New Plateau
You could be asking yourself “Can I get stronger than I am now?” after your first year of weight lifting without making any progress in strength or size.
Everyone’s strength plateaus as your body adapts to your new level of fitness. Athletes may choose to use supplements for an increase in performance, some using androgenic compounds (steriods) for better results.
In my opinion, the best type of supplement that has been proven by scientific studies to not only be safe but effective is creatine.
Creatine isn’t a required for gains in strength or size, as plenty of bodybuilders and athletes have gotten great results without it. In spite of this, creatine has proven that it works.
Keep reading to learn more.
How Creatine Works
To understand how creatine works, try to imagine an empty rubber tire being filled with air from a hose.
In the same fashion, water is pulled into a cell along with phosphocreatine. When phosphocreatine is broken down, the phosphate element helps your cells produce more energy for longer periods of time.
Creatine helps add phosphate in the cell, which then creates new available energy that can be used.
This helps you perform anaerobic activities, like lifting weights, since we rely on energy reserves stored in the cells for short duration exercise. Without creatine, your body can go about 2 seconds before its runs out of gas and starts producing lactic acid (that painful feeling you feel when you’re tired).
The benefit of creatine is this boost in energy that can last up to 8 seconds and allows you to work longer, which means a greater likelihood to increase your strength. That’s how creatine works.
When creatine was first introduced back in the early 1990s, there was directions for the consumers to load up to 4 times the daily amount in their drinks for two weeks to “load” the body with creatine.
Years later we all find out that this was BS used to push more product since creatine’s effects aren’t seen until it’s been used continuously for 2 weeks or more.
The recommended amount of creatine you need daily is 3-5g, which can be taken any time of the day.
Creatine Safety
With all that’s known about creatine, some people are cautious to try this supplement because of fear from possible “side effects”.
Creatine has been proven to be a quality performance supplement to athletes that regularly use it. In spite of this, there is a population of people where creatine does not have an effect.
Although there’s a whole list of creatine variations that on the market right now, the type to look for is creatine monohydrate. Many of them come in a bottle powder form and have flavors ranging from strawberry to melon. And unless you want your workout drink to taste like Purell sanitizing gel, try to avoid creatine that doesn’t have any flavor listed.
The Wrap Up
If you’ve been struggling on the same weights for a long time and have at least a year or more of lifting under your belt, creatine may be the best supplement for you to make some more progress. It isn’t as harmful as some people may have heard about it and has mostly positive upside to taking it and adding it to your diet.