I came home with a tub of creatine years ago, and my mum said, “I hope you’re not taking that steroid stuff.”
That tells you how misunderstood it still is.
People hear the word creatine and act like it’s some dodgy powder that wrecks your kidneys, makes you puffy or is only for bodybuilders trying to get massive. A lot of that is rubbish.
Creatine is one of the most researched supplements in sports nutrition, and one of the few that’s actually worth taking.
It’s still just a supplement. It won’t make up for bad training, poor food choices or inconsistency, but if you’re already training properly and doing the simple stuff well, it can help.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is something your body already produces naturally. You also get small amounts from foods like meat and fish.
Most of it is stored in your muscles, where it helps produce quick energy during short, hard efforts. That’s why it’s useful for lifting weights, sprinting and other explosive training.
What Can Creatine Help With?
The main reason people take creatine is to improve performance in the gym.
That might mean getting an extra rep, holding onto your strength a bit better across sets or keeping your output higher when training gets tough. None of that sounds huge, but over weeks and months it can add up.
Creatine can also help with strength gains when it’s combined with resistance training. You can read a large review of the research here.
During fat loss, it can help you keep your training quality and strength up as calories come down.
Will It Make You Gain Weight?
Sometimes, yes.
Some people notice the scale go up slightly after starting creatine because more water is being stored inside the muscle. That’s water, rather than body fat, and some people barely see the scale move at all.
It can still throw you off during a fat-loss phase. You start taking creatine, see a small jump on the scale and think the diet has stopped working, even though your body fat hasn’t suddenly changed.
What About Women?
Women can use creatine as well, with the same creatine monohydrate and the same daily dose.
The idea that a few grams of creatine will suddenly make a woman bulky is nonsense. Any noticeable muscle gain still takes plenty of time and proper training.
Is Creatine Safe?
For healthy adults, creatine monohydrate is generally considered safe when it’s used in normal amounts.
Part of the kidney scare comes from creatinine, which is measured on some blood tests. Creatine can raise that number slightly because creatinine is a breakdown product of creatine. That can sometimes make kidney function look worse on paper without there being actual kidney damage.
Tell your doctor you take creatine if you’re getting blood tests. If you already have kidney disease or another medical condition, speak to them before starting it.
How Should You Take It?
For most people, three to five grams of creatine monohydrate every day is plenty, including on rest days.
A loading phase is optional. Some people take around 20 grams a day, split into four smaller doses, for five to seven days to fill the muscles faster. Taking three to five grams daily gets you to the same place after a few weeks.
Timing doesn’t matter much, so take it whenever you’re least likely to forget it.
Keep drinking normally. You don’t need to force gallons of water down because you’ve added a scoop of creatine.
Which Type Should You Buy?
Plain creatine monohydrate is the one to buy.
You’ll see all sorts of fancy versions with slick labels and bigger price tags. Ignore most of them. Monohydrate is still the one with the strongest evidence behind it, and there’s no good reason for most people to pay extra.
Is Creatine Worth Taking?
For a lot of people, yes.
If you train consistently and want a supplement that might actually do something useful, creatine is one of the better options. It’s cheap, well researched and easy to take.
Just don’t expect it to do the hard work for you.
