All You Need To Know About Creatine Benefits For Women

 Creatine is an important amino acid that’s popular in the fitness world due to its muscle-strengthening benefits. While creatine is a popular supplement for male bodybuilders, it has many benefits for females who are not looking to bulk up. 

 Creatine is a supplement that most athletic people never consider taking. Most people think creatine is a supplement that bodybuilders use to bulk up and is a dangerous supplement. People think that creatine supplementation is just for weightlifters and think that this supplement is like taking steroids. Most females avoid consuming creatine as they think that they will get huge muscles.

 The myths surrounding creatine are many and many of them are untrue, especially when it comes to female athletes. Creatine is a safe supplement for ladies and it has many benefits for your muscles. If you are doing any type of weightlifting or strength training, you should be taking a creatine supplement. 

What is Creatine?

Creatine is an important amino acid that helps support muscle strength, short energy bursts, the power output of muscle, recovery, and increases in lean body mass. It is best known for its muscle-building and energy-promoting benefits.

Creatine is made in the body primarily in the kidneys by three amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. Although the body produces creatine naturally, it is excreted daily. While you can find creatine in many foods, the dose in these foods is very small. Due to the consistent excretion and the lack of creatine in most foods, many people choose to supplement creatine.

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The Benefits of Taking Creatine

Creatine has many benefits for females. The main benefit of creatine is being able to support muscle function with a steady supply of energy. Creatine is stored in your muscles and when your muscles need energy, they turn to their creatine stores to help support muscle function.

Typically, the people who choose to supplement creatine are people who are looking to build muscle but creatine has many other benefits.

Creatine has other benefits for females

+ Creatine improves exercise performance with toleration of heavy training loads for athletes

+ Creatine promotes muscle recovery

+ Creatine enhances post-exercise recovery and prevents injuries

+ Creatine increases muscle mass and strength

+ Creatine improves mood and cognitive function

+ Creatine boosts cellular hydration

+  Creatine counteracts menopausal muscle, bone, and strength loss

Who should take creatine?

Creatine is for all types of athletes, including females. People who could benefit from creatine supplementation include:

+ Anyone practicing strength and resistance training for sports

+ Anyone looking to increase lean muscle mass and reduce fat mass

+ Anyone recovering from injury where immobilization leads to muscle atrophy

+ Anyone doing interval-type training such as HITT

+ Anyone who follows a vegetarian or vegan diet

Common Myths about Creatine

~ Does creatine make you gain weight or bulk up?

One myth about creatine is that it can make you gain weight. Creatine does not make you gain weight. One of the most common reasons for weight gain associated with creatine supplementation is increased water weight. While you may gain anywhere from two to five pounds during your first week of creatine supplementation, this is due to water retention. 

 Creatine helps increase muscle mass by drawing extra water into the muscle cells, causing you to retain fluid but this is not weight gain. Water retention will become less noticeable when your muscles grow in size

 Creatine supplementation is proven to be safe for women, and when used in correct doses it won’t make them “bulk up.” Creatine is for any woman looking for increased lean muscle mass 

~ Does creatine harm your kidneys?

While there have been reports of kidney problems with creatine supplements, that is a reported side effect of taking large doses of creatine. The International Society of Sports Nutrition reports that both short and long-term supplementation of up to 30 grams per day for 5 years is safe in healthy individuals.

How Much Creatine Should I Take?

When you first start supplementing with creatine you need to build up your creatine stores. This can be done in 2 different ways. One is by quick 7-day creatine loading phase and the other way is a gradual 28-day routine. 

~ During the quick creatine loading phase, you’ll take 20 to 25 grams of creatine, split into four or five doses for five to seven days.

~ The amount for the gradual 28-day routine is 3-5 grams per day. 

Ultimately, you will reach the same goal regardless of your chosen method. Then you will move on to the maintenance dose of creatine which is 3-5 grams of creatine per day. The supplement quiz at Gainful will help you determine the correct dose for your body weight.

The Bottom Line

Creatine is a safe and effective nutritional supplement for females and is commonly used to increase strength, build muscle, improve endurance during high-intensity exercise, and boost exercise performance. For more information about creatine and to get personalized information about the best supplements for your needs, check out this supplement quiz at Gainful.