Creatine was originally regarded as the supplement’s big bad wolf. People believed it caused kidney damage, that it wasn’t safe, that it was a steroid and a slew of other unfavorable stereotypes about it. Fast forward about 20 years, and it is today one of the safest, most effective, and well-studied supplements available.
It’s also one of the most prevalent supplements utilized by ice hockey players. Given that creatine is one of the most commonly used supplements among athletes, there is no doubt that it has numerous benefits. Below, we’ll show you how it’s used in the world of hockey.
Creatine Explained in Two Minutes
Creatine is by far the most well-studied non-banned performance-enhancing drug, and there is plenty of evidence that regular consumption can help athletes perform better. Creatine is an amino acid metabolite that your body uses to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a chemical fuel source that your muscles use during physically demanding athletic performance.
Creatine is made naturally in the body, for those who don’t know. On a regular basis, we employ our own biological creatine stores to drive anaerobic movement. It can also be found in protein-rich foods such as milk, red meat, and various seafood, but it can also be synthesized and sold as a nutritional supplement. Creatine supplements are commonly used to boost muscle mass, minimize muscle fatigue, and improve athletic or physical performance.
Many manufacturers ensure that the product is available in a variety of forms, including liquids, powders, and capsules, and it is offered at nutrition stores, sports stores, and even grocery stores.
Do Hockey Players Use Creatine?
Supplementing with creatine monohydrate improves high-intensity exercise performance, particularly in sports that need repeated sprints, such as ice hockey.
Creatine saturation in a hockey player’s muscles increases his performance on and off the ice significantly. It supports the energy system that allows him to perform explosive skating, body checks, shots, saves, and anything else you can think of.
Creatine supports a hockey player’s game on the ice if he is playing the game the way it should be played. However, it will also assist players in their off-ice activities. It will increase the strength and power of his weight training/dryland training sessions, allowing him to produce more power and strength output, which will directly improve his game.
It is extremely beneficial to NHL players.
To recover during the season, the majority of NHL players take creatine, BCAAs, and collagen peptides (some players take it year-round). They find that supplementing with creatine improves their in-game muscle endurance and makes recuperation simpler on weeks when they skate 2-3 times.
In one of his interviews, the strength coach of Columbus Blue Jackets Nelson Ayotte was asked what are some good supplements to use around hockey workouts and games. His answer was a mix of creatine, beta-alanine, and D-pinitol with maltodextrin.
Don’t forget that Connor McDavids has a partnership with BioSteel, a popular supplement company for athletes. One of their most popular products is their creatine monohydrate. It is fair to assume Connor adds it to his supplement stack.
Should Hockey Players Take Creatine?
Creatine operates in a variety of ways and has many benefits for hockey players. It boosts the quantity of creatine in your muscle tissue, allowing you to push through longer, harder bouts of high-intensity exercise. It functions as a pH buffer and aids in the recycling of energy for usage at the cellular level.
Another function of creatine that many people appear to be unaware of is its capacity to consistently enhance testosterone levels in studies. When men between the ages of 18 and 35 supplement with creatine on a regular basis, their testosterone levels continuously rise.
Hockey is a high-intensity activity; when you’re on the ice, your muscles are frequently operating at or near maximum intensity, consuming a lot of fuel; as a result, forwards are often only on the rink for 30 to 45 seconds at a time. Creatine, on the other hand, has been demonstrated to increase the amount of accessible energy in your muscles during high-intensity physical activity by boosting the quantity of ATP in your muscles.
The more energy your muscles have available, the longer they can work at or near-maximum intensity — having that extra energy can make the difference between tiring out at the conclusion of a lengthy shift vs. having the stamina you need to finish a big play. Creatine supports the energy pathways and demands that drive hockey performance from a nutritional standpoint, which helps to increase hockey performance.
So, should hockey players use it?
Hockey players should use creatine as it improves game performance by supporting energy pathways. Supplementation of creatine is known to have positive effects on speed, agility, and explosiveness, all parameters that hockey players need.
Creatine also aids in the maintenance of water levels in the body, resulting in increased muscle volume and, as a result, overall mass. Creatine is an essential substance for hockey players who want to maintain and increase their muscle mass.
Creatine performs exactly what hockey players need it to do: it supports the energy systems that drive repeated bouts of high-intensity physical activity for short periods of time. Replicating the game almost exactly from the standpoint of energy substrate need.
So, what is the significance of creatine for hockey players? The production of ATP for faster muscles with more endurance is only beneficial to the player’s game. This is a very low-cost, highly powerful supplement that will benefit players on a daily basis!
Top speed, acceleration, agility, and explosiveness are all influenced by strength and power. If you follow a well-structured hockey training program, adding creatine to that program will make you a better hockey player by default, as it will aid in the training process.
How Much Creatine Should Hockey Players Use?
There are probably two people who aren’t taking creatine correctly for everyone who is. This is unfortunate because the best methods (and there are several) are all pretty simple. The loading method and the daily low-dose method are two choices for getting your blood creatine levels to where they need to be.
Method 1 – Creatine Loading:
The most popular method to use this supplement is, to begin with, a “loading phase,” which is intended to completely saturate the muscles’ reserves. Then patients enter a “maintenance phase,” in which they take reduced daily doses to maintain the required levels.
A loading method has been found to be the most effective way to rapidly boost intramuscular creatine concentrations. For 5-7 days, a common loading strategy entails eating high amounts, such as 20-25 grams per day, spread into 4-5 daily doses. Athletes who follow the loading technique may usually maintain their reserves with a daily maintenance dose of 3-5 grams.
However, without a loading protocol, creatine will work just fine. For some people, the normal loading strategy can be a bit unpleasant because the higher daily dosage can induce gastrointestinal discomfort. If you’ve tried monohydrate before but didn’t enjoy the bloating or stomach pain it caused, you should give the daily low-dose method a shot.
Method 2 – Low-Dose Daily Supplementation
Another option is to take 3-5 grams of creatine per day without loading. This method will bring your muscle levels to the same level as a loading treatment in roughly three weeks. It’s less complicated, but it still works.
Both methods work as long as you maintain a daily “maintenance dose” of 3-5 grams. It’s simply a matter of taste and a willingness to put up with a little discomfort.
When Should Hockey Players Take Creatine?
You have four choices: before a workout, after a workout, both, or “whenever,” but the quick answer is that any of them will work. The variations between ingesting creatine at different times have been studied by researchers, and they have found that the differences are negligible. As a result, as long as you take it frequently, you can take it whenever you like.
How Should Hockey Players Take Creatine?
Creatine monohydrate is likely the easiest supplement to consume because it is tasteless, odorless, and dissolves quickly in any liquid. Simply whisk a scoop of protein powder, amino acids, or whatever else you drink during the day into water and drink. You won’t even notice it! The majority of scoops are 5 grams, which is a good amount for athletes of all sizes. You can definitely get away with 3 grams, or slightly over half of a standard scoop if you’re petite or light.
There is some evidence that taking it with carbs or protein increases uptake, but it will function without them as long as you take it consistently. Taking it with carbs is generally an excellent idea if you’re using a short loading regimen, say 2-3 days instead of the usual 5-7. According to one study, combining 100 grams of carbohydrates with 5 grams of creatine raised total muscle creatine by 60%.
Best Creatine for Hockey Players
Which one should we choose now that we know what creatine works and why it can help us perform better in hockey? Is it best to use Creatine Monohydrate? Or a different kind of creatine? The supplement industry is constantly looking for new ways to advertise new goods and raise the price of these new creatine forms. Is it, however, truly worthwhile?
Today’s market is flooded with various creatines. Creatine Monohydrate, Creatine HCL, Creatine Esters, and so forth. Faster absorption, higher purity, and other claims are made in the more advanced forms. While there are a few studies on each of these forms, there is a scarcity of knowledge on their impact on humans.
Several researchers have compared the effects of the monohydrate and various forms on exercise performance. The monohydrate form of creatine appears to be superior to the ethyl ester and liquid versions. Monohydrate raises creatine levels in the blood and muscles better than the ethyl ester form, according to one study.
There hasn’t been any research comparing the monohydrate and hydrochloride versions. Overall, there is insufficient scientific data to suggest that any type of creatine other than monohydrate should be used. While some novel types may be promising, the amount of evidence for monohydrate outnumbers all other forms by a large margin.
For many years, researchers have explored creatine as a dietary supplement. Creatine is a top supplement for workout performance, according to more than 1,000 research. Creatine monohydrate was used by almost all of them. Furthermore, the majority of supplement scientists agree that the monohydrate form is the best.
Muscle gain, enhanced exercise performance, and possibly brain benefits are among the advantages of creatine monohydrate. This supplement has been found in studies to boost strength gains from a weight-training regimen by roughly 5–10% on average. Furthermore, creatine monohydrate was proven to be the most beneficial for muscle gain in a major assessment of dietary supplements.
Creatine monohydrate remains the king, and it is also far less expensive than the others. There will always be a limit to total intramuscular creatine saturation (160mmol/kg dry weight) regardless of how pricey your creatine is.
There are techniques to enhance the speed of saturation, such as combining it with carbs, but you won’t raise the capacity at which it can be stored, so you won’t get any further advantage once intramuscular storage is fulfilled. You can’t add more water to a glass that’s already full, and you can’t add more creatine to a muscle that’s already saturated with it.
Finally, any differences you could detect between the different varieties should be negligible to non-existent once you’ve loaded your body and supplemented it for maintenance. The most cost-effective option is Creatine Monohydrate, which provides all of the required benefits. It has the best safety record, and the most scientific backing, and is at least as effective as any other type currently available on the market. It’s also commonly available.
Overall, creatine monohydrate appears to be the most effective type. Don’t squander your money on misleading claims and complicated formulas. Cellucor Cor-Performance Creatine Monohydrate for Strength and Muscle Growth is widely regarded as the best choice in the world of ice hockey. Most ice hockey players mix this creatine into a pre-workout or amino-recovery drink because it is unflavored.
Cellucor purchases sold through Amazon come with a money-back guarantee. As a result, they provide a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide to make the investment. That’s how confident they are in your ability to enjoy the product and get outstanding outcomes.
NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
You should not rely on information in this article as a replacement for, nor does it replace, professional diagnosis, medical advice, or medical treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional.
