Are You Wondering If Women Can Take Creatine?
The popular question, can women take creatine? If you are weight training or interested in building muscle, I don’t have to tell you about the popular supplement, creatine. What exactly IS it and how can it help in your fitness endeavors? Does gender matter with this supplement? Well, I’m glad you asked. I’m going to share with you some information and tips on what this supplement is, how it can help you with your workouts, and how quickly you can expect results.
What Is Creatine and Where Does it Come From?
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in our bodies produced in the kidneys and liver, usually about 2 grams a day. It’s derived from 3 non-essential amino acids:
- Arginine
- Glycine
- Methionine
It’s natural, so women can take creatine. The cool thing is, about 95% of the body’s creatine goes to the muscles, heart, and cells, but the majority of it is stored in the skeletal muscle. This allows it to provide the energy needed for your muscles to move, mainly for quick and explosive movements such as in heavy weight training.
You see, muscle contraction is primarily fueled by ATP (adenosine-triphosphate). The problem is, there is just enough ATP to supply energy for about 10 seconds. To go beyond 10 seconds, the body requires more ATP.
Therefore, creatine phosphate releases its phosphate molecule to ADP (adenosine-diphosphate), recreating ATP. So, increasing the supply of creatine phosphate helps to increase the speed the body can supply ATP.
Okay, Here It Is In Laymen Terms…
Basically, if you take all the scientific mumbo-jumbo out, the bottom line is this. When you supplement with creatine it goes to the muscles. Once inside the muscle cells it turns into creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate is used for short-term energy bursts such as powerful weight lifting.
So, all this really means is that this chemical reaction in the body increases the muscles’ ability and intensity. Bottom line, when your weight training improves, your muscle recovery improves. But, can women take creatine or even receive it in their diet?
Supplementing With Creatine Can Boost Your Lean Muscle 100% Naturally…
Your body does produce some creatine and you do receive some of it from your diet. Therefore, why would you need to supplement? That’s a good question.
You see, most people only get about 1 gram of creatine a day through their diet. If you combine that 1 gram with the average body’s production of 2 grams, that’s a total of about 3 grams total a day.
On average, to get the training and recovery benefits from creatine you need about 5 grams of it a day. This can vary for men and women, but most female competitors do well on taking just 5 grams daily.
There is really no need to take more because it doesn’t literally build muscle it simply boosts the rate of energy production in your muscle cells. It indirectly builds muscle by supplying more energy to the muscles for more muscle contractions.
Loading (Is It Worth it?)
A lot of creatine product labels will suggest a loading phase of about 5 grams, 5 times a day. This stacking phase will quite literally swell your muscle cells, making your muscles larger and fuller. In turn, your strength will boost through the ceiling.
On a load-up phase you will see a visual change and feel the strength increase in the gym. Since the results are seen and felt in about 3-5 days, it makes the product very popular and some people assume it’s a steroid.
The loading segment is for quick results to make the product look that much more effective. I’m already telling you that it’s a good and effective product. You don’t need the loading period though.
The loading phase will just waste your money and swell you up more than you would like. Men love the stacking segment, but most women don’t need it, and really don’t enjoy the overall swollen feeling and look loading gives.
Can women take creatine? Sure, just start taking 5 grams a day, every day, on training and non-training days.
Safety and Legal Issues (Clearing the Confusion…)
No, creatine is not a steroid and it’s perfectly safe to take, even for women. Steroids.org defines steroids as “any of a large number of hormonal substances with the same basic chemical structure produced mainly in the adrenal cortex and gonads.”
Creatine has nothing to do with hormones. It is a naturally occurring substance produced by your body AND you receive it from your diet from such foods as fish and red meat. In fact, herring, pork, salmon, tuna, sushi, and, beef are quite high in it.
There are a lot of brands of creatine on the market; some are good and others not so good. A bad quality product will bloat you. I suggest sticking to large companies that have been around a long time such as EAS, TwinLab, NOW, Beverly International, AST, etc.
So, to get the best benefits from your creatine, simply choose a good name brand and supplement with only 5 grams a day. You will begin to see and feel the positive changes in just days.
Best Creatine? (Interesting…)
So, can women take creatine? Absolutely. Why the heck not? However, if you want good results and not something that’s going to mess up your belly, you need to take a brand that’s of quality.
Click Here to see my favorite brand. It’s the one I use and the one I recommend to all my clients. It’s not a fancy designer name, but it’s pure. It’s NOW Creatine.
One More Thing
So, we learned, can women take creatine? Yes, but find out other great natural supplements’ women can take to build muscle and lose fat. Learn more in my FREE Natural Bodybuilding Crash Course and take your training body to the next level. Click the link below for instant access.
