Bodybuilders believe in creatine’s benefits since it improves their performance in the gym. In studies, this supplement has been found to increase strength and muscle mass during exercise, as well as provide a variety of health benefits, including the avoidance of neurological problems.
Some people say creatine is harmful and has bad side effects, although there is no scientific evidence to back up this claim. Creatine, on the other hand, is one of the most well-known supplements on the market, having a proven track record of safety.
Professional bodybuilders use large amounts of creatine, especially during steroid cycles to gain significantly more muscle mass than they would otherwise. It’s recommended to use it throughout the peak week leading up to a competition.
3 Major Creatine Use Benefits For Bodybuilders
Creatine has been lauded as one of the most thoroughly researched dietary supplements available. The following are only a few of the benefits that bodybuilders will enjoy:
- Creatine makes them stronger: Using creatine results in stronger muscles, according to numerous studies. When compared to someone who does not, researchers discovered that it enhances strength by 8%.
- Grows bigger muscles: Creatine works by allowing muscle cells to hold more water, making them appear fuller and larger. When bodybuilders supplement their diet with creatine supplementation, muscular size will rise in just a few days or weeks.
- Increases recovery time: Excessive activity causes muscle fibers to break and become inflamed. When bodybuilders take creatine supplements, they can successfully reduce inflammation and cell damage that occurs during intensive exercise, allowing them to recover faster.
Creatine For Natty Bodybuilders
Most people consider creatine to be natty because it isn’t forbidden by the regulatory bodies, and many natural bodybuilders use it to enhance their physiques. When compared to training alone, creatine has been proven to double strength and muscular growth in natural bodybuilders.
Taking Creatine Along With Anabolics
Some may argue that supplements are only useful for natural bodybuilders, however, this is inaccurate. The usage of natural supplements in conjunction with an anabolic steroid cycle is just as crucial, if not more necessary, for the “enhanced” bodybuilder.
What is the reason for this? Because most, if not all, anabolics improve protein and nutrient absorption. Creatine is one of the greatest natural nutrients to consume while utilizing anabolic steroids, whether you’re a natural or assisted bodybuilder.
Creatine has been utilized by several bodybuilding legends over the years, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Colemon. So, what does this mean? When combined with a basic or advanced steroid, Creatine can offer significant results. I’ll go over some basic Creatine information and how bodybuilders use it to get the best results.
Let’s start with the advantages of utilizing Creatine during a steroid cycle.
You can drive extra Creatine into your muscle cells during a steroid cycle. This accomplishes two goals. It will make your muscles bigger. Your muscles will appear to be much harder, and you will be able to get much more Creatine into your muscles than when you are not on a cycle.
Your muscles will not only appear larger, but they will also feel firmer and harder. If someone feels your arms, believe me when I say they will be awestruck by the boulders they are now feeling.
Even though creatine has testosterone-like actions, it is not a steroid hormone. Instead, it acts as a mediator for some of the anabolic actions of androgens. In fact, steroid users who supplement with massive amounts of creatine get far more out of their cycles. Androgens are one of the hormones that can cause creatine to enter muscle cells.
It’s also evident that some of the strength gains people experience when on steroids are mediated by an increase in muscle creatine storage. Testosterone increases muscle sensitivity to the anabolic qualities of creatine in addition to boosting creatine buildup in muscle fibers. An important discovery found by anabolic steroid users is that during a cycle, they should drastically increase their creatine consumption to maximize the steroids’ efficacy. Creatine allows people to gain more muscle mass while using fewer medicines.
According to anecdotal evidence from anabolic steroid users, it requires at least 10-15 grams of creatine per day (maintenance) to noticeably increase the anabolic efficacy of a steroid stack. When androgen levels are high, there are probably legitimate reasons for the increased creatine demand. As previously said, steroids boost muscular creatine uptake, and if the muscles are willing to accept more creatine, why not provide it?
I further believe that, while steroids boost creatine synthesis, they simultaneously increase creatine breakdown, resulting in more creatine being used up each day. This could be related to an increase in muscle creatine turnover, as well as the fact that an increased muscle Protein synthesis rate will utilize creatine at a faster rate. Other factors that contribute to a higher creatine demand could be indirect. Because drug users’ muscles are stronger and receive more training, they may lose more creatine during exercise.
Creatine provides not just an anabolic impact, but also a rapidly mobilized supply of fuel once inside the muscle. Muscle protein synthesis is a time-consuming process that consumes a lot of energy. Anabolism is an ATP-dependent process, hence it is required for protein synthesis. ANABOLISM IS STOPPED IF THE CELLULAR LEVEL OF ATP IS REDUCED EVEN A LITTLE. So, even if you raise the testosterone content of your muscles, if your ATP level is low, nothing will happen. Creatine aids anabolism by supplying energy to muscles.
Taking Creatine During Peak Week
The use of creatine supplementation by bodybuilders is supported by a large body of evidence. Creatine has been demonstrated to boost intracellular hydration and improve body composition (increase lean body mass, reduce fat mass). A three-day creatine loading phase raised intracellular fluid capacity by 3% without affecting extracellular fluid volume, according to one study.
Supplementing with creatine has been found to help in glycogen synthesis and super-compensation. Consuming carbs with creatine also improves creatine loading, which, as previously stated, increases cellular hydration.
Lastly, because muscle creatine levels drop slowly after loading, creatine ingestion during peak week glycogen loading is unnecessary, except in modest amounts to potentially speed up last-minute carbohydrate delivery into the muscle on competition day.
As a result, creatine supplementation may be an effective strategy to swiftly increase muscle size during peak week.
How Does Creatine Make Bodybuilders Look Leaner
As previously said, when creatine is stored in the muscle, it brings water with it, so it’s typically recommended that you drink plenty of water while doing so. If you consume creatine and don’t drink enough water, your body will scavenge for water to transport the creatine to its proper home inside the muscle. With no water flowing in from outside sources, it must look within the body for water, which it will find under the skin and in the fat.
As a result, there is more water in the muscles and less in the skin and fat than would typically be the case. This is similar to the impact of carb-loading, which essentially accomplishes the same thing; but, because creatine has a completely different method of action, bodybuilders may effectively multiply their results and appear even tougher, fuller, and dryer.
How Do Pro Bodybuilders Take Creatine In Peek Week
Peak week involves drinking a lot of water and then abruptly quitting at some point late in the week. The theory behind this is that the body, accustomed to a constant supply of water, continues to flush water even after intake has been discontinued, leaving us drier and harder.
So, let’s assume they’ve been carbing and drinking water until Friday afternoon, and then they’ve decided to quit. Taking 5-10 grams of creatine within a couple of hours of ending all water intake ensures that the creatine has enough water to pull into muscles but not too much to produce a spillover into other tissue. It’s essentially another competition for what to do with the “unclaimed” water that remains in our system after we finish drinking. Rather than excreting it, they can employ creatine to pull a portion of it into the muscles, giving them a fuller and tighter appearance.
Peak week is a complicated set of activities designed to fool the body into doing things it wouldn’t normally do for bodybuilders to appear as they wouldn’t normally appear. This method is one of the most effective ways to achieve that look, but it isn’t the greatest for everyone; it all depends on the individual and how their body reacts.
Summary
What we can conclude after this article is that almost all professional bodybuilders use creatine, and if there is one who lives under the rock and does not know about all the benefits that creatine provides, we are sure that after reading this article they will change their mind and include it in their supplementation. Creatine plays an important role in bodybuilding for both natural bodybuilders and those who use AAS, and its effect on the body before the competition is especially important.
