How Creatine Benefits Men
Energy depletes rapidly during exercise so for high intensity training, your muscles require sufficient levels. Your body naturally produces creatine from amino acids, but only in small amounts - so creatine stores are sometimes spare (sparse?) in your muscles - and they also deplete during exercise. Supplementing creatine monohydrate helps to replenish your muscle creatine stores.
Here, we look at how men can supplement creatine into their routine, and why it could support their workout performance.
When should men take creatine?
Creatine can be supplemented any time of day – timings can vary and you aren’t restricted to one specific time. However, some people prefer to supplement it prior to your workout, and/or immediately after. The recommended maintenance dose is around 3g daily. You can take your daily dose as either a tablet or a powder mixed in a drink – the powder is generally mixed with a high-sugar sports drink.
In some cases, when you first start to supplement creatine, whether you are male or female, you can supplement in a loading phase. This phase requires larger daily doses of creatine for 5-7 days to fully saturate your creatine stores in your muscles. Generally, 20g per day is consumed in smaller doses throughout the day. Whether you have a loading phase is down to your own personal preference.
What are the benefits for men?
Your muscles creatine stores deplete rapidly during high-intensity exercise. Supplementing creatine pre-workout can help to slow down depletion and increase your exercise performance so. Post-workout supplementation helps to replenish the stores that have been used up during exercise.
