Creatine. Hmm. So many wonder products. Alleged wonder products, that is!

We often hear of things like “a new wonder version of it that has just come out and causes no water retention and doesn’t need loading…” etc etc.

Our take?  Just use mono and don’t even bother loading. Just 5g a day.

Why?

All other forms are not superior. Creatine is creatine and costs pennies. Once your muscle is fully loaded, its fully loaded. Excess will be urinated away.   For example, Kre-Alkalyn is often purported to be a better product however studies show this is not the case.   Click here to see the study.

Yes your new fangled creatine may not need loading but creatine mono is literally pennies a serving, less than £10/$15 a kilo.

You’ll often see new types selling for £30 for 120 caps, each cap weighing 500mg each.  Thats 60g for £30.  Already 3x the cost just to buy for 1/16th the amount of mono.  Already you can see the maths don’t stack up!

The next boast you will see is that it doesn’t cause water retention.  If a creatine product doesn’t cause water retention, then its a poor creatine!

One of the main way creatine works is holding more water intracellularly.  Not under the skin. A bigger muscle with creatine is a stronger muscle and as a result more anabolic – an hydrated cell is anabolic cell.

Creatine increases both testosterone and igf levels so for some (the responders, some don’t) is a worthy additional help.

Creatine isn’t shown to be harmful to your heart, kidneys or liver for a normal healthy individual as shown here, here, here and finally here.

The mistake often made, even by healthcare individuals is to confuse creatine and elevated creatinine kinase levels, which is two different things and the latter can signify renal and other similar related issues.

Both creatine and working out can increase creatinine kinase levels however once creatine and working out is stopped, continued raised creatinine kinase levels can indicate renal issues and more – however – this will not have been caused by the creatine as discussed above.

Finally we have a video for you, with Layne Norton explaining exactly how creatine works and how it will benefit you, and why you should simply use creatine mono. See from 30 seconds onward.