Creatine Explained: What It Is and How It Works - Jake Langham

Creatine — What Is It?

Creatine is one of the most researched and reliable supplements for improving strength, power, and performance. It’s a naturally occurring compound found in the muscle tissue of meat and fish, and it’s also made by the body.

Creatine is stored mainly in your muscles and brain as phosphocreatine, where it helps rapidly regenerate ATP — the body’s main energy currency. While we usually think of ATP as powering muscle contraction, the brain actually consumes about 20% of the body’s total ATP each day, despite making up only around 2% of your body weight. This high energy demand is also why Creatine can help support mental focus, cognitive function, and resilience to fatigue during tough workouts or long, demanding days.

Creatine was first identified in 1832 by German scientist Justus von Liebig, who discovered it in meat extracts while studying muscular energy. Later research in the late 1800s showed its role in energy metabolism — laying the foundation for what would become one of the most proven performance supplements of all time.

In simple terms, creatine helps your muscles and your brain produce energy faster — allowing you to train harder, think sharper, and recover better.

How Does It Work?

Your muscles and brain rely on ATP, the body’s main energy currency. The problem is, ATP stores run out quickly during short, intense efforts — like heavy lifting, sprinting, jumping, or other high-intensity exercise. These efforts typically last around 5–15 seconds, which is exactly the window where phosphocreatine is most effective.

Stored creatine donates a high-energy phosphate molecule to regenerate ATP almost instantly, helping sustain these short-term, high-energy demands. This allows you to push a little harder, perform an extra rep, or maintain better speed — small improvements that add up to meaningful performance gains over time.

In practice, creatine can help you:

• Perform more reps or sets at a higher intensity

• Maintain explosive power throughout a session

• Recover faster between bouts of effort and support post-training recovery

How to Take It

• Maintenance dose: 3–5 g per day, taken at any time.

• Optional loading phase: Some athletes, particularly power or strength athletes going into competition,

  use 20 g per day split into 4 doses for 5–7 days, then drop to 3–5 g daily. This saturates muscles faster but isn’t necessary for everyone.

Possible Side Effects

• Water retention: Mild weight gain from water stored in muscles — normal and temporary. Once your body adapts, this effect usually stabilizes.

• Digestive issues: Taking too much at once can cause bloating or upset stomach — split doses if needed.

• Other myths: Concerns about kidney damage or long-term safety have been consistently debunked in healthy adults.

Who Might Benefit?

Creatine has been shown to support performance and recovery in a wide range of people:

💪 Strength & Power Athletes

• Increased strength, muscle mass, and training volume.

• Better performance in short-duration, high-intensity activities.

🏃 Team & Field Sport Athletes

• Improved sprint ability and repeat-effort performance.

🧠 Older Adults

• Supports strength and muscle retention, cognition, and overall vitality as we age.

🌿 Vegetarians & Vegans

• Tend to have lower baseline muscle creatine levels, so supplementation can make a big difference.