Maximize Muscle Gain
When it comes to supplement shopping, you will more than likely always grab your protein powders and pre-workouts, but when it comes to creatine, this is something that many people are on the fence about. There are so many mixed reviews, myths, and just false stigmas surrounding such a beneficial supplement that so many gains are being left on the table.
When it comes to choosing a creatine supplement, there are a few different options and things to consider with each option. That being said, it may be hard to find the right creatine supplement for you, but no worries, we have our recommendation, which is REDCON1 Creatine Monohydrate. It is one of our favorite creatine supplements to date, but we’ll get into that shortly.
Let’s break everything down.
What is Creatine?
The first thing to address is what exactly creatine is. Creatine is an amino acid located mostly in your body’s muscles, but it can also be found in the brain. Most of the time, you can get creatine through seafood and red meat, though at levels far below those found in creatine supplements. Naturally, the body makes about 1 gram of creatine per day, through the liver and pancreas, and the recommended intake of creatine is 5 grams.
The human body stores creatine as phosphocreatine primarily in the muscles. This is where it is used for energy. As a result, people take creatine orally to improve things like recovery, muscle growth, and a host of other bodily functions.
Benefits Of Creatine For Bodybuilding
Now that creatine has been defined, let’s break down some benefits it can bring to your training and overall health.
Increase in Strength: Creatine can cause your cells to inflate, which helps to provide better pumps and increase blood flow through overworked muscles. The increase in cell size and amount of blood flowing is working to build that strength and muscle mass you desire most, but you are not packing on too much body fat in the process.
Boost in Athletic Performance: Since creatine can cause an increase in strength and power output, as well as refuel energy stores to support recovery, growth, and explosiveness, this transfers over to athletic performance. Whether you are a strength athlete, bodybuilder, or you play team sports, the increase in athletic performance is always good to have.
Improve Your Metabolism: Creatine helps control insulin sensitivity and glycemic control for calorie burn and fat loss. This will work to provide fuel and work towards a more shredded aesthetic with a good food plan.
Enhance Mental Capacity: Creatine has been shown to increase oxygen utilization in the brain, which in turn boosts memory and processing speed, giving you better mental capacity when enduring those grueling workouts.
Creatine Monohydrate vs. HCL
As stated above, there are different forms of creatine, and the two most popular are monohydrate and HCL. Creatine monohydrate is the most popular and widely used form of creatine, as it is the one that has been around the longest and has been researched extensively. Creatine monohydrate is typically 100% pure creatine and it is worth mentioning that this is the most affordable option out of all the forms, which also contributes heavily to its popularity.
Creatine hydrochloride, also known as creatine HCL, is bound with hydrochloric acid which gives this a different structure than creatine monohydrate, which is isolated. But what creatine HCL does is it will increase solubility, which means it can be absorbed much faster into your muscle cells. The fast absorption limits the amount of side effects and allows it to hit your bloodstream faster. The issue with creatine HCL is that it has not been as widely researched as creatine monohydrate, so many of the questions we all would love to have are simply left unknown, which is another reason to choose creatine monohydrate.
Choosing a Creatine Monohydrate Supplement
When it comes to choosing supplements, it certainly is not always the easiest task. There are so many supplements on the market, but many of them are filled with blends and just unnecessary fillers. You want something that is right around 5 grams of pure creatine and does not break the bank.
So, what is a good option for creatine monohydrate?
REDCON1 CREATINE MONOHYDRATE
One of our top choices of supplement brands produces one of our favorite bodybuilding supplements. REDCON1 CREATINE MONOHYDRATE is affordable, quality, and easy to use. Let’s break it down.
Servings and Price
REDCON1 CREATINE MONOHYDRATE gives you 5 grams of pure creatine monohydrate per serving, which is the ideal serving size for this type of supplement. It also contains 60 servings, for only $34.99!
Flavor
Many creatine products will be unflavored, and REDCON1 is no different here. Their creatine comes unflavored, so you are free to mix it with a beverage of your choice. You can mix it with regular old water, or throw it in your post workout protein shake or meal replacement, or maybe you want to take it with your BCAAs, it is up to you!
When and How to Take
Though you can take creatine at pretty much any time of day, REDCON1 recommends that you take Creatine Monohydrate immediately following your workout. For even better results, you can split it up for pre and post workout. All you have to do is mix one scoop (5g) with 8-10 fl. oz of water or your favorite sports drink. Do not forget to stay hydrated when taking creatine.
Our Verdict
No Generation Iron review would be complete without our verdict. We were able to get our hands on REDCON1 Creatine Monohydrate, and we were not disappointed. Of all the creatine products we have tried, this one was one of our favorites.
Here are some things we noticed:
- Better pumps
- Slight increase in strength
- Energy increase
REDCON1 Creatine Monohydrate is one supplement that we certainly recommend.
Addressing the Myths
Before we wrap things up, there are some myths that we need to address. There are a lot of negative connotations surrounding this beneficial supplement. People say that creatine causes things such as:
- Hair loss
- Liver and kidney damage
- Acne
- Bloating
Regarding the first three issues on this list, these are side effects of substances such as anabolic steroids or SARMs, not an over the counter supplement aimed at inflating your muscle cells. There was one small study with a group that experienced baldness, but it was assumed that they were already predisposed to the gene for male pattern baldness.
When it comes to creatine causing liver and kidney damage, this is rare and can possibly occur with high doses of creatine. Taking 5 grams of creatine per day will more than likely not cause liver or kidney damage.
Creatine is non-hormonal, so causing acne is just false.
Bloating can be a side effect when people utilize the method of the “loading phase” which is taking 25-30 grams of creatine a day for 5-7 days to get it into their system faster. This is not necessary, and taking the 5 grams a day is perfectly fine.
Wrap Up
Overall, creatine is a popular supplement that many are on the fence about. The main takeaways are that creatine is cheap and effective, and most of the negative misconceptions surrounding it are false or come from people who take far too much. The biggest problem you will have with creatine is finding the right one, but we can firmly recommend REDCON1 Creatine Monohydrate.
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