How Creatine helps you to build a perfect body in Pakistan

What is Creatine?

Creatine is an organic compound or natural supplement found in the human body’s muscle cells. It is also synthetically made in laboratories and commercially sold like protein powders as a supplement to enhance muscle building and improve gym performance and to gain strength.

Creatine for Bodybuilding

Creatine has been studied extensively over the past many years and is regarded as one of the safest supplements to use for gaining muscle, and almost all creatine supplements use the same type of it- creatine monohydrate.

Like protein supplements, creatine supplements are also available in the form of creatine powder, creatine bars, creatine shakes or drinks, and creatine tablets.

It has been scientifically proven that creatine works equally well for trained athletes as well as for amateurs and people with sedentary lifestyles.

So what do Creatine Supplements actually do for you in the gym?

• In HIT (High Intensity) Workouts, it increases the muscles' phosphocreatine stores, and this increased level of storage is used for the production of more ATP. (Adenosine TriPhosphate is our body's energy currency, i.e. body energy is measured through ATPs.) The Human body stores energy in the form of ATP and breaks it down when it needs to utilize that energy.
• Creatine Supplements increase the muscles’ capacity to retain water, and Muscle cells remain well hydrated, which plays a role in bodybuilding.
• It reduces protein breakdown. Proteins are the main components of muscles and are required in higher amounts for people wanting to gain muscle. Creatine reduces protein breakdown into amino acid, thus reducing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle mass.
• It lowers myostatin levels. An average person's Myostatin's function is to break muscles to prevent overgrowth, but for people looking to build bodies, this can hinder their goals and slow them down. Creatine lowers myostatin muscles to help in faster muscle gain.
• It regulates cell signals, better communication leads to more cell repair and increases muscle growth.
• It increases the body’s total workout capacity in the gym, which is essential to boost to gain and retain the muscle that you've built.

Creatine for Weight Loss

As we've already discussed, creatine keeps up the body energy and boosts muscle growth, which means it channels food nutrients to muscle growth instead of fat deposition and, if used correctly, can ultimately help in weight loss as well.

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Also, when you're dieting, there is a high chance that you become deficient in some of the essential nutrients and also feel weak, creatine covers that part for you so that you can diet without losing energy.

If you're working out to lose weight, muscles can become dehydrated and also stressed out, resulting in body pains and weakness. The added dosage of creatine will aid in muscle repair, keep up your energy, and increase gym performance to help you achieve your fitness goals.

It is still uncommon to use creatine for weight loss because of its water-retention property. People are discouraged when they gain a little water weight (that weight is totally temporary).

Do Creatine Supplements increase Body Creatine Kinase levels?

Creatine Kinase is an enzyme found in many tissues of the body like the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles. 

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Creatine supplements increase Creatine Kinase (CK) activity, which, again, improves Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) resynthesis. Normally, ATP molecule is depleted almost 10 seconds after intense physical activity, but the additional creatine retains it for a few seconds longer. Thus creatine supplements not only help gain muscle, but they also increase strength, endurance and giving energy and performance a boost too.

A common myth surrounding creatine supplements is that it increases CK levels drastically, leading to muscle dystrophy, weakness and diseases. Although there are a few people who believe and support this idea, there is so far no scientific evidence for these claims and many studies and researches say the opposite of it.

According to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina, creatine supplements do not, by any means, compromise on muscle cellular integrity.

Other Creatine Health Benefits

Research has proved that creatine supplements, in addition to aiding in muscle building may:

1. Strengthen muscles for better muscle function in older adults.
2. Lower Blood Sugar Levels
3. Help in fatty liver diseases.
4. Improves brain function in older adults and helps prevent several neurological diseases
5. Improves memory and brain function in vegetarians who do not obtain enough creatine from their diet ( since meat is the main source of creatine). 

When to take Creatine supplements?

During exercise days

While hitting the gym, it is essential to take the supplements shortly before or shortly after your workout. It doesn't matter whether you take it before or after the gym, but it matters that there is not a large gap between taking the supplement and your exercise. 

During rest days

Timing for the supplements isn't as important during rest days than it is during exercise days, but it is still recommended that you take it with food.

Many people who start using these supplements often begin with a heavier dose and then move towards a lighter phase. This is usually done to shock the body and rapidly increase creatine storage in muscles.

After the body becomes a little used to all the extra creatine, the dosage is usually reduced by half, or more than half, and this safe amount can be used regularly for up to as many as 5 years with regular use.

People who are skeptical about starting with a heavier dose (20 g every day for a week), can choose to skip it and proceed directly with a light dose of 3-5 g per day. However, if one decides to do this, storage maximization might take a few weeks.

Precautions

• One of the supplements' jobs is to increase water retention by muscles. It pulls water from the body into the muscles. Therefore it is advisable to drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated.
• It is recommended that you take creatine supplements with high- carb or protein-rich food, especially on rest days.
• There is no evidence that creatine damages kidneys or liver in healthy people. However, people with existing medical conditions of the kidneys or liver should consult their physician before starting the supplements.

Should you take Creatine and Other Muscle building supplements (Whey Protein) together?

Whey Protein and Creatine both equally share the limelight when it comes to being every bodybuilder and gym freak’s go-to supplement.

A frequently asked question is whether you should take them together. This question refers to both, their collective effectiveness and their collective side effects.

However, the answer to the question, is that it depends on your personal preference.

Although both whey protein and creatine are used to achieve the same end goal, their ways of achieving that goal are significantly different.

Both use totally different mechanisms to aid in muscle gain, and there is no evidence to prove that taking whey protein with creatine leads to better gym performance or muscle activity.

There is also no evidence of any side effects of using them together as both are very safe supplements and do not hinder each other’s work.

Creatine Supplements in Pakistan

Pakistan imports several creatine supplements, and many right value creatine supplements are available in the market.

Creatine is one of the cheapest, safest, and easiest to use supplements and creatine price in Pakistan isn't as high as we'd expect it to be. Micronized creatine powders (micronization means reducing the solid particles size significantly for better absorption and efficacy) are available in jars of 200 g, 300 g, and 500 g, which last you pretty long considering their low prices.

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