Creapure® Vs. Creatine
Why Creapure® Micronised Creatine is the best form of Creatine
If you’ve spent any serious time in the gym, you should be familiar with creatine. Whether you’re an amateur looking to lead your best life or a serious, dedicated athlete, creatine will boost your power output and allow you to perform consistently at a much higher level.
There is a good reason it’s so ubiquitous and so heavily researched: taking it is one of the best, easiest ways to improve your performance at practically no cost.
However, as with most supplements, not all creatines are created equal. Today, we’re going to see why this is the case.
What is Creatine?
Most research seems to concur that creatine is more effective in high-intensity training and explosive activities. These include powerlifting, bodybuilding and weightlifting, as well as sports that require short, intense bursts of energy, like boxing and sprinting.
Creatine is an amino acid produced by the body. It is produced in the kidneys and liver, and its roles include the transportation and storage of energy in every cell. A healthy adult human body can contain up to around 130g of creatine.
Most people will use up around 2-4g of creatine per day. This includes those with sedentary lifestyles and people involved in steady state athletics or low-power active lifestyles (walking the dog for half an hour a day won’t spike your creatine usage too much).
However, if you train hard, take part in high-power activities, and/or have an active lifestyle, you may be using more like 5g per day. If you take part in any of the sports mentioned above, this is you. If you are a runner, or you work in construction, or you go hiking regularly, this may also be you.
The body will produce only half of the creatine it needs daily. The rest needs to be taken exogenously - ingested through diet and supplementation.
Which brings us onto our main topic today: What supplement should you be using for your creatine intake? As above, not all creatine's are equal. Today, we’re looking at micronized creatine- specifically, Creapure® Creatine, which is generally thought of just about the purest form of creatine and one of the best offerings on the market.
Creapure® Micronised Creatine
Creapure® Micronised Creatine is a powdered form of creatine monohydrate. It has been micronised 20 times, resulting in a powdery form of creatine that gives all the benefits of non-micronised creatine but that is far more water soluble.
There are some significant benefits to using micronised creatine rather than regular creatine. For starters, it has a greater surface area and is more water soluble. This means it dissolves far more efficiently and digests a lot more comfortably, leading to fewer stomach issues than regular creatine can cause. There is no negative effect on the creatine profile, leading only to positive results.
Micronised creatine is more costly than regular creatine. However, quality generally costs more: if you struggle to digest regular creatine, or simply want a more efficient version, the extra money is most likely worth it.
There are also a couple of specific advantages to going with Creapure®:
1. Purity
Creapure® Creatine, made in Germany by AlzChem, is the purest form of creatine on the market today. Most creatine has a creatine content of 99.9 percent; Creapure is 99.99. Though it may seem small, the difference of 0.09 percent could have a substantial effect on athletic performance.
2. Improved hypertrophy and endurance
As it is purer than any other form of creatine on the market, with a higher concentration of phosphocreatine, Creapure® replenishes your ATP (adenosine triphosphate) reserves sooner. As ATP is a crucial energy source for muscles, this means you will be able to train harder for longer. Increases in volume will enable you to elicit greater trauma, leading to improved muscle growth. You will have greater muscle mass for using Creapure®’s Micronised Creatine.
This improved ATP output will also result in improved contractile power in your muscles (they will be stronger, in essence).
As with all forms of creatine, the initial gains will be water weight as your muscles pull water into their cells in a bid to trigger protein synthesis. However, this improved protein synthesis will result in greater muscle mass before very long.
How to use Creapure Micronised Creatine
You will want to use Creapure® Micronised Creatine the same as you would any other creatine product.
Often, companies will recommend a ‘loading’ phase, followed by a ‘maintenance’ phase. The loading phase will last for 5-7 days, during which time the user should take 20g of creatine daily. This can be all at once, though it will likely be more practical, more efficient and nicer to include 2-4 doses of 10-20g. Mix it into a glass of water or juice (200ml/5g) or your favourite protein shake.
This being said, the loading phase isn’t particularly necessary, especially for most people. They can go straight into the maintenance phase. For this, take 5g daily, mixed in with 200ml of liquid- water, protein shake, fruit juice, whatever works for you.
It’s important to drink plenty when you’re taking creatine, as your body will pull more water into your muscles, bumping up your fluid requirements.
Avoid taking creatine with a caffeinated drink as this may impair solubility.
Take your creatine fresh - it won’t stay stable for long once it’s been mixed.