December 5, 2024 • 27 mins
Curious about the secret weapon that can boost both your physical and mental performance? From personal stories to scientific insights, join us at Coach's Corner as we unpack the powerhouse supplement that is creatine. Dive into the world of sports performance and cognitive enhancement, as we share my two-decade journey with creatine and why it's a top-tier choice among supplements. We'll guide you through the intricacies of how creatine works within the body’s energy systems, such as ATP, glycolytic, and oxidative pathways, to amplify those short, intense bursts of energy that athletes crave.
This episode isn't just about muscles—it's about busting myths too. We address misconceptions surrounding water weight and explore creatine's fascinating benefits for brain health and cognitive function. Whether you're an athlete, an older adult seeking mental acuity, or following a plant-based diet, creatine's versatility might surprise you. Tune in to learn how this supplement not only supports your gym goals but also offers broader health benefits that could enhance your everyday life. It's time to see why creatine is more than just a gym staple; it's a cornerstone of effective supplementation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
welcome to coach's corner, episode 41, and this is
going to be a special episode.
Well, they're all special, butthis one's going to be
specifically talking about avery hot button topic called
creatine.
So everyone's I mean you cannot, at least I can, because my
instagram feed is, just, youknow, all full of fitness
influencers that I see whatthey're doing just to make sure
(00:32):
you know see what thecompetition's doing out there.
But everybody's doing videos oncreatine, right?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
now it's funny how the zeitgeist kind of bubble
pops.
I mean it's been around for solong, yeah, well known for so
long.
But yeah, well known for solong, but still, yeah, it's like
somehow it just comes back intothe froth.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
It's crazy, I mean, like we've been.
I mean, I've been personallytaking creatine for 23 years.
That's that new stuff.
And even when, even 23 yearsago, it was like, yeah, you just
got to take creatine.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So matter of fact, when I went to school in the
early 2000s, like 2003, it wasdefinitely just like oh yeah,
and the textbooks Many, manyyears, because it's the only
over-the-counter supplement thatyou can buy right now that is
clinically proven,scientifically proven, to
increase performance andstrength.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
All the other stuff is like you have A tier, B tier,
C tier supplements.
C tier is just unfounded,anecdotal hearsay.
B tier could be beneficial,like maybe amino acids would be
in that like, depending on thecase, depending on the person
maybe more research is needed.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
There are like A to Bs that make sense of like well,
it does this.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, like, like, almost like sports specific or
case specific, like, if you're,if you're this type of athlete,
this, this B tier, might workfor you.
But in general, maybe moreresearch is needed to be done.
And there's like the A tierwhere it's like you just can't
deny it.
No, there's countless studies,yeah, and there's countless
studies, yeah, and.
And then creatine is a tier.
I mean, it's just like thebenefits and the more they study
(02:06):
, the more they find that it'snot just sports which we'll get
into and like performance, butactually like a lot of other
benefits in your health as well.
Absolutely so we'll be doingour best to just kind of chat a
little bit about it.
Disclaimer we're not likeexperts, we're not, like you
know, collegiate researchershere that are that are going to
break down like the crazy, crazynitty gritty science, but we'll
just kind of give like our takeon it.
(02:27):
And yeah, I think we knowenough to be dangerous, but yeah
, 100 so so basically, why don'tyou start us out here, mr mr?
kinesiology just in general.
Yeah, what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
well, I mean, okay, it's, it's, it's fantastic, I
think.
Okay, moving on.
So that's all I really have tosay.
Yeah, no, but basically I thinkit's understanding that there's
three energy pathways for amuscle when it contracts and has
to do work.
You have kind of like your ATPphase.
You have like your glycolyticor your carbohydrate use phase
(03:01):
for using some common languageand then you have your oxidative
or maybe your fat burning phase, if totally want to use common
language, and it's kind ofdegree.
The gradient is there based onintensity or work.
So the atp is like 10 secondsworth of readily available
maximal contraction storedenergy.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So think like you have to sprint to catch the bus
sprint to get the bus.
You have to like jump as highas you can to try to touch a
basketball yeah, like what oneset of three or four of your max
reps or something, yeah, soliterally 10 seconds or less is
all going to be ATP.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Then you got up to two minutes in the glycolytic
where you're kind of usingglycogen, which is the stored
carbohydrate in your muscle.
That's going to be your kind ofthat burn, which is the lactic
acid.
You know you're kind of doing aset of push-ups and your
muscles are burning and it's notsustainable by any means.
But you're kind of in thatrange.
That might be a minute of work,45 seconds, that kind of thing
(03:50):
and then you have the oxidativewhich is when you go on a walk
or if you're, we're in ouroxidative pathway as we speak.
Yeah, exactly, it's basicallyjust using oxygen to metabolize
fat.
For energy very low demand,long lasting.
It's your endurance kind ofthing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, like if you're a trained, uh, endurance athlete
, like if you're running amarathon, you're yeah, that
would be.
You can't burn through glycogenfor five hours, so you got to
start utilizing oxygen as yourenergy source.
And so oxygen is prettystraightforward you breathe it
in glycolytic.
Just to just to highlight whatyou said, it's it's derived when
you eat carbohydrate.
Specifically you, if you train.
(04:27):
Well, we all carry a degree ofglycogen, but no, everybody has.
But you know it's, it's likeit's just the gas tank in your
muscles, right?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
so if you walk up a flight of stairs and you get
that burn in your leg.
Yep, you started to tap intothat and it's also one thing you
know when I was in school.
The the energy pathways are sodistinct, and even in how we
just explained them.
But one of the things theymentioned is that there's
technically like an influx ofall three pathways at all.
Right, you know, it's not likeyou're doing a set of push-ups
and your oxidative pathway isjust not working and your atps
is not working.
It's this kind of likesmorgasbord that's happening all
(04:56):
the time, like there might be asingle contraction where you
have to like bend down and pickup a box.
That's not intense enough forall of your ATP but your
oxidative pathway.
So it's like you know there'sthis smorgasbord your ATP is
constantly being replenished andused you know, certain
contractions will kind of dipinto your glycogen.
It's not like you're just atlow level, just purely burning
fat and oxidative pathway Right,right, right.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's not so it's not so?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
there's ATP, which is probably like the we refer to
it as the energy currency in thebody, yep, muscles, brain, like
that's just kind of like ourreadily available energy source
at any moment, at any time.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Just ready to go.
Yeah, it's just the hotgasoline, that's just ready.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So what the hell does it have to do with creatine?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, so basically ATP is adenosine tri
triphosphate and when your bodyutilizes the molecule for energy
, it turns into a diphosphate.
So atp turns into adp oradenosine diphosphate, and
basically what creatine does,which is it's already naturally
stored in the body.
I think it's like they saidthat the liver and the kidneys
can produce up to a gram a day.
(06:01):
You know, we store in ourmuscles, we get it from, you
know, animal products generally,like red meat and that kind of
thing.
I think like a pound of redmeat or something like that has
five grams of creatine in it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So we do get it from animals.
Our body can make it, obviouslywe need it.
But basically what happens isthat the presence of creatine in
the muscles or in the cellbasically replenishes the
phosphate molecule quicker.
So as you utilize ATP and itturns into ADP, you basically
the creatine helps slap on aphosphate again and takes it
from that dye or turns it backinto a tri and turns it back
(06:34):
into a tri, and so basicallyyour body is just getting a
higher uptick of readilyavailable ATP.
You replenish it faster andthere's more of it because your
body can just assign thephosphates to ADP.
That's kind of lying aroundanyway.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And so how that translates to performance is
that like, well, like we justtalked about, like, if you have
this 10 second sort of window toutilize your ATP pathway, your
first pathway, like explosivestuff, quick sprints, etc, heavy
pressing or heavy, heavy liftsof any kind, right explosive
(07:07):
movement for 10 seconds or less,well, it stands to reason.
Then, if you have more atpavailable in your muscle, your
muscles are more saturated withthis, with these atp molecules.
Well then, you know, maybe youcan, instead of 10 seconds, you
might be able to push for 12 or13, which might translate to one
or two extra reps, and insteadof, you know um, your max effort
(07:29):
being 100 pounds, maybe it'snow 110 pounds.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right, you may be able to maintain a maximum like
speed on a sprint.
Yeah, seven seconds.
You can maintain a maximumspeed for 10.
And yeah, because it's like oneof the things to think about is
that like if there was ATPreadily available for longer,
your body would just keep usingthat.
And so I think one of the ideasis again that idea of like
(07:54):
these energy pathways areoverlapping is that as you exit
the 10 second window, your bodystarts to utilize the stored
carbohydrate or the glycogen,because it needs to keep
contracting.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
But at the same time.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Your ATP system is constantly regenerating yeah it
just can't regenerate fastenough for the demands you're
putting on it.
But now that we're regeneratingthat ATP even faster, as your
body dips out of that 10 secondsand starts to utilize that
secondary pathway, the ATPs getturning over and it's much more
efficient than the glycolyticpathway.
So it's almost like you're ableto throw on more wood on the
(08:21):
fire quicker, and there's thishigher turnover of the preferred
rate.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, right, the preferred energy source so to
speak.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It's almost like you're here like a little nitro
boost, yeah, like micro nitro,and then it lets you get the 10
second uh nitro boost, like inmario cuts or something like
that.
I was thinking exactly overthere.
And then, like, you go back tolike like us nba jam with the
turbo bar.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, your turbo bar just gets
replenished quicker, totally,and so then, so you got let's
say, you're taking a supplementcreatine monohydrate.
You have now saturated yourmuscles in creatine, so not only
do you have more ATP moleculesavailable, which does all the
things we just said, but thenyou also replenish those dyes
(08:59):
back into tris faster.
Because remember the creatinephosphate is what turns the dye
back into the tri, which thenconverts back into your power
booster of ATP, turbo bar, turbobar of ATP.
So that's why it's so powerfulfrom an athletic standpoint.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, it's just physiologically sound.
That's why science backs it upthere's no like oh, it increases
your mood or helps you sleep,it's just factually an energy
pathway of the body.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So you could see how like we're not talking like
anabolic steroid levelimprovements, but like for the
average person, I mean thiscould be a, you know, five to
ten percent increase inperformance and strength over
the course of a year, whichmight mean like, let's say,
you're a guy trying to put onmuscle, that might look like,
instead of you putting on 10pounds of muscle in that year
(09:49):
and naturally without anything.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Maybe it's more like 13, 15 I mean, I'm trying to
remember, I have some statisticsin my mind about some studies
that show the amount of leanmass gain comparatively, um, you
know, from people that took meinto not, and it was pretty
substantial.
I mean we're talking, yeah,like in the study, I think the
creatine people gained like twoto three more pounds of lean
(10:11):
mass and it was well under ayear probably just like a
mesocycle of some sort, probablylike 12 weeks yeah, so it there
it's.
It's substantial.
I wish I had some factualnumbers.
I'm not gonna spit out anythingwithout knowing for a fact, but
it's there.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It is fairly substantial, the improvements
that you can make and I I willsay it's noticeable too, and how
much of that is psychosomatic.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Ah, who knows, it's factual.
But hey, placebo is as good asanything right.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And so it's true because, like so much of our,
you know not to go too far offon like a philosophical tangent,
but like so much of ourstrength and ability is our own
perception and our own belief inthat 100% our strength and
ability is our own perception,our own belief in our, in that
100 and so like, even by justthinking that you are going to
be stronger because you'retaking a supplement, is probably
going to make you unlockanother layer of performance
(10:59):
that maybe you wouldn't have.
Regardless of whether there'sany actual effect it could be a
sugar pill, for all you know,but you just think it is you
think you can pull out two orthree more reps at the end of a
set and all of a sudden, insteadof it.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're willing to be more uncomfortable a little
deeper.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So much of that shit happens.
But that's not the case withcreatine.
Like creatine, for sure, isclinically proven it really does
.
But I think there's also, forsure, a psychosomatic component
of it as well, just knowing thatyou're on it.
But I will say it is noticeable, like when you, if you're not
on it for a long period of timeand you start taking it yeah you
within a week.
You're like oh yeah, I'm pushingfor a few more reps here, like
(11:34):
I'm, I'm throwing an extra 10 oneach side, like I can feel the
difference here wow yeah, so thecreatine in and of itself
doesn't necessarily make yourmuscles any stronger or bigger,
but what it does is increasesyour capacity to train and the
volume of training now improves,which that is what makes your
muscles bigger and stronger.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Exactly yeah, intensity and volume increases.
So, yeah, if you were to justtake creatine and do nothing,
nothing would happen.
Fundamentally, in terms of yourmusculature and development,
yeah, but if you are alreadyexercising, it's a goldmine.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Some of the big complaints is that people are
like well.
Creatine makes people gainwater weight.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Right, and there is some truth to that.
It does, it does, but it's alsofairly minimal.
I mean, it's like I thinkpeople hear that and they think
they're going to be like awalking fishbowl all of a sudden
.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, you know, just like face round and baby faced.
But it's also the same personwill go and drink a bottle of
red wine and eat a piece of it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, or just eat like a ramen or something that
has a day's worth of salt in it.
I mean, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
But there's a difference between subcutaneous
water weight retention andintramuscular water weight
retention, and so you know,think of it like this.
Okay, think of it like this,yeah, yep, yeah, think about
like this.
All right, let's say you hadlike a ziploc bag which is just
like your skin.
Think of like the bag is justlike your skin and it's full of
water.
(12:50):
And let's say you take like abottle of water and put it
inside the bag.
Creatine doesn't pull waterbetween your muscle and your
skin.
Creatine pulls water into theactual muscle.
So making the bottle of waterbigger because it has more
hydration, more water in it, butthe subcutaneous water weight
that makes you look puffy.
(13:10):
It's not that, if anything isgoing to make you look more, uh,
leaned out, because it'sincreasing the, the volume of
your muscle also pushing againstthe fat.
Yeah, thinning the fat, outthinning yeah, thinning it out
of your muscle and also likepulling water into your muscle
is a good thing.
That just means your cellsgonna be more hydrated,
functioning better, recoveringfaster, performing better, you
(13:31):
know I think a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It's more like maybe the scale goes up.
People are concerned aboutgaining a pound or two and
they're just like, oh no, butagain, it's just understanding
that that's not coming from fat,it's coming from your little
plump muscles.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I mean, if you put on a few pounds of muscle, you
probably look to have the sameeffect.
Yeah right, yeah, but uh, butyeah, other than that, like
other than just like waterweight retention, the side
effects are super minimal.
The only thing I could reallyfind is just some gi track.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That's what I found, but that's also extremely high
dosing, yeah, very, very highdosing, which, uh, you know,
anecdotally, I've never done it,so I've always been curious,
but I I met a guy who was that Idon't actually want to cross,
crossfit competition.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
This guy yeah, I was gonna say yeah, I remember he
was all about creatine andcholesterol man 20.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
He would take like 20 grams a day.
So just just on a.
We'll talk about it more indetail, but five grams a day is
on the average recommended doseyeah that's just what it is
through and through, no wayaround it.
And so he was taking 20 to 30 aday.
He swore by it.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
He swore by it, and this was before steroids was as
prevalent as it is now.
This is probably 10 years ago,at least at least in like the
normal world pro bodybuildersobviously been doing roids for
generations, but like normal gympeople it wasn't.
It seems like now it's kind ofeveryone's doing some form of it
on trt but, 10, 12 years agowhen, like 2014, when we were
(14:50):
having, when we're doing theselike local little crossfit
competitions like this guy Iknow you're talking about yeah,
he was pretty, he was hard asnails and fucking was dead,
lifting like 700 pounds yeah,yeah, he felt like a rock, like
he really, like he just wasbuilt like a boulder.
He was impressive as a humanand he said he had a dozen rye
eggs a day and 20 grams ofcreatine Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
You know Well the creatine is something that's
like outside of the GI tract.
I know it wouldn't be harmful,yeah, and so it'd be an
interesting thing to experimentwith and see if it really had
like an extra, extra benefit.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah, just I say, why not try?
Maybe 10 or something let's gostart with 10 and just see, and
then maybe just go like up fivegram increments, see what
happened?
There's a point, I think rightaround then I was like fuck it,
I'll see what 10 feels like yeahagain, I don't remember it's
psychosomatic, but like I waslike yeah, I couldn't tell you
if I was actually starting out.
Yeah, but also like if fivegrams for me at 200 pounds is
(15:45):
different than five grams forsomebody at 150 pounds you know
that's exactly true, right, butthen what if you're 300 pounds?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
this?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
guy was probably like 220 230 jacked so maybe his 20
would be like a normal person's10.
You know, right, right, right.
But uh, it's really hard tofind any reason to not do it.
And one other, one other thingthat the more it's being
researched because it is sopopular now they're finding like
it's got tremendous benefitsfor cognitive function and brain
(16:11):
health, focus and acuity.
So cool, and especially forolder populations?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, the elderly Absolutely.
Which makes sense, causeobviously, just like our bodies
degenerate, our brainsdegenerate you know, and so all
of a sudden you're just givencause.
Basically, your brain uses ATPand glucose as the two primary
energy sources and so, via theprocess we were just talking
about, just getting the brainmore readily available.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Atp just means increased cognitive function so
I was just getting ready forthis episode.
I wrote an interesting articleand it was like 95 of it is
allocated towards musculature,but five 5% is basically going
to your brain.
But your brain uses ATP justlike your muscles do.
Atp passes up the blood-brainbarrier Under mental stress and
(17:00):
fatigue, just like your muscles.
your brain is basically gettingdrained of its energy your brain
is basically getting drained ofits energy, and so what they
found is that, like dosinganother five grams of creatine
within a three-hour window,actually helps boost brain
function back up, so intravenous, like if you do like an IV drip
(17:23):
within 15 minutes, it canimprove cognitive ability.
That's so cool.
If you just drink it thoughabout three hours is the latency
between yeah, before it can getcognitive ability.
So cool if you just drink itthough about three hours?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
is the?
Is the?
Is the latency between yeah,before I can get into your brain
interesting so.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So it's really interesting.
So it's like they found thatlike especially like if you have
a really shitty night's sleepor you're just systemically
fatigued you're just drainedacute high doses of it can
actually just help you get backup to a cognitive function.
That was similar to like if youhad a full night's sleep, I
wonder.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I mean, that makes sense.
I mean like amanda's in gradschool right now she's working
on papers and like I bet youeven for things of that nature
yeah, I mean it's like what Ithink we talked about once of
like, uh, like a grandmasterchess player will burn like 2
000 calories and brain is nojoke just from thinking, because
you're thinking so hard so thebrain's just churning through
all this fuel.
So it's like in these kind ofhigh mental stress situations,
(18:10):
even if you're just thinking alot, dose on that creatine.
That's so cool.
Do you sip in creatine?
Sip in creatine yeah, and itdoesn't work with everything.
It doesn't affect Parkinson'sand other degenerative brain
diseases or brain stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It doesn't.
You're saying it doesn't,you're saying it doesn't.
Yeah.
But I wonder though if you'realready diagnosed, maybe it's a
little bit too late.
But I wonder, like does it helpstave it off if you're?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
taking it up until then.
I don't know.
I mean, the next time I get apoor night's sleep I'm
definitely going to try acreatine blast.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Sure, I was thinking the same thing.
But yeah, I mean they're sayinglike around it right now,
because now that like it'sbecoming so popular they're all
these researchers now are tryingto like see, well, what else
can it do?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
well, yeah, I saw a thing that helps with anxiety
and depression, especially inlike teens and youth.
You know, and the mechanismsaren't 100 clear, but it just
seems like when the brainstruggles.
You know the brain strugglesand yeah, but just giving it
better function in general, youcan stave off these kind of
emotional things that can berelated to chemical imbalances
(19:12):
and all the kind of stuff.
I mean you gotta imagine thatlike the body's so intricate.
So like what if your liver getsless creatine put out?
You know it's supposed toproduce like a gram a day.
What if it, just as you getolder, it produces less?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
it's only spending like half a gram because and
then maybe you don't eat a lotof animal products, so you're
just not really getting any.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then all of a sudden you know this accessible
resource for your brain and allthe things is just kind of
lagging, especially as you getolder.
Maybe it just makes total sense.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, for sure, I think, especially because, like,
if you are more plant-based andyou're a lifter, you train.
I think it's even moreimportant because you can get it
naturally through, just likefish and meat and stuff.
But if you're not eating a lotof that but you're still
training hard and like taking alot of protein from, like you
know, plant sources, which isgreat, this could be a really,
(20:00):
really important addition toyour routine if you are more
plant-based, for sure.
So yeah, so it's hard to findany reasons not to do it, I mean
there's pretty much none.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I mean it's yeah, I mean, especially even now, if
you don't exercise, it's thebrain function is gonna be the
next piece, and so it's like,yeah, it's interesting it's very
cool.
Very few, very few supplementsor substances that oh yeah,
someone crashed in the partyhere uh, that that kind of have
that just sound reasoning likethat.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
For sure, and I mean I don't think I've not taken it,
for I mean I've been oncreatine personally for at least
solid 15 years.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, I've been off for a while it's probably been.
I just fell out of pattern inlike six months.
I thought I didn't have any,just didn't reorder it.
And then, because of thisepisode, I was rummaging around
and I found like a bag that Ihad purchased but I totally had
forgotten about.
So now I'm going to get to seethe the contrast yeah I'm
unsaturated.
That'd be good.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Now I'm going to definitely see you should just
go to 10 grams, right, I'm justgoing to do 10, I'm just just
gonna do 10 indefinitely yeah,and then just see, because I
mean that might just be likewhoa game changer for you right,
but so yeah, so I just talkedabout saturated, yeah, so what's
the dosing?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
what's?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
going on.
It's interesting because, likeI think, that depends on you.
Talk to um.
I think when I first startedtaking it 20 years ago, it was
like this saturation phase whereyou should do 15 grams a day
for a few days and then justonce you're saturated, your
muscles are saturated after afew days and you just go to like
the standard five, yep.
But then now everybody's justlike just take the five, it's
(21:38):
fine, it just takes longer, yeahto saturate.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, so the idea here is that one thing about the
supplement is you have to takeit every day.
I mean, maybe in terms of thebrain function and getting a
boost on a poor night's sleep,that might, I don't know.
That would make sense to methat you could get an acute
benefit from just supplying yourbrain with something in most,
but for the muscular performanceaspects, your muscle has to be
saturated, and that only happensfrom consistent use, and so
(22:01):
it's something you have to takeevery day.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
If you just work out twice a week and take it twice a
week when you work, yeah, don'tjust turn to one of those
things Like people who haveprotein shakes like, ah, I just
do a shake when I work out.
I'm like well, better thannothing, but like, just do it
every day.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, it's a macronutrient for total numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah, like this isn't like a training session
contingent supplement here, it'sjust like every day needs to be
consistent.
So when you do go and train,you're ready to roll, you're not
like already starting todwindle down.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So the muscles have to be saturated.
As long as you take itconsistently, it'll happen at
one point.
If you took 15 or 20 grams fora few days, you'll saturate
quicker.
But fundamentally, if you justtook 5 grams every day
consistently, you willeventually reach saturation.
It just might take like 10 days, but I think this is where
people get mixed up.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I think this is, I think this is how it causes gi
issues, because you're like, oh,I gotta saturate.
You've never taken it before,you really gotta saturate, so
you start taking 15 grams a dayand you're just gassy and your
stomach's upset.
You're like oh, I tried,creatine doesn't work for me.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
But had you actually just done five grams a day and
you would have been just totallyfine, you might have just dosed
too hard and since this issomething that you're going to
take every day indefinitely,seemingly anyway, the five extra
days to get saturated isn'tgoing to really matter.
You're not going to do this forjust a month or two weeks.
It's like, no, this is like.
You just take this.
(23:17):
I mean, maybe you wax and wanea little bit, maybe you go on
vacation for two weeks.
It naturally happens, orsomething.
But fundamentally you just takeit every day and you know
there's a lot of questions abouttiming and there's a little bit
of research that might againmight support, particularly in
athletes, that taking thecreatine directly after exercise
has a more beneficial effect.
But really it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Because it is a saturation thing.
It is a saturation, you justdepleted a bunch of it.
It's not like proteins, whereyou got like a spike and then a
drop in your bloodstream.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's like I think your muscles are yeah, they're
just it it's just in there, yeah, so the most important thing is
this consistency is to justbuild it into a habit that
you'll guarantee to take itevery day.
So if you mix it, you do aprotein shake, mix it in there
or if you do something in themorning, but just the.
What matters is that you justdo it every day, so whatever
time of the day will allow that.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I also think that like you know, it's like
assimilation is important, solike if it's just five grams,
which isn't much, and so like ifyou have like a huge meal and
then you have your five grams,like it probably wouldn't reach,
you wouldn't assimilate as asgreat of a percentage if you
were to drink it like, let's say, on an empty stomach you know
that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I mean, it's still getting in, you.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah but there's just a lot of other stuff your body
has to sift through.
There's got to be someEfficiency.
Yeah, Efficiency loss you knowin the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's interesting too.
I also read that apparentlytaking it with caffeine can
reduce its efficacy of a potiona little bit.
Yeah, which would be probablywhat I would do in the morning.
But, not enough to deter you.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, to do in the morning, but, yeah, not enough
to deter you.
Yeah, we're getting a littlecaught up in the weeds here.
I think the big takeaway,though, is like there's really
no reason to not do it.
Um, it only looks like greenlights, there's.
The only side effect maybe issome upset stomach, but again,
that's usually correlated withhigher doses.
So for most folks, it's likethere's just really no reason to
not do, especially if you train.
Yeah, uh, it's a naturalchemical your body produces on
(25:07):
its own, no matter what it's inthe foods you're eating already.
All you're doing is just givinga little extra, a couple of
grams extra than you wouldproduce on your own, to just
kind of like maximize your, yourpotential without having to do
drugs.
You know 100 and so, yeah,there's really no reason to not
do it.
A couple takeaways monohydrateson when you need, yeah protein,
mon.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's it, yep.
All the other bullshit is justbullshit.
All marketing.
People will sell you all typesof other forms and higher
absorption, longer release rates, pills and not as much.
Charge you 17 times more moneyI get.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
it's like $16, $17 for a pound.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Go to bulksupplementscom or from
Amazon.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, you get a giant sack.
So if you're paying more thanthat, you're just you're.
You're buying the packaging,you're buying the best parts.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's dirt cheap, I mean, as a supplement goes.
It is like dirt cheap.
It is a commodity, yeah, it'sjust.
It's crazy.
It is a for the what you getout of it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah so so there you go.
So hopefully that will help youguys make a more informed
decision.
But you know, you know, as faras supplementation goes, less is
more.
Just don't get caught up in thestuff.
That's like.
You know, some of these stacksI see people have, it's like
insane.
They're taking like 10, 15different supplements a day and
I'm like all right, be surprisedhow far.
(26:21):
Just a solid meal plan, someprotein, creatine, stay hydrated
, go to bed.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Be consistent.
Some protein creatine stayhydrated, go to bed.
Be consistent like that's three, that is, lucene, b5 and 12
nitric oxide yeah, it's justlike whoa bro, you're taking
like a fucking well, those areactually things I take every day
yeah, but you're talking aboutvitamins.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
I'm talking about, like no, like the neurotropic,
like lucene, like, like no, it'slike this is my stack, my
pre-workout stack, my introworkout stack, my post-workout
stack.
Oh yeah, and I did.
That's way too complicated,like, keep it simple.
Um, most important thing isnutrition, but anyway, so yeah.
So there you go.
So that was it, episode 41 onour take on creatine.
(27:04):
We'll catch you guys next time,episode 42 coming up, peace.
welcome to coach's corner, episode 41, and this is
going to be a special episode.
Well, they're all special, butthis one's going to be
specifically talking about avery hot button topic called
creatine.
So everyone's I mean you cannot, at least I can, because my
instagram feed is, just, youknow, all full of fitness
influencers that I see whatthey're doing just to make sure
(00:32):
you know see what thecompetition's doing out there.
But everybody's doing videos oncreatine, right?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
now it's funny how the zeitgeist kind of bubble
pops.
I mean it's been around for solong, yeah, well known for so
long.
But yeah, well known for solong, but still, yeah, it's like
somehow it just comes back intothe froth.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
It's crazy, I mean, like we've been.
I mean, I've been personallytaking creatine for 23 years.
That's that new stuff.
And even when, even 23 yearsago, it was like, yeah, you just
got to take creatine.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So matter of fact, when I went to school in the
early 2000s, like 2003, it wasdefinitely just like oh yeah,
and the textbooks Many, manyyears, because it's the only
over-the-counter supplement thatyou can buy right now that is
clinically proven,scientifically proven, to
increase performance andstrength.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
All the other stuff is like you have A tier, B tier,
C tier supplements.
C tier is just unfounded,anecdotal hearsay.
B tier could be beneficial,like maybe amino acids would be
in that like, depending on thecase, depending on the person
maybe more research is needed.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
There are like A to Bs that make sense of like well,
it does this.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, like, like, almost like sports specific or
case specific, like, if you're,if you're this type of athlete,
this, this B tier, might workfor you.
But in general, maybe moreresearch is needed to be done.
And there's like the A tierwhere it's like you just can't
deny it.
No, there's countless studies,yeah, and there's countless
studies, yeah, and.
And then creatine is a tier.
I mean, it's just like thebenefits and the more they study
(02:06):
, the more they find that it'snot just sports which we'll get
into and like performance, butactually like a lot of other
benefits in your health as well.
Absolutely so we'll be doingour best to just kind of chat a
little bit about it.
Disclaimer we're not likeexperts, we're not, like you
know, collegiate researchershere that are that are going to
break down like the crazy, crazynitty gritty science, but we'll
just kind of give like our takeon it.
(02:27):
And yeah, I think we knowenough to be dangerous, but yeah
, 100 so so basically, why don'tyou start us out here, mr mr?
kinesiology just in general.
Yeah, what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
well, I mean, okay, it's, it's, it's fantastic, I
think.
Okay, moving on.
So that's all I really have tosay.
Yeah, no, but basically I thinkit's understanding that there's
three energy pathways for amuscle when it contracts and has
to do work.
You have kind of like your ATPphase.
You have like your glycolyticor your carbohydrate use phase
(03:01):
for using some common languageand then you have your oxidative
or maybe your fat burning phase, if totally want to use common
language, and it's kind ofdegree.
The gradient is there based onintensity or work.
So the atp is like 10 secondsworth of readily available
maximal contraction storedenergy.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So think like you have to sprint to catch the bus
sprint to get the bus.
You have to like jump as highas you can to try to touch a
basketball yeah, like what oneset of three or four of your max
reps or something, yeah, soliterally 10 seconds or less is
all going to be ATP.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Then you got up to two minutes in the glycolytic
where you're kind of usingglycogen, which is the stored
carbohydrate in your muscle.
That's going to be your kind ofthat burn, which is the lactic
acid.
You know you're kind of doing aset of push-ups and your
muscles are burning and it's notsustainable by any means.
But you're kind of in thatrange.
That might be a minute of work,45 seconds, that kind of thing
(03:50):
and then you have the oxidativewhich is when you go on a walk
or if you're, we're in ouroxidative pathway as we speak.
Yeah, exactly, it's basicallyjust using oxygen to metabolize
fat.
For energy very low demand,long lasting.
It's your endurance kind ofthing.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, like if you're a trained, uh, endurance athlete
, like if you're running amarathon, you're yeah, that
would be.
You can't burn through glycogenfor five hours, so you got to
start utilizing oxygen as yourenergy source.
And so oxygen is prettystraightforward you breathe it
in glycolytic.
Just to just to highlight whatyou said, it's it's derived when
you eat carbohydrate.
Specifically you, if you train.
(04:27):
Well, we all carry a degree ofglycogen, but no, everybody has.
But you know it's, it's likeit's just the gas tank in your
muscles, right?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
so if you walk up a flight of stairs and you get
that burn in your leg.
Yep, you started to tap intothat and it's also one thing you
know when I was in school.
The the energy pathways are sodistinct, and even in how we
just explained them.
But one of the things theymentioned is that there's
technically like an influx ofall three pathways at all.
Right, you know, it's not likeyou're doing a set of push-ups
and your oxidative pathway isjust not working and your atps
is not working.
It's this kind of likesmorgasbord that's happening all
(04:56):
the time, like there might be asingle contraction where you
have to like bend down and pickup a box.
That's not intense enough forall of your ATP but your
oxidative pathway.
So it's like you know there'sthis smorgasbord your ATP is
constantly being replenished andused you know, certain
contractions will kind of dipinto your glycogen.
It's not like you're just atlow level, just purely burning
fat and oxidative pathway Right,right, right.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's not so it's not so?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
there's ATP, which is probably like the we refer to
it as the energy currency in thebody, yep, muscles, brain, like
that's just kind of like ourreadily available energy source
at any moment, at any time.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Just ready to go.
Yeah, it's just the hotgasoline, that's just ready.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So what the hell does it have to do with creatine?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, so basically ATP is adenosine tri
triphosphate and when your bodyutilizes the molecule for energy
, it turns into a diphosphate.
So atp turns into adp oradenosine diphosphate, and
basically what creatine does,which is it's already naturally
stored in the body.
I think it's like they saidthat the liver and the kidneys
can produce up to a gram a day.
(06:01):
You know, we store in ourmuscles, we get it from, you
know, animal products generally,like red meat and that kind of
thing.
I think like a pound of redmeat or something like that has
five grams of creatine in it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So we do get it from animals.
Our body can make it, obviouslywe need it.
But basically what happens isthat the presence of creatine in
the muscles or in the cellbasically replenishes the
phosphate molecule quicker.
So as you utilize ATP and itturns into ADP, you basically
the creatine helps slap on aphosphate again and takes it
from that dye or turns it backinto a tri and turns it back
(06:34):
into a tri, and so basicallyyour body is just getting a
higher uptick of readilyavailable ATP.
You replenish it faster andthere's more of it because your
body can just assign thephosphates to ADP.
That's kind of lying aroundanyway.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And so how that translates to performance is
that like, well, like we justtalked about, like, if you have
this 10 second sort of window toutilize your ATP pathway, your
first pathway, like explosivestuff, quick sprints, etc, heavy
pressing or heavy, heavy liftsof any kind, right explosive
(07:07):
movement for 10 seconds or less,well, it stands to reason.
Then, if you have more atpavailable in your muscle, your
muscles are more saturated withthis, with these atp molecules.
Well then, you know, maybe youcan, instead of 10 seconds, you
might be able to push for 12 or13, which might translate to one
or two extra reps, and insteadof, you know um, your max effort
(07:29):
being 100 pounds, maybe it'snow 110 pounds.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right, you may be able to maintain a maximum like
speed on a sprint.
Yeah, seven seconds.
You can maintain a maximumspeed for 10.
And yeah, because it's like oneof the things to think about is
that like if there was ATPreadily available for longer,
your body would just keep usingthat.
And so I think one of the ideasis again that idea of like
(07:54):
these energy pathways areoverlapping is that as you exit
the 10 second window, your bodystarts to utilize the stored
carbohydrate or the glycogen,because it needs to keep
contracting.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
But at the same time.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Your ATP system is constantly regenerating yeah it
just can't regenerate fastenough for the demands you're
putting on it.
But now that we're regeneratingthat ATP even faster, as your
body dips out of that 10 secondsand starts to utilize that
secondary pathway, the ATPs getturning over and it's much more
efficient than the glycolyticpathway.
So it's almost like you're ableto throw on more wood on the
(08:21):
fire quicker, and there's thishigher turnover of the preferred
rate.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, right, the preferred energy source so to
speak.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It's almost like you're here like a little nitro
boost, yeah, like micro nitro,and then it lets you get the 10
second uh nitro boost, like inmario cuts or something like
that.
I was thinking exactly overthere.
And then, like, you go back tolike like us nba jam with the
turbo bar.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, your turbo bar just gets
replenished quicker, totally,and so then, so you got let's
say, you're taking a supplementcreatine monohydrate.
You have now saturated yourmuscles in creatine, so not only
do you have more ATP moleculesavailable, which does all the
things we just said, but thenyou also replenish those dyes
(08:59):
back into tris faster.
Because remember the creatinephosphate is what turns the dye
back into the tri, which thenconverts back into your power
booster of ATP, turbo bar, turbobar of ATP.
So that's why it's so powerfulfrom an athletic standpoint.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, it's just physiologically sound.
That's why science backs it upthere's no like oh, it increases
your mood or helps you sleep,it's just factually an energy
pathway of the body.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So you could see how like we're not talking like
anabolic steroid levelimprovements, but like for the
average person, I mean thiscould be a, you know, five to
ten percent increase inperformance and strength over
the course of a year, whichmight mean like, let's say,
you're a guy trying to put onmuscle, that might look like,
instead of you putting on 10pounds of muscle in that year
(09:49):
and naturally without anything.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Maybe it's more like 13, 15 I mean, I'm trying to
remember, I have some statisticsin my mind about some studies
that show the amount of leanmass gain comparatively, um, you
know, from people that took meinto not, and it was pretty
substantial.
I mean we're talking, yeah,like in the study, I think the
creatine people gained like twoto three more pounds of lean
(10:11):
mass and it was well under ayear probably just like a
mesocycle of some sort, probablylike 12 weeks yeah, so it there
it's.
It's substantial.
I wish I had some factualnumbers.
I'm not gonna spit out anythingwithout knowing for a fact, but
it's there.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It is fairly substantial, the improvements
that you can make and I I willsay it's noticeable too, and how
much of that is psychosomatic.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Ah, who knows, it's factual.
But hey, placebo is as good asanything right.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And so it's true because, like so much of our,
you know not to go too far offon like a philosophical tangent,
but like so much of ourstrength and ability is our own
perception and our own belief inthat 100% our strength and
ability is our own perception,our own belief in our, in that
100 and so like, even by justthinking that you are going to
be stronger because you'retaking a supplement, is probably
going to make you unlockanother layer of performance
(10:59):
that maybe you wouldn't have.
Regardless of whether there'sany actual effect it could be a
sugar pill, for all you know,but you just think it is you
think you can pull out two orthree more reps at the end of a
set and all of a sudden, insteadof it.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're willing to be more uncomfortable a little
deeper.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So much of that shit happens.
But that's not the case withcreatine.
Like creatine, for sure, isclinically proven it really does
.
But I think there's also, forsure, a psychosomatic component
of it as well, just knowing thatyou're on it.
But I will say it is noticeable, like when you, if you're not
on it for a long period of timeand you start taking it yeah you
within a week.
You're like oh yeah, I'm pushingfor a few more reps here, like
(11:34):
I'm, I'm throwing an extra 10 oneach side, like I can feel the
difference here wow yeah, so thecreatine in and of itself
doesn't necessarily make yourmuscles any stronger or bigger,
but what it does is increasesyour capacity to train and the
volume of training now improves,which that is what makes your
muscles bigger and stronger.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Exactly yeah, intensity and volume increases.
So, yeah, if you were to justtake creatine and do nothing,
nothing would happen.
Fundamentally, in terms of yourmusculature and development,
yeah, but if you are alreadyexercising, it's a goldmine.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Some of the big complaints is that people are
like well.
Creatine makes people gainwater weight.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Right, and there is some truth to that.
It does, it does, but it's alsofairly minimal.
I mean, it's like I thinkpeople hear that and they think
they're going to be like awalking fishbowl all of a sudden
.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, you know, just like face round and baby faced.
But it's also the same personwill go and drink a bottle of
red wine and eat a piece of it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, or just eat like a ramen or something that
has a day's worth of salt in it.
I mean, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
But there's a difference between subcutaneous
water weight retention andintramuscular water weight
retention, and so you know,think of it like this.
Okay, think of it like this,yeah, yep, yeah, think about
like this.
All right, let's say you hadlike a ziploc bag which is just
like your skin.
Think of like the bag is justlike your skin and it's full of
water.
(12:50):
And let's say you take like abottle of water and put it
inside the bag.
Creatine doesn't pull waterbetween your muscle and your
skin.
Creatine pulls water into theactual muscle.
So making the bottle of waterbigger because it has more
hydration, more water in it, butthe subcutaneous water weight
that makes you look puffy.
(13:10):
It's not that, if anything isgoing to make you look more, uh,
leaned out, because it'sincreasing the, the volume of
your muscle also pushing againstthe fat.
Yeah, thinning the fat, outthinning yeah, thinning it out
of your muscle and also likepulling water into your muscle
is a good thing.
That just means your cellsgonna be more hydrated,
functioning better, recoveringfaster, performing better, you
(13:31):
know I think a lot of time.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
It's more like maybe the scale goes up.
People are concerned aboutgaining a pound or two and
they're just like, oh no, butagain, it's just understanding
that that's not coming from fat,it's coming from your little
plump muscles.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I mean, if you put on a few pounds of muscle, you
probably look to have the sameeffect.
Yeah right, yeah, but uh, butyeah, other than that, like
other than just like waterweight retention, the side
effects are super minimal.
The only thing I could reallyfind is just some gi track.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That's what I found, but that's also extremely high
dosing, yeah, very, very highdosing, which, uh, you know,
anecdotally, I've never done it,so I've always been curious,
but I I met a guy who was that Idon't actually want to cross,
crossfit competition.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
This guy yeah, I was gonna say yeah, I remember he
was all about creatine andcholesterol man 20.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
He would take like 20 grams a day.
So just just on a.
We'll talk about it more indetail, but five grams a day is
on the average recommended doseyeah that's just what it is
through and through, no wayaround it.
And so he was taking 20 to 30 aday.
He swore by it.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
He swore by it, and this was before steroids was as
prevalent as it is now.
This is probably 10 years ago,at least at least in like the
normal world pro bodybuildersobviously been doing roids for
generations, but like normal gympeople it wasn't.
It seems like now it's kind ofeveryone's doing some form of it
on trt but, 10, 12 years agowhen, like 2014, when we were
(14:50):
having, when we're doing theselike local little crossfit
competitions like this guy Iknow you're talking about yeah,
he was pretty, he was hard asnails and fucking was dead,
lifting like 700 pounds yeah,yeah, he felt like a rock, like
he really, like he just wasbuilt like a boulder.
He was impressive as a humanand he said he had a dozen rye
eggs a day and 20 grams ofcreatine Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
You know Well the creatine is something that's
like outside of the GI tract.
I know it wouldn't be harmful,yeah, and so it'd be an
interesting thing to experimentwith and see if it really had
like an extra, extra benefit.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah, just I say, why not try?
Maybe 10 or something let's gostart with 10 and just see, and
then maybe just go like up fivegram increments, see what
happened?
There's a point, I think rightaround then I was like fuck it,
I'll see what 10 feels like yeahagain, I don't remember it's
psychosomatic, but like I waslike yeah, I couldn't tell you
if I was actually starting out.
Yeah, but also like if fivegrams for me at 200 pounds is
(15:45):
different than five grams forsomebody at 150 pounds you know
that's exactly true, right, butthen what if you're 300 pounds?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
this?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
guy was probably like 220 230 jacked so maybe his 20
would be like a normal person's10.
You know, right, right, right.
But uh, it's really hard tofind any reason to not do it.
And one other, one other thingthat the more it's being
researched because it is sopopular now they're finding like
it's got tremendous benefitsfor cognitive function and brain
(16:11):
health, focus and acuity.
So cool, and especially forolder populations?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, the elderly Absolutely.
Which makes sense, causeobviously, just like our bodies
degenerate, our brainsdegenerate you know, and so all
of a sudden you're just givencause.
Basically, your brain uses ATPand glucose as the two primary
energy sources and so, via theprocess we were just talking
about, just getting the brainmore readily available.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Atp just means increased cognitive function so
I was just getting ready forthis episode.
I wrote an interesting articleand it was like 95 of it is
allocated towards musculature,but five 5% is basically going
to your brain.
But your brain uses ATP justlike your muscles do.
Atp passes up the blood-brainbarrier Under mental stress and
(17:00):
fatigue, just like your muscles.
your brain is basically gettingdrained of its energy your brain
is basically getting drained ofits energy, and so what they
found is that, like dosinganother five grams of creatine
within a three-hour window,actually helps boost brain
function back up, so intravenous, like if you do like an IV drip
(17:23):
within 15 minutes, it canimprove cognitive ability.
That's so cool.
If you just drink it thoughabout three hours is the latency
between yeah, before it can getcognitive ability.
So cool if you just drink itthough about three hours?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
is the?
Is the?
Is the latency between yeah,before I can get into your brain
interesting so.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So it's really interesting.
So it's like they found thatlike especially like if you have
a really shitty night's sleepor you're just systemically
fatigued you're just drainedacute high doses of it can
actually just help you get backup to a cognitive function.
That was similar to like if youhad a full night's sleep, I
wonder.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I mean, that makes sense.
I mean like amanda's in gradschool right now she's working
on papers and like I bet youeven for things of that nature
yeah, I mean it's like what Ithink we talked about once of
like, uh, like a grandmasterchess player will burn like 2
000 calories and brain is nojoke just from thinking, because
you're thinking so hard so thebrain's just churning through
all this fuel.
So it's like in these kind ofhigh mental stress situations,
(18:10):
even if you're just thinking alot, dose on that creatine.
That's so cool.
Do you sip in creatine?
Sip in creatine yeah, and itdoesn't work with everything.
It doesn't affect Parkinson'sand other degenerative brain
diseases or brain stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
It doesn't.
You're saying it doesn't,you're saying it doesn't.
Yeah.
But I wonder though if you'realready diagnosed, maybe it's a
little bit too late.
But I wonder, like does it helpstave it off if you're?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
taking it up until then.
I don't know.
I mean, the next time I get apoor night's sleep I'm
definitely going to try acreatine blast.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Sure, I was thinking the same thing.
But yeah, I mean they're sayinglike around it right now,
because now that like it'sbecoming so popular they're all
these researchers now are tryingto like see, well, what else
can it do?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
well, yeah, I saw a thing that helps with anxiety
and depression, especially inlike teens and youth.
You know, and the mechanismsaren't 100 clear, but it just
seems like when the brainstruggles.
You know the brain strugglesand yeah, but just giving it
better function in general, youcan stave off these kind of
emotional things that can berelated to chemical imbalances
(19:12):
and all the kind of stuff.
I mean you gotta imagine thatlike the body's so intricate.
So like what if your liver getsless creatine put out?
You know it's supposed toproduce like a gram a day.
What if it, just as you getolder, it produces less?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
it's only spending like half a gram because and
then maybe you don't eat a lotof animal products, so you're
just not really getting any.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then all of a sudden you know this accessible
resource for your brain and allthe things is just kind of
lagging, especially as you getolder.
Maybe it just makes total sense.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, for sure, I think, especially because, like,
if you are more plant-based andyou're a lifter, you train.
I think it's even moreimportant because you can get it
naturally through, just likefish and meat and stuff.
But if you're not eating a lotof that but you're still
training hard and like taking alot of protein from, like you
know, plant sources, which isgreat, this could be a really,
(20:00):
really important addition toyour routine if you are more
plant-based, for sure.
So yeah, so it's hard to findany reasons not to do it, I mean
there's pretty much none.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I mean it's yeah, I mean, especially even now, if
you don't exercise, it's thebrain function is gonna be the
next piece, and so it's like,yeah, it's interesting it's very
cool.
Very few, very few supplementsor substances that oh yeah,
someone crashed in the partyhere uh, that that kind of have
that just sound reasoning likethat.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
For sure, and I mean I don't think I've not taken it,
for I mean I've been oncreatine personally for at least
solid 15 years.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, I've been off for a while it's probably been.
I just fell out of pattern inlike six months.
I thought I didn't have any,just didn't reorder it.
And then, because of thisepisode, I was rummaging around
and I found like a bag that Ihad purchased but I totally had
forgotten about.
So now I'm going to get to seethe the contrast yeah I'm
unsaturated.
That'd be good.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Now I'm going to definitely see you should just
go to 10 grams, right, I'm justgoing to do 10, I'm just just
gonna do 10 indefinitely yeah,and then just see, because I
mean that might just be likewhoa game changer for you right,
but so yeah, so I just talkedabout saturated, yeah, so what's
the dosing?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
what's?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
going on.
It's interesting because, likeI think, that depends on you.
Talk to um.
I think when I first startedtaking it 20 years ago, it was
like this saturation phase whereyou should do 15 grams a day
for a few days and then justonce you're saturated, your
muscles are saturated after afew days and you just go to like
the standard five, yep.
But then now everybody's justlike just take the five, it's
(21:38):
fine, it just takes longer, yeahto saturate.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, so the idea here is that one thing about the
supplement is you have to takeit every day.
I mean, maybe in terms of thebrain function and getting a
boost on a poor night's sleep,that might, I don't know.
That would make sense to methat you could get an acute
benefit from just supplying yourbrain with something in most,
but for the muscular performanceaspects, your muscle has to be
saturated, and that only happensfrom consistent use, and so
(22:01):
it's something you have to takeevery day.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
If you just work out twice a week and take it twice a
week when you work, yeah, don'tjust turn to one of those
things Like people who haveprotein shakes like, ah, I just
do a shake when I work out.
I'm like well, better thannothing, but like, just do it
every day.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, it's a macronutrient for total numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah, like this isn't like a training session
contingent supplement here, it'sjust like every day needs to be
consistent.
So when you do go and train,you're ready to roll, you're not
like already starting todwindle down.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So the muscles have to be saturated.
As long as you take itconsistently, it'll happen at
one point.
If you took 15 or 20 grams fora few days, you'll saturate
quicker.
But fundamentally, if you justtook 5 grams every day
consistently, you willeventually reach saturation.
It just might take like 10 days, but I think this is where
people get mixed up.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I think this is, I think this is how it causes gi
issues, because you're like, oh,I gotta saturate.
You've never taken it before,you really gotta saturate, so
you start taking 15 grams a dayand you're just gassy and your
stomach's upset.
You're like oh, I tried,creatine doesn't work for me.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
But had you actually just done five grams a day and
you would have been just totallyfine, you might have just dosed
too hard and since this issomething that you're going to
take every day indefinitely,seemingly anyway, the five extra
days to get saturated isn'tgoing to really matter.
You're not going to do this forjust a month or two weeks.
It's like, no, this is like.
You just take this.
(23:17):
I mean, maybe you wax and wanea little bit, maybe you go on
vacation for two weeks.
It naturally happens, orsomething.
But fundamentally you just takeit every day and you know
there's a lot of questions abouttiming and there's a little bit
of research that might againmight support, particularly in
athletes, that taking thecreatine directly after exercise
has a more beneficial effect.
But really it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Because it is a saturation thing.
It is a saturation, you justdepleted a bunch of it.
It's not like proteins, whereyou got like a spike and then a
drop in your bloodstream.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's like I think your muscles are yeah, they're
just it it's just in there, yeah, so the most important thing is
this consistency is to justbuild it into a habit that
you'll guarantee to take itevery day.
So if you mix it, you do aprotein shake, mix it in there
or if you do something in themorning, but just the.
What matters is that you justdo it every day, so whatever
time of the day will allow that.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I also think that like you know, it's like
assimilation is important, solike if it's just five grams,
which isn't much, and so like ifyou have like a huge meal and
then you have your five grams,like it probably wouldn't reach,
you wouldn't assimilate as asgreat of a percentage if you
were to drink it like, let's say, on an empty stomach you know
that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I mean, it's still getting in, you.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah but there's just a lot of other stuff your body
has to sift through.
There's got to be someEfficiency.
Yeah, Efficiency loss you knowin the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's interesting too.
I also read that apparentlytaking it with caffeine can
reduce its efficacy of a potiona little bit.
Yeah, which would be probablywhat I would do in the morning.
But, not enough to deter you.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, to do in the morning, but, yeah, not enough
to deter you.
Yeah, we're getting a littlecaught up in the weeds here.
I think the big takeaway,though, is like there's really
no reason to not do it.
Um, it only looks like greenlights, there's.
The only side effect maybe issome upset stomach, but again,
that's usually correlated withhigher doses.
So for most folks, it's likethere's just really no reason to
not do, especially if you train.
Yeah, uh, it's a naturalchemical your body produces on
(25:07):
its own, no matter what it's inthe foods you're eating already.
All you're doing is just givinga little extra, a couple of
grams extra than you wouldproduce on your own, to just
kind of like maximize your, yourpotential without having to do
drugs.
You know 100 and so, yeah,there's really no reason to not
do it.
A couple takeaways monohydrateson when you need, yeah protein,
mon.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's it, yep.
All the other bullshit is justbullshit.
All marketing.
People will sell you all typesof other forms and higher
absorption, longer release rates, pills and not as much.
Charge you 17 times more moneyI get.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
it's like $16, $17 for a pound.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Go to bulksupplementscom or from
Amazon.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, you get a giant sack.
So if you're paying more thanthat, you're just you're.
You're buying the packaging,you're buying the best parts.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's dirt cheap, I mean, as a supplement goes.
It is like dirt cheap.
It is a commodity, yeah, it'sjust.
It's crazy.
It is a for the what you getout of it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah so so there you go.
So hopefully that will help youguys make a more informed
decision.
But you know, you know, as faras supplementation goes, less is
more.
Just don't get caught up in thestuff.
That's like.
You know, some of these stacksI see people have, it's like
insane.
They're taking like 10, 15different supplements a day and
I'm like all right, be surprisedhow far.
(26:21):
Just a solid meal plan, someprotein, creatine, stay hydrated
, go to bed.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Be consistent.
Some protein creatine stayhydrated, go to bed.
Be consistent like that's three, that is, lucene, b5 and 12
nitric oxide yeah, it's justlike whoa bro, you're taking
like a fucking well, those areactually things I take every day
yeah, but you're talking aboutvitamins.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
I'm talking about, like no, like the neurotropic,
like lucene, like, like no, it'slike this is my stack, my
pre-workout stack, my introworkout stack, my post-workout
stack.
Oh yeah, and I did.
That's way too complicated,like, keep it simple.
Um, most important thing isnutrition, but anyway, so yeah.
So there you go.
So that was it, episode 41 onour take on creatine.
(27:04):
We'll catch you guys next time,episode 42 coming up, peace.
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