What Is Creatine and Why You Should Be Using It!
Over the last few decades or so, bodybuilding and strength and resistance training in general have all become hugely popular amongst men and women all over the world.
Many people believe that our fascination with building muscle and improving our bodies actually originated thanks to a little known film released in the late 1970’s, starring a bodybuilder named Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom perhaps you’ve heard of? The film was entitled “pumping iron” and it followed Arnold and a selection of other bodybuilders as they trained for prestigious bodybuilding contests. Ever since then more and more people have taken up weight lifting, both recreationally, and professionally, and it’s actually now more popular than ever.
Because of this, more and more people are using health supplements to really get the most out of their training.
The second most popular spots supplement amongst bodybuilders and athletes is one known as creatine and it is this supplement that we’ll be looking at here.
What is creatine and what does it do?
Creatine is actually a compound that is made naturally within our bodies, that is also found within certain foods such as fish and red meat. The reason why people consider it so beneficial is because it basically acts like a sort of back-up fuel tank for your body, allowing you to create more energy. Ordinarily energy within our bodies is produced, stored and used thanks to a chemical that is known as Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP).
When you require excess amounts of energy however, like when you’re exercising, the body can’t always keep up and it will require an alternative source of phosphates for energy, and that is when creatine proves so helpful. Creatine acts almost like a transporter, helping the cells within the body to absorb more nutrients to be used as energy. The more nutrients and energy that these cells can absorb, the more efficient they’ll be.
The reason why bodybuilders and athletes can benefit from creatine so much is the fact that their cells within their muscles can also become flooded with energy. So, the more energy they contain, the longer the muscles will be able to work before they begin to fatigue.
The harder and longer the muscles can work, the more effective your workouts will be. The main reason for this is that it helps to increase muscle hypertrophy and can actually draw more water into the muscle cells, making them appear bigger and fuller.