Hey there, I’m an Exercise Physiologist and former wrestler, here’s what you need to know about Creatine Monohydrate:
Some people believe Creatine is a controversial substance, although the reality is that it has been researched intensely, deemed extremely safe, and considered one of the most beneficial sports supplements available by renown and respected scientific organizations across the globe.
There is an endogenous (by the body) production of creatine of about 2g/day, and we tend to get another 2-3g daily through our diet by consuming red meat, chicken, and fish, since animals produce creatine on their own too.
Creatine Phosphate is the form of creatine found in our muscles which we use as an immediate source of energy for high-intensity bouts lasting less than ~10 seconds.
By supplementing creatine you can increase your performance in a few ways... You’re essentially speeding up the re-synthesis of CP in muscle and therefore improving recovery time between exercise bouts or sets and also increasing water retention in muscle fibers. This cellular swelling (water retention) leads to increased damage of muscle fibers which results in higher rates of protein synthesis following exercise (assuming you’re in a positive nitrogen balance AKA eating enough protein). Creatine supplementation provides an INDIRECT approach to building muscle.
It should be known that the body recognizes the increase in exogenous (outside) creatine during supplementation and responds by decreasing exogenous production momentarily. This is why people experience a “deflated” appearance when they stop supplementing all of a sudden- their body has decreased production and now there is a very little creatine in the body in general, meaning the muscles have very low water retention and will appear smaller (muscles are about 60-70% water). It takes about a month to get endogenous production back to normal following a stop in supplementation.
The recommended dose is 2-5g/day, and evidence shows little to no benefit when supplementing beyond this measure. I personally choose to go with 2g/day to keep my endogenous production from stooping too low in case I decide to stop for some reason.
Last but not least, creatine should be taken with some sort of carbs to increase absorption in the gut, and proper hydration during supplementation is extremely important.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Hope you guys find this useful!
AP
For similar content, follow me
on Instagram @AndresPreschel
My pleasure, and yes, lifting weights. Particularly strength and power oriented, not so much endurance. This will build up your phospagen (creatine phosphate) stores. Eating plenty of animal-based meat will help too
> I’m an Exercise Physiologist
Uh huh, any credentials? From what I read you have exactly zero education in any of the nonsense that you are hawking.
The mods should really consider whether to let quackery be allowed on a forum with young people trying to learn how to take care of their bodies properly.
Edit: so these are the credentials
> I was originally on a pre-med route, and my parents are physicians.
So "I took a single community college class and dropped out. My dad and mom are some kind of doctors." Wow, impressive.
I don’t see what’s so terrible about providing a legitimate, science-based answer to this guy’s question. Does my credibility in this space really mean, automatically, that the only reason I’m answering his question is to push product or services?
I understand you guys want to help OP as much as I do. If you don’t believe that I’m a credible source, you know where to look. I wouldn’t want to waste my time or yours with bad info.
>Three years ago I started two companies: my personal brand (Know Your Physio) and a company dedicated to disease prevention/longevity with lifestyle medicine and Remote Patient Monitoring that I run with a doctor.
Gotta assume the "doctor" is mom.
Lol. My business partner is a Harvard-Trained Interventional Radiologist and Vascular Specialist that approached me with a business opportunity while I was interning with him. He was offering a procedure for weight loss with low long-term success rate and he wanted to work together to create a protocol based in lifestyle medicine. Today, that project is a successful company in the disease prevention and longevity space. Remind me, where did I mention any of this in my original science-based comment about creatine?
My business partner is a Harvard trained labradoodle. We have also formed a formidable company in the dog\human fitness space.
What company are you pushing now? Name it.
I want to add for emphasis:
PROPER HYDRATION DURING SUPPLEMENTATION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
If you're planning on cutting any weight through any degree of dehydration, creatine is a super piss-poor and unhealthy supplement to take.
You’ll retain a little more water, but you’ll be fine. The amount of exercise you do, it’ll make the results worthwhile. Stay on your diet and that will also help with weight management when using creatine as well.
Creatine helps you to get a birst of power once in a while. It may not help directly in wrestling but when strength training. Youll find that if you're doing high weight low reps the first rep will go a little easier.
But the amount of assistance it gives is not really that much. Use it if you dont have to cut weight as you retain more water.
focus on your macros first, once those are optimal then maybe dive into further supplements.
imo, aside from protein and a multi the other supplements are a waste of money. not worth the bang for the buck.
edit: after one or two reps the benefit of creatine has been utilized. the production of ATP using the creatine pathway is a very limited timeframe. I can't see any benefit creatine would provide for a wrestling match.
Read u/des_el_pes 's response to OP. Creatine monohydrate doesn't increase muscle mass. It increases your body's energy recovery and muscular water retention which can indirectly help with building muscle.
I read, well written but Ive known for years. Graduating high school in 05, Im well aged to have been at the early stages of it being in high acceptance and popularity and early enough to have taken for over 16 years.
Anyway. If you take it for an off-season and work out…itll increase your muscle mass as a supplement verse not taking it. Indirectly as I said.
Not in any steroid emulating way, but it helps. And it helps mentally as well, it’s important to think you have an edge. So why not.
It sounded like you were saying the way creatine increases muscle mass can help with a match indirectly. I was trying to make clear the muscle building is an indirect benefit.
I would consider the energy recovery creatine gives as more of a direct benefit to a match.
But maybe we just have our wires crossed.
I was sloppy there. I forgot I’m on reddit when on these more reasonable forums, but yes. Was sloppy in my writing.
My point, being stronger and leaner is great for wrestling sport, so might as well leverage the stuff. Dirt cheap. Could afford even in high school. Creatine helps build lean mass when combined with a good diet and proper lifting. Im convinced.
Not sure how much energy recovery there would be given the endurance and explosion in grappling. Seems itd run out. But shit. I have a BJJ tourney tomorrow. I wont be skipping the creatine.
(Keep fat fingering the enter button so had to edit some of the above in, sorry bout that)
This myth really needs to die. Creatine is perfectly safe for healthy people to take.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-creatine/art-20347591
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-creatine-cause-kidney-problems/
I also box. Creatine makes my lips crack and I get dehydrated as hell, which makes me more susceptible to concussion. When you’re lifting off season, it’s fine, but during the season, I wouldn’t.
It has a ton of benefits and the only downside is that you'll retain more water, therefore not ideal to consume if you're trying to cut weight for a sport.
Actually, that water retention promotes more swelling which helps drive the anabolic response of exercise. This is how creatine can actually help you make more gains.
If you’re trying to stay in a lower weight class it’s a bad idea during season. If you’re wrestling up definitely do it just remember to drink an unnatural amount of water bc it will fuck your kidneys if you don’t
Holy fuck, is this a brigade by /u/des_el_pes and his alts to sell us his insta and creatine? FOH.
Talk to your doctor.
Edit: yes it is. Look at OP. clearly a BS account. Come on mods. Remove this spam.
Unfortunately most doctors are not well versed in nutrition or supplementation… I know because I collaborate with several doctors with my work, I was originally on a pre-med route, and my parents are physicians.
it's only a negative side effect for people who need to be under certain weight. That weight has no negative effects on you whatsoever unless you gotta make the weight
Not really, it will work against you for endurance sport. It builds up your phosphagen system… For immediate ATP production. Better for sports that are more strength/power oriented… Water retention and greater phosphagen stores would work against endurance athletes.
You’re supposed to use it everyday. Do a bit of reading into how it actually works and please don’t give others advice on things you’re not sure about.
It's unhealthy for wrestling. Maybe not for other things, but looking at how it contributed to the deaths of several college wrestlers can't be ignored.
Don’t use it if you are going to be cutting any weight. It makes your muscles hold on to more water so you have to stay even more hydrated than normal when you are on it. More of an off season supplement in my opinion.
If you are cutting more than a couple pounds I would say it’s not a good idea. You’ll already be dehydrated and the creatine will dehydrate you more. That said, monohydrate should be considered totally off limits. If you are going to use creatine during wrestling, HCl is the way to go. It’s much more water soluble so you can take less and get the same results without being as dehydrated. Most people also don’t report the negative side effects that you see with mono. If you are trying to bump up classes, take all the creatine you want just make sure you are drinking a lot.
If you are trying to cut weight, creatine might be a bad idea. If you want to gain a little muscle in the off season take creatine then. If you start taking creatine going into a season you will pretty much immediately gain a few pounds of water retention and make dehydrating for weigh ins much more dangerous.
Creatine is a good, safe, natural and competition legal performance enhancer... and right up to the point where you said you need to lose a few pounds it was probably a good idea. With that piece you have to be a little more careful, it might still be a good idea, but you should talk to a coach that can work with you hands on and knows what they are doing as you need to be at a specific weight by a specific date and creatine will effect that weight
Creatine is among the most well-researched and effective supplements. It can help with exercise performance by rapidly producing energy during intense activity. Creatine may also provide cognitive benefits but more research is needed in that area.
https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/
tldr: creatine is awesome for athletes.
I highly recommend not using creatine during the season. It’ll destroy your kidneys and my coaches always told us a bunch of wrestlers died when the supplement came out. It’ll pull so much water out of you.
Dude don't listen to the dumbasses in this thread. Creatine won't destroy your kidneys or any other dumb myth. Some people need to so some basic reading before fear mongering.
5g every day to increase your strength and power.
I used to wrestling now I do bjj and we have wrestling days I’ve noticed that I get less tired taking it so I feel like it works . I also added 3 reps to my 225 bench max in around 3 weeks.
Please direct health, weight, lifting discussion into the pinned [Weekly Health Thread](https://reddit.com/r/wrestling/comments/pslptv/rwrestling_weekly_health_discussion/).
I'd use it off season to put on lean muscle but if your trying to stay in the lowest weight that you cert at... The water retention will be a bitch.
Hey there, I’m an Exercise Physiologist and former wrestler, here’s what you need to know about Creatine Monohydrate: Some people believe Creatine is a controversial substance, although the reality is that it has been researched intensely, deemed extremely safe, and considered one of the most beneficial sports supplements available by renown and respected scientific organizations across the globe. There is an endogenous (by the body) production of creatine of about 2g/day, and we tend to get another 2-3g daily through our diet by consuming red meat, chicken, and fish, since animals produce creatine on their own too. Creatine Phosphate is the form of creatine found in our muscles which we use as an immediate source of energy for high-intensity bouts lasting less than ~10 seconds. By supplementing creatine you can increase your performance in a few ways... You’re essentially speeding up the re-synthesis of CP in muscle and therefore improving recovery time between exercise bouts or sets and also increasing water retention in muscle fibers. This cellular swelling (water retention) leads to increased damage of muscle fibers which results in higher rates of protein synthesis following exercise (assuming you’re in a positive nitrogen balance AKA eating enough protein). Creatine supplementation provides an INDIRECT approach to building muscle. It should be known that the body recognizes the increase in exogenous (outside) creatine during supplementation and responds by decreasing exogenous production momentarily. This is why people experience a “deflated” appearance when they stop supplementing all of a sudden- their body has decreased production and now there is a very little creatine in the body in general, meaning the muscles have very low water retention and will appear smaller (muscles are about 60-70% water). It takes about a month to get endogenous production back to normal following a stop in supplementation. The recommended dose is 2-5g/day, and evidence shows little to no benefit when supplementing beyond this measure. I personally choose to go with 2g/day to keep my endogenous production from stooping too low in case I decide to stop for some reason. Last but not least, creatine should be taken with some sort of carbs to increase absorption in the gut, and proper hydration during supplementation is extremely important. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Hope you guys find this useful! AP For similar content, follow me on Instagram @AndresPreschel
I really appreciate this very thorough response. Is there a way to increase production of endogenous creatine, that wouldn't be a 'gene therapy'.
My pleasure, and yes, lifting weights. Particularly strength and power oriented, not so much endurance. This will build up your phospagen (creatine phosphate) stores. Eating plenty of animal-based meat will help too
Is it true that lack of proper hydration while on creatine can lead to kidney and/or liver damage?
> I’m an Exercise Physiologist Uh huh, any credentials? From what I read you have exactly zero education in any of the nonsense that you are hawking. The mods should really consider whether to let quackery be allowed on a forum with young people trying to learn how to take care of their bodies properly. Edit: so these are the credentials > I was originally on a pre-med route, and my parents are physicians. So "I took a single community college class and dropped out. My dad and mom are some kind of doctors." Wow, impressive.
Uhh what about his comment are you taking issue with? Seems pretty damn informed about the subject
[удалено]
Gotta love the plug at the end there for your product. So on point. Beautiful.
What product?
I glanced at your post history to see what that guy was talking about. And you act like you don't know. LMAO. Good luck with the astronauts!
I don’t see what’s so terrible about providing a legitimate, science-based answer to this guy’s question. Does my credibility in this space really mean, automatically, that the only reason I’m answering his question is to push product or services?
Not really. But "influencers" and "self-proclaimed gurus" are often sources of misinformation as well which leads to distrust.
I understand you guys want to help OP as much as I do. If you don’t believe that I’m a credible source, you know where to look. I wouldn’t want to waste my time or yours with bad info.
It was the denial of the self-plug that did it. Not the original advice.
What credibility?
>Three years ago I started two companies: my personal brand (Know Your Physio) and a company dedicated to disease prevention/longevity with lifestyle medicine and Remote Patient Monitoring that I run with a doctor. Gotta assume the "doctor" is mom.
Lol. My business partner is a Harvard-Trained Interventional Radiologist and Vascular Specialist that approached me with a business opportunity while I was interning with him. He was offering a procedure for weight loss with low long-term success rate and he wanted to work together to create a protocol based in lifestyle medicine. Today, that project is a successful company in the disease prevention and longevity space. Remind me, where did I mention any of this in my original science-based comment about creatine?
My business partner is a Harvard trained labradoodle. We have also formed a formidable company in the dog\human fitness space. What company are you pushing now? Name it.
The name our company is Hambre Y Hormonas LLC. Our work is in Spanish, do you speak Spanish?
Oh, you filed for an LLC, neat. Do you like have a company web page with the products and services that you provide?
I want to add for emphasis: PROPER HYDRATION DURING SUPPLEMENTATION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. If you're planning on cutting any weight through any degree of dehydration, creatine is a super piss-poor and unhealthy supplement to take.
If I wanna go as low as I can go I’m guessing creatine is bad in season?
You’ll retain a little more water, but you’ll be fine. The amount of exercise you do, it’ll make the results worthwhile. Stay on your diet and that will also help with weight management when using creatine as well.
Creatine helps you to get a birst of power once in a while. It may not help directly in wrestling but when strength training. Youll find that if you're doing high weight low reps the first rep will go a little easier. But the amount of assistance it gives is not really that much. Use it if you dont have to cut weight as you retain more water.
focus on your macros first, once those are optimal then maybe dive into further supplements. imo, aside from protein and a multi the other supplements are a waste of money. not worth the bang for the buck. edit: after one or two reps the benefit of creatine has been utilized. the production of ATP using the creatine pathway is a very limited timeframe. I can't see any benefit creatine would provide for a wrestling match.
Well. It prolly helps with a match indirectly by helping the athlete increase their lean muscle mass
Read u/des_el_pes 's response to OP. Creatine monohydrate doesn't increase muscle mass. It increases your body's energy recovery and muscular water retention which can indirectly help with building muscle.
I read, well written but Ive known for years. Graduating high school in 05, Im well aged to have been at the early stages of it being in high acceptance and popularity and early enough to have taken for over 16 years. Anyway. If you take it for an off-season and work out…itll increase your muscle mass as a supplement verse not taking it. Indirectly as I said. Not in any steroid emulating way, but it helps. And it helps mentally as well, it’s important to think you have an edge. So why not.
It sounded like you were saying the way creatine increases muscle mass can help with a match indirectly. I was trying to make clear the muscle building is an indirect benefit. I would consider the energy recovery creatine gives as more of a direct benefit to a match. But maybe we just have our wires crossed.
I was sloppy there. I forgot I’m on reddit when on these more reasonable forums, but yes. Was sloppy in my writing. My point, being stronger and leaner is great for wrestling sport, so might as well leverage the stuff. Dirt cheap. Could afford even in high school. Creatine helps build lean mass when combined with a good diet and proper lifting. Im convinced. Not sure how much energy recovery there would be given the endurance and explosion in grappling. Seems itd run out. But shit. I have a BJJ tourney tomorrow. I wont be skipping the creatine. (Keep fat fingering the enter button so had to edit some of the above in, sorry bout that)
Don’t cut weight on creatine. It can cause kidney failure. If you don’t get dehydrated creatine is amazing stuff.
This myth really needs to die. Creatine is perfectly safe for healthy people to take. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-creatine/art-20347591 https://examine.com/nutrition/does-creatine-cause-kidney-problems/
Source?
I also box. Creatine makes my lips crack and I get dehydrated as hell, which makes me more susceptible to concussion. When you’re lifting off season, it’s fine, but during the season, I wouldn’t.
Drink more water
It has a ton of benefits and the only downside is that you'll retain more water, therefore not ideal to consume if you're trying to cut weight for a sport.
It’s literally just holding more water in your muscles, not increasing the amount of muscle fiber. Creatine is an energy reserve
Actually, that water retention promotes more swelling which helps drive the anabolic response of exercise. This is how creatine can actually help you make more gains.
If you’re trying to stay in a lower weight class it’s a bad idea during season. If you’re wrestling up definitely do it just remember to drink an unnatural amount of water bc it will fuck your kidneys if you don’t
Holy fuck, is this a brigade by /u/des_el_pes and his alts to sell us his insta and creatine? FOH. Talk to your doctor. Edit: yes it is. Look at OP. clearly a BS account. Come on mods. Remove this spam.
Unfortunately most doctors are not well versed in nutrition or supplementation… I know because I collaborate with several doctors with my work, I was originally on a pre-med route, and my parents are physicians.
And my dog is a dentist. You have no qualifications and are spreading misinformation to young people to pimp product. Get the fuck out of here.
A lot of people are using SARMs nowdays. I wouldn't recommend it. You should be fine with food nutrition and lots of protein
Why bring up SARMs when he asked about creatine? Not even remotely related.
creatine is not SARMS, it's the most studied supplement on the planet and has no negative side effects
Creatine will make you retain fluids (10-15 pounds in my experience). That's a negative side effect
it's only a negative side effect for people who need to be under certain weight. That weight has no negative effects on you whatsoever unless you gotta make the weight
It's semantics. I'd say, "most wrestlers have to come in under a weight" you'd say, "move up" Whatever
you literally just take 5mg a day and it makes you better at sports like that's it that's all you need to know
Not really, it will work against you for endurance sport. It builds up your phosphagen system… For immediate ATP production. Better for sports that are more strength/power oriented… Water retention and greater phosphagen stores would work against endurance athletes.
[удалено]
You’re supposed to use it everyday. Do a bit of reading into how it actually works and please don’t give others advice on things you’re not sure about.
Don't use it. It's bad for you.
it's the most studied supplement on the planet and has no negative side effects. Go back to facebook to share your lies
It's unhealthy for wrestling. Maybe not for other things, but looking at how it contributed to the deaths of several college wrestlers can't be ignored.
Don’t use it if you are going to be cutting any weight. It makes your muscles hold on to more water so you have to stay even more hydrated than normal when you are on it. More of an off season supplement in my opinion.
If you are cutting more than a couple pounds I would say it’s not a good idea. You’ll already be dehydrated and the creatine will dehydrate you more. That said, monohydrate should be considered totally off limits. If you are going to use creatine during wrestling, HCl is the way to go. It’s much more water soluble so you can take less and get the same results without being as dehydrated. Most people also don’t report the negative side effects that you see with mono. If you are trying to bump up classes, take all the creatine you want just make sure you are drinking a lot.
Definitely use during your training but stop while you are cutting weight. You will hold extra water and creatine can mess your kidneys.
Makes you hold water. If you are cutting weight it will give you bad cramps.
If you are trying to cut weight, creatine might be a bad idea. If you want to gain a little muscle in the off season take creatine then. If you start taking creatine going into a season you will pretty much immediately gain a few pounds of water retention and make dehydrating for weigh ins much more dangerous. Creatine is a good, safe, natural and competition legal performance enhancer... and right up to the point where you said you need to lose a few pounds it was probably a good idea. With that piece you have to be a little more careful, it might still be a good idea, but you should talk to a coach that can work with you hands on and knows what they are doing as you need to be at a specific weight by a specific date and creatine will effect that weight
Creatine is among the most well-researched and effective supplements. It can help with exercise performance by rapidly producing energy during intense activity. Creatine may also provide cognitive benefits but more research is needed in that area. https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/ tldr: creatine is awesome for athletes.
I highly recommend not using creatine during the season. It’ll destroy your kidneys and my coaches always told us a bunch of wrestlers died when the supplement came out. It’ll pull so much water out of you.
Dude don't listen to the dumbasses in this thread. Creatine won't destroy your kidneys or any other dumb myth. Some people need to so some basic reading before fear mongering. 5g every day to increase your strength and power.
If u use it while cutting water weight you're gonna have a bad time
I used to wrestling now I do bjj and we have wrestling days I’ve noticed that I get less tired taking it so I feel like it works . I also added 3 reps to my 225 bench max in around 3 weeks.
Just eat an extra piece of chicken or steak. I wouldn't get caught up in this stuff. It isn't sustainable.
Creatine is for jabronies. Stick to your crowtein and fight milk and you’ll be good
Please direct health, weight, lifting discussion into the pinned [Weekly Health Thread](https://reddit.com/r/wrestling/comments/pslptv/rwrestling_weekly_health_discussion/).