Creatine Monohydrate - Enhances Energy & Performance
Amidst a wide range of supplements, if you are looking for help to pick the right one for increased strength gains Creatine should be your choice!
Creatine is a non-essential amino acid and is the most effective form of the nutritional supplement in terms of muscle uptake and is increasingly popular for its ability to increase the capacity for an intense workout.
90-95% Of Creatine In Your Body Is Stored In Muscles
Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid synthesized in the body by other amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. Although muscles are the storehouse for Creatine, it is not synthesized here. Creatine is synthesized in the liver, kidney and pancreas and is then transferred to the muscles as Creatine Monohydrate.
When we intake Creatine-rich foods like fish and meat, it is absorbed through the bloodstream and is stored in the muscles.
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More Creatine Means More Potential ATP
Once inside the muscle cells, Creatine gets attached to a high energy phosphate molecule to become Creatine phosphate. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is an organic compound found in the muscle and is the primary energy carrier in all living organisms. When ATP loses a phosphate molecule during the energy discharge and becomes Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP), Creatine recharges it to become ATP again by donating its phosphate group, and thereby contributes to a greater extent by being a driving source behind the constant energy production.
Higher rates of ATP synthesis during exercise enhances the muscle-building capacity with Creatine. As per the studies, Creatine is credited to generate ATP about 2X faster than anaerobic carbohydrate oxidation, 4.5X faster than aerobic carbohydrate oxidation and 11X faster than fat oxidation.1
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How To Promote Creatine Uptake?
Consumption of Creatine-rich food to meet the optimal result caused by supplements is exorbitantly large. Research shows that Creatine uptake is higher when insulin levels are high. Supplementing Creatine together with a glucose drink, fruit juice or protein (which are known to increase blood insulin levels) effectively increase the muscular retention of Creatine.
Since intense workout increases release of the anabolic hormone, ingesting Creatine post-workout is found to be an effective way to restore the body’s supply.
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Does Creatine Affect The Hydration Level?
Although Creatine is arguably one of the most popular supplements, it is attached to one common myth that it leaves you dehydrated! Creatine does draw water from plasma in the blood to do its work and stores the additional water into the muscles, making the muscles look bigger and firmer by the process of cell volumization. This doesn’t mean it lets you dehydrated. The stored water hydrates the muscles and promotes muscle protein synthesis.
It’s time we dispel the myth as Creatine doesn’t cause water retention, which is a process that happens outside the muscle cell.
Since water is a vital fluid required by all the nutrients to travel in the body, it is always advisable to drink a lot of water regardless of the supplement.
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THE EFFECTS OF CREATINE ARE SOON EVIDENT
1. Easily absorbed by the bloodstream as it is water-soluble.
2. Potentially regulates the body temperature due to absorption of water into the muscles.
3. Vegetarians are most benefited as Creatine levels are low in them.
4. Generates more energy for the body.
5. Helps to prevent the muscle pH drop by absorbing the H+ ions to regenerate Creatine Phosphate.
6. Helps to reduce the muscle damage and pain associated with workout by increasing the blood flow.
7. Helps to elevate testosterone inducing muscle growth.
8. Credited with improving memory and to minimize ageing of the skin.
Creatine is a “must-try” supplement for maximized work-out results.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22417)
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