Creatine supplementation with a specific view to your routine
Several sources of energy in the body are available depending on the intensity of the activity you perform. We can get energy from fat, we can get it from sugar in two ways, and finally, we can get it from creatine.
We believe that almost no individual in the world of fitness and bodybuilding has not used or at least heard something about creatine.
But do we know everything about this substance and its possible administration?
Does it really matter if you take it or not?
How does creatine work?
In order to be able to convert ADP to ATP (both play essential roles in providing cellular energy during physical exertion, e.g., weight training), we are heavily dependent on phosphocreatine stored in muscle.
When these supplies are depleted during exercise, energy decreases due to the inability to resynthesize ATP in the required amounts, negatively affecting your performance during work-out.
It's like this...
Imagine going for a relaxed walk with friends (your primary energy source is fat).
Then, all of a sudden, you realise that you may have forgotten to turn off the electric stove. You panicky start going towards home, speeding up your pace (this is the moment when your body starts using sugars as a primary source.)
Sugar starts being broken down in the presence of oxygen and gives you a lot of energy.
As you rush home, you speed up your pace, and the need for energy increases. You run out of oxygen and breathe faster. This is the moment when you switch to the breakdown of sugar, but without oxygen, fatigue occurs very quickly.
The stove was off after all.
Your body slowly returns to fat as fuel. And you feel it as shortness of breath.
The question is, where is creatine as a source of energy in all that rush?
Creatine was depleted so quickly that you didn't even notice.
At that very moment, when your energy level plummets, creatine creates it very quickly, but not for a long time.
Only 7-8 seconds.
But for all those activities such as weightlifting, sprinting, and rough wrestling, you simply cannot inhale the required amount of oxygen needed to generate the necessary amount of energy from sugar.
This is where the creatine enters the scene.
What's great about creatine is that it doesn't need oxygen to break down, which means it has no oxygen debt.
Reducing inflammation and promoting recovery
Every training, to be effective, must be accompanied by optimal recovery.
It is clear to us that creatine improves performance and muscle growth at the cellular level, but it also promotes recovery between work-outs, playing a significant role in inflammation management.
By measuring inflammatory markers such as creatine kinase, prostaglandin E2, and tumor factor-alpha in runners after a 30km race, the researchers showed that administering creatine supplementation of 15-20 grams of maltodextrin daily for five days before a race can speed up recovery after a race.
The group of runners who did not take the dose recorded a significant jump in creatine kinase, recording as much as four times the higher value, a sixfold increase in prostaglandin E2 and lactate dehydrogenase by 43%.
The runners who took creatine did not notice a significant jump in lactate dehydrogenase, while the reduction in creatine kinase was 19%, and on the prostaglandin E2 marker as much as 61%.
This led to the conclusion that creatine administration reduces cell damage induced by physical training and inflammatory processes.
(Santos, R. V. et al. (2004). The effect of creatine supplementation upon inflammatory and muscle soreness markers after a 30km race. Life Sciences, Volume 75(16), pages 1917-1924. )
Cerebral "power"
This is pretty intriguing. There is no doubt that better performance in training can boost our self-confidence and good mood. Still, one rather serious study concluded that creatine could help the effects of antidepressants (in short, drugs that improve mood, affecting so-called happiness hormones), primarily by accelerating these effects.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that we can find formulas on the market that include antioxidants, B vitamins, minerals, and other substances that can positively affect memory, often recommended to those who study intensively under chronic stress.
Interestingly, you will very often notice creatine in these formulas.
What would this mean?
As mentioned, creatine's primary function is energy, promoting the development of strength and muscle volume. This last factor supports you by improving the so-called Methylation cycle, a complex biochemical process that, in layman's terms, contributes to or manages several essential bodily functions, such as detoxification, regulation of immune functions, energy synthesis, management of inflammatory processes, etc.
Therefore, methylation is a delicate process essential for an individual's general health and life, thanks to creatine-based supplements.
Now that we know how useful creatine can be, we are certainly not surprised that it is one of the most tested supplements in the last twenty years. Experts are trying to find a universal magic formula, but you should always do your research first and know what is the best one for you.
Key features of high-quality creatine
- very effectively absorbed by the body
- fast transportation of creatine
- no loading phase
- replenish adenosine triphosphate with ease
- improves work-out performance and ensures optimum pump during endurance training
- also ideal as a pre-workout
- ideal for increasing muscle mass and strength
CREA-F7 is a revolutionary creatine-based product for increasing muscle cell volume. Due to the combination of state-of-the-art elements, it ensures optimal muscle mass development, efficient muscle pumping, and increased muscle cell volume.
CREA-F7 contains a combination of 6 types of creatine, along with GlycoPump®, and critical electrolytes for fast replenishment.
CREA-F7 increases the synthesis of a compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the body's primary energy source for the phosphate energy system. This energy system body uses to power short, sharp muscle contractions and other anaerobic activities.
Just in a way you were searching for.
In the end...
Just imagine if we could work on creatine as a primary fuel all the time.
We would have fast energy, continuously available, and we would never get into oxygen debt.