If you’re trying to progress further in the gym, then you’ll have probably thought about using products in order to help aid your training. Whether it’s to lose more weight, bulk up and tone or to just have more energy to work out, there’s a lot on the market. One of the many popular supplements available is Creatine. But what is Creatine and what are the benefits of taking it? We’ll delve into it in more detail in this article, so read on!

Image Source

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a plant-based powder and is perfect for those who are vegan. It’s considered the number one supplement for improving performance in the gym for anyone who takes it as part of their daily routine. Studies have shown that it does a lot to improve body mass, strength and general exercise performance. If you’re looking for a good recommendation, then Vegan Liftz has their own suggestions and you can see their full guide here. It’s one of the world’s most tested supplements and although there’s some speculation that it causes side effects, it has an outstanding safety profile. So what are the benefits of using creatine?

Speeds Up The Process Of Muscle Growth

Creatine is known to be the most effective supplement in the world for building muscle mass. When you get to a point in the gym where you’ve gone through most of your fat deposits, the next step is to tone and build muscle. For some, simply toning the muscle is enough but others like to increase muscle size for vanity or to make the body stronger in general. Muscle is always going to weigh heavier than fat, so you have to understand that your weight will increase when building up muscle. 

The initial rise in muscle mass is usually due to water content. Creatine can aid the growth in the muscle fiber to advance a lot quicker than not using the supplement.

Improves High-Intensity Workouts

We all aim to have a high-intensity workout everytime we do a fitness class or a session in the gym. However, a lot of factors can impact the rate of success that we have and so it’s great that a safe supplement like creatine can help. It improves sprint ability, strength and recovery time to name but a few. Regardless of your fitness level, everyone could benefit from a boost to their performance levels and studies have shown in the past that everyone who uses creatine has seen a visible difference to their performance levels. This supplement is different than others that require the consumer to be an advanced athlete. It’s a product that’s for the average man or woman and that’s probably what makes it so popular.

Helps The Muscle Cells Produce More Energy

The muscles of our bodies function and grow from our phosphocreatine stores. Phosphocreatine helps with the formation of new ATP (adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine) that provides our muscles with energy. A creatine supplement can actually help improve the muscle cells in order to produce more energy. During exercise, ATP is broken down to produce energy and the more you have of it within your muscles, the better the workout will be and a good weighted workout can improve muscle growth even more.

Creatine also helps support many other areas in the muscle and can alter the cellular pathways that are attributed to new muscle growth. It can also help increase the water content in your muscle which is the basic contribution to muscle growth in general.

Can Help To Fight Diabetes

As this supplement has so many benefits, it also may help other parts of your body when it comes to your health. For example, it helps to fight off diabetes. Diabetes affects quite a lot of us during our lifetime, in fact there’s an estimated 415 million on earth right now that live with the disease. So anyone would want to do their bit in fighting off the chances and creatine helps by possibly lowering the blood sugar levels in your body. This is handy if you have a craving for the sweet stuff or just have a lot of sugar currently in your diet. It works by increasing the function of a transporter molecule called GLUT4. Although results from using creatine to lower blood sugar levels are positive, there’s still more research to be done to prove it definitively. 

May Help With Various Brain Diseases

And finally, creatine has been known to help with various other brain diseases but like its relationship to diabetes, it’s only linked to being effective. Some of the diseases it can help with are Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s disease and Epilepsy. It’s been known to help with reducing some of the symptoms, so it’s worth trying this supplement if you suffer from any of the above. 

There are clearly many advantages to using creatine within your fitness journey, so if you’ve never tried it before, now’s the time to incorporate it into your workout, regardless of the level of fitness that you’re currently at.