The Best Muscle Building Supplement In 2022 - Creatine Monohydrate
Ah, Creatine. One of the most well-studied supplement ingredients on the planet.
Supplementing with creatine provides a host of benefits for exercise performance, ultimately improving your ability to build muscle.
Creatine monohydrate is a specific form of creatine that has the most research by a long shot. Other forms of creatine can be effective but lack the quantity of research-backed evidence.
Creatine is as close to a must-have supplement you can get. Aside from its ability to benefit physical performance, emerging research shows its cognitive boosting capabilities.
Some may claim their favourite pre-workout is a must-have too, & we won't argue that.
Building muscle comes from eating in a calorie surplus over time paired with a proper weightlifting routine. Creatine supplementation is typically our following recommendation beyond this.
Let's dive further into the best muscle-building supplement in 2022, creatine monohydrate.
What Is Creatine?
Image From healthline.com
Creatine is produced naturally in the body from amino acids. Your body has creatine in it right now, whether you supplement with creatine or not.
Your body can produce around one gram of creatine a day under normal conditions. It's found primarily in red meat & seafood at levels far below supplementation dosages.
Creatine is part of an extensive energy system, particularly relevant under intense physical & mental activity conditions. It helps make ATP (i.e. your body's energy source for everything).
When creatine is present, it gets stored as phosphocreatine. This is the form of creatine that gets readily turned into energy.
Creatine is also known as an osmolyte, meaning it attracts water to itself. Creatine actively brings water inside muscle cells which we'll touch on more below.
Now that you have advanced knowledge of creatine, let's see why creatine is the best muscle-building supplement in 2022.
Creatine Improves Your Ability To Lift Heavier Weights
Who doesn't want to get stronger? Those jar lids aren't going to start opening themselves anytime soon.
Creatine reliably increases strength gain with regular supplementation. Studies show up to a 20% strength increase.
This increase in strength comes from creatine's ability to produce energy rapidly during the high demand placed on the body.
Lifting heavier weights over time is called progressive overload. This overload on your muscles will signal them to grow.
While there is more to the puzzle of building muscle, always seeking to get stronger over time is a good rule of thumb.
Creatine Helps You Perform More Reps & Sets
Due to its ability to produce energy rapidly, creatine makes performing more exercise volume in your workouts easier.
While lifting heavier weights is vital to muscle gain, doing more volume is also necessary.
Adding an additional set of your favourite exercise or getting those extra couple of reps pushes you in the direction of muscle gain.
Creatine users tend to notice themselves feeling less tired during their workouts & being able to do more. Who doesn't want to get the most out of their time in the gym?
Creatine Increases Muscle Hydration & Fullness
Much of creatine's magic comes from its ability to retain water in the right places. Creatine helps maximize muscle hydration, providing an excellent environment for the muscles to grow & perform.
This mechanism is why many see slight weight gain from creatine supplementation. But don't worry, this is good weight gain. This water weight is happening in the muscles where you want it.
How To Take Creatine
Image From mensjournal.com
Creatine supplementation can be started in a couple of different ways, yielding the same results over time.
You can "load" creatine, meaning you take around 20 grams a day for 5-7 days. This gets you to muscle saturation quicker.
Recall from before; creatine is stored in the body to help produce energy. To maximize these effects, you must ensure adequate creatine is present.
Creatine saturation refers to your body having adequate creatine stores for maximum benefits.
Loading creatine may cause digestive issues, so taking 5 grams of creatine daily is another acceptable option. It will just take longer to reach peak saturation in your body.
Regardless of how you start, maintaining 3-5 grams of creatine afterward is required.
Creatine is a supplement best used over the long term to reap its benefits. You can "cycle" off creatine after a few months if desired, but there's not much practicality to this. Creatine is safe for long-term use.
Unlock Your Next Level Of Muscle Growth
Creatine is great but still isn't magic. As you saw above, creatine optimizes the process of building muscle, but your fundamentals need to be in place first.
Adding creatine into your routine is a sure-fire way to boost your muscle growth in 2022.
Creatine is safe & effective for men & women. It is one of the top-recommended supplements by Synergy staff due to its outstanding effects at an affordable price.
You can buy creatine monohydrate here & inside Synergy locations.
Are you interested in other muscle-building supplements? Be sure to check out:
