signaling. It can increase satellite cell signaling, which aids muscle repair and new muscle growth.
- Raised anabolic hormones. Studies note a rise in hormones, such as IGF-1, after taking creatine.
- Increased cell hydration. Creatine lifts water content within your muscle cells, which causes a cell volumization effect that may play a role in muscle growth.
- Reduced protein breakdown. It may increase total muscle mass by reducing muscle breakdown.
- Safe Supplementation. Creatine is safe for the vast majority of people, which can’t be said of all supplements.
- Lower myostatin levels. Elevated levels of the protein myostatin can slow or inhibit new muscle growth. Supplementing with creatine can reduce these levels, increasing growth potential.
Creatine supplements also increase phosphocreatine stores in your brain, which may promote brain health and improve symptoms of neurological disease.
Top 3 Creatine Monohydrate Supplements of 2022
The Highest Quality Creatine is Muscle Boost by Vitaliboost
Being the most pure creatine on the market is reason enough to choose Muscle Boost, but it goes beyond purity. Muscle Boost Creatine is NSF certified.
Results: What to Expect From Muscle Boost Creatine Monohydrate Supplement
Reduced Muscle Fatigue
Muscle fatigue is reduced during and after weight lifting. This is mostly due to the hydrating effect creatine has on muscles, by allowing muscle to retain more water. When muscles can more efficiently be used to exercise, they’re less likely to be injured or overworked.
Increased Weight in Compound Lifts
Creatine ensures that your muscles are at their peak hydration levels. Muscle cells need water to function properly, so a healthy amount of creatine in your system insures maximum effectiveness of muscles in heavy lifts.
Bigger pump
Many people using creatine are looking to get bigger and stronger. Creatine allows your muscles to retain more water, which makes them appear larger. This means that the “pump” you get from a lift will be extra large compared to when your creatine levels were lower.
What is NSF Certification?
NSF certification is your key to making sure that the products you use meet strict standards for public health protection.
Choosing a product certified by NSF lets you know the company complies with strict standards and procedures imposed by NSF. From extensive product testing and material analyses to unannounced plant inspections, every aspect of a product’s development is thoroughly evaluated before it can earn our certification.
Most importantly, NSF certification is not a one-time event, but involves regular on-site inspections of manufacturing facilities and regular re-testing of products to ensure that they continue to meet the same high standards required to maintain certification over time. If for any reason a product fails to meet one or more certification criteria, NSF will take enforcement actions to protect you, including product recall, public notification or de-certification.
Products that earn NSF certification are said to be “NSF certified” or “NSF listed” and display the applicable NSF certification mark to show that they have been tested by one of today’s most respected independent product testing organizations.
Scientific Sources:
Creatine Supplementation for Muscle Growth: A Scoping Review of Randomized Clinical Trials from 2012 to 2021 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8949037/
Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14636102/
What is NSF Certification – https://www.nsf.org/knowledge-library/what-is-nsf-certification