BUILD MUSCLE FAST - HOW DO I BUILD MASS FAST AS A HARDGAINER?
If you are one of those body types who find it very difficult to build muscle mass, then this article is just right for you. Because here we will shed light on possible causes and give you valuable tips and tricks on how you can build muscle mass properly even as a hardgainer.
First of all, you should know what body types there are. In the first step, you should analyze which body type you most closely correspond to. In theory, a basic distinction is made between 3 body types:
This body type finds it very difficult to build muscle mass. He needs a long time for regeneration, despite partially low load. On the other hand, this body type accumulates little to no fat.
This body type finds it easy to build up muscle mass. It regenerates quickly even under high loads, but is also very prone to fat deposits.
Who is the "perfect" combination of the other two body types. It is easy for him to build up muscle mass. He regenerates very quickly despite high stress, quickly breaks down fat and it usually does not even come to larger fat deposits.
Of course, the theory meets one or the other hurdle in practice. In practice, for example, it may well be that an individual body type lies between the body types shown. It is also possible that the metabolism and other factors that influence the model change over the years. For example, at a young age, a person may have been able to eat whatever he or she wanted without putting on much fat. Years later, the same person has to be meticulous about what he or she eats, otherwise swim rings quickly develop that don't want to go away so quickly. One or the other certainly knows this problem from his own experience.
As already mentioned, you should first examine exactly whether you are a hardgainer at all. To do this, you simply need to leave your ego at home and reflect on whether your diet and training really fit. Do you train cleanly and properly, pay attention to a sufficient calorie surplus and a good diet, but do not build muscle mass? Then there is a possibility that you are actually a hardgainer.
Nevertheless, you should always be realistic with yourself. Because even if the framework conditions are right, a gain of 10kg muscle mass per year is far from being an indicator that you are actually a hardgainer. Reflect yourself realistically. This is the only way to know if you are really a hardgainer.
But if after this little self-analysis you still come to the conclusion that you are a hardgainer, then don't get discouraged and don't listen to the talk in the gym. Because you have already laid the foundation for your future success. Sure, it's not as easy for you as it is for others, and everything from nutrition to training has to fit perfectly, but that shouldn't be an obstacle! Rather the opposite should be the case! You can be all the more proud of every future success!
This is sometimes the most important point to describe how it actually comes to the term hardgainer. At this point, however, it must also be mentioned that one always assumes a healthy person. People with diseases, such as hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism do not count here. Because the metabolism decides which body type you are. Conversely, this doesn't mean that you can't do anything about it if it's disease-related.
Metabolism is another word for the energy that our body uses. When we consume various foods and beverages, our body converts them into usable energy, among other things. This means that people with a rather slow metabolism need less energy. People with a fast metabolism (=hardgainer metabolism) need more energy. Since the fast metabolism permanently needs a lot of energy, it is likely that the energy for other processes - such as muscle building or the accumulation of fat - is simply missing. If a hardgainer is also very active, a lot of energy is also needed. The remaining energy of a hardgainer is consumed by the basal metabolic rate, which the body needs to maintain all vital functions.
In order to achieve real success, the very first thing you should do is discuss your daily calorie needs. To calculate this, you can either use a calorie tracker or a reliable app. You can also make it even easier for yourself by performing the following calculation:
Body weight (in kg) x 22 = X. The value X is then multiplied by the activity factor (= M). The result is your calculation basis in Kcal. It is important for the value M that you honestly estimate how the average activity is in your everyday life. The following possible values are available for the activity factor (= M):
Sitting activities: 1.3-1.6
Light activities: 1.5-1.8
Active: 1.7-2.0
Very active: 1.9 - 2.2
The following is a calculation example for a slightly active person (= activity factor 1.5 - 1.8) with a weight of 70Kg:
70 (kg) x 22 = 1,540
1,540 x 1.5 = 2,310 Kcal
A 70Kg person who is only slightly active needs Ø 2,310 Kcal daily.
Basically, if you want to build muscle mass, you need a sufficient calorie surplus. For a non-hardgainer, you would add about 200-300 Kcal to the calories calculated above. But if you are a hardgainer, this surplus will not be enough. As a hardgainer, you should plan on a calorie surplus of at least 500 to 1,000 calories. To achieve this, you should generally eat 3 main meals and possibly 2-3 snacks (even liquid).
Hardgainers often have the problem that they do not (can not) eat enough meals. They also often do without breakfast, because it is very difficult to eat something in the morning. The problem is that muscle building will not work without a substantial breakfast.
Especially breakfast is essential, because your body has not received anything during the whole night. Accordingly, the body's reserves are depleted in the morning and should be replenished!
Good snacks can be bananas, walnuts or protein shakes. Or, if you want it to be liquid, oatmeal is also excellent. Just put 150g of oatmeal together with 50g of protein powder of your choice and 500ml of low-fat milk in a blender and the snack is ready. With this basis you have just under 1000 Kcal with decent values together: 75g protein, 120g carbohydrates and 20g fat. In principle, you have already taken the most important proteins and complex carbohydrates. By the way, this mix is especially recommended if you can't eat breakfast in the morning. The whole or even the half portion is of course also wonderfully suitable as a snack in between.
As for the macro distribution, even the hardgainer does not need more protein than any other bodybuilder (= 1.5 - 2g / kg body weight). And carbohydrates, like any other athlete, should of course be "clean" (complex) carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, whole wheat bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.
Like all of us, you'll have your share of unproductive days when you can't get your carbs in. As long as your proteins are taken as usual, you can have a burger or a pizza every now and then (emphasis on sometimes!). That's perfectly fine.
You don't have to be meticulous about the fats either. Other athletes pay more attention to the fact that, for example, there is very little oil in the pan. As long as you use a good source of oil, such as coconut oil or walnut oil, you can go a bit overboard here.
Another important point is the continuity of meals. For this, you should have a fixed plan that you stick to. Ideally, you should always eat your meals at about the same time. Many well-known bodybuilders also swear by this approach and believe that this is one of the most important factors for your success.
Next to nutrition, probably the most important aspect is how a hardgainer should train. In bodybuilding and weight training, the motto "a lot helps a lot" applies more and more often. This means that you should train until muscle failure in order to burn out the muscle properly. In addition, there are various training techniques, such as volume training or HIT training. In most cases, this is absolutely the right way! With a hardgainer, however, this can really go in the pants, because a hardgainer tolerates neither a very high intensity nor a very high volume. With time, this can certainly change somewhat, but in the beginning, unfortunately, this is the case for now. This is because the central nervous system (CNS) of hardgainers is quickly overwhelmed with this high load. This is not only suboptimal for muscle building, but even very counterproductive. Hardgainers quickly enter a phase which is very similar to overtraining. In addition, an overload of the nervous system ensures that you sleep worse, the regeneration slows down strongly and you are very susceptible to infections.
But how should a hardgainer train to build muscle?
What an optimal training program for hardgainers looks like, we have summarized here:
- Full body workout in a 2-person split
- 5-7 sets per muscle group and training days
- The duration of the training should not exceed 60 minutes.
- The workout should be performed in a repetition range of 8-12 reps.
- Breaks between exercises: approx. 4 min. & between sets: approx. 2 min.
- Focus on basic exercises and avoid isolation exercises.
- 3 days break between training days
- Avoid too much cardio exercise.
- Pay attention to sufficient nutrient intake to optimally support regeneration and build-up.
WHAT REALLY HELPS AGAINST SORE MUSCLES?
How nice it would be to be able to build new muscle mass without having to endure the annoying muscle soreness. To constantly set new stimuli, to try out different training variants, to complete more repetitions - and all that, WITHOUT muscle soreness. Unfortunately, however, muscle soreness is part and parcel of muscle building. Of course, the muscle soreness is in some way also an indicator of a successful workout and can certainly have a pushing effect. But can you really do nothing at all against the muscle soreness? Yes, you can! And we show you how!
This is relatively easy to explain. The contraction of the muscles with high weight (= high stress) creates small micro tears in our muscle fibers. This is nothing to worry about, but quite intentional for muscle building. Because only through these tears, which is in principle a damage of the muscle cells, a repair can take place afterwards - thus the muscle growth. Basically, from a medical point of view, these tears are inflammations, which is why they are on par with almost any other inflammation that we have in our body from time to time. Except that we call this inflammation muscle soreness.
In the past, it was assumed that muscle soreness, i.e. the pain that occurs after a hard workout, is triggered by lactate (lactic acid). It was assumed that due to the heavy strain on the muscles, increased lactic acid is released, causing the muscle to become over-acidic. This result has been called muscle soreness. We have already clarified that this is not the actual cause of muscle soreness. Nevertheless, an increased accumulation of lactic acids can be very stressful, as it restricts the performance, tires the muscle faster and thus you have no strength left. Nevertheless, this has nothing to do with classic muscle soreness.
Whether, when and how muscle soreness develops depends on several factors:
A very heavy load during training
Wrong movement sequence of an exercise
Too high volume / too high intensity
Deficiency of important minerals and vitamins
The load after a long break
Too little recovery time between training days
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Especially for people who are new to the gym and get their first workout plan, you could almost guarantee that there will be a lot of muscle soreness. This is often because people usually overestimate themselves in the beginning and haven't really internalized the new movements or executions of an exercise.
RECOMMENDATION
1. before your workout really starts, you should warm up loosely for 5-15 minutes. The best way to do this is on a stepper or cross trainer. This is the best way to loosen up all the muscles and stimulate blood circulation.
2. always start your training with warm up sets! Before you go to your working weight, you should always perform 2-3 warm up sets. This protects you best against injuries and you can prepare the muscles ideally for the upcoming.
Increase the weight slowly! After the warm-up and the warm-up sets you should not immediately go to your maximum weight, but increase gradually.
4. warm-up sets between different exercises of the same muscles. This is very important and often neglected. For example, if you switch to the butterfly exercise after the classic bench press, you should also perform at least one butterfly warm-up set with very little weight. These warm-up sets are elementary for all exercises that differ greatly in the movement sequence. For exercises that are very similar in movement sequence, an additional warm-up set is not absolutely necessary(example: bench press -> incline bench press).
Ahead. There is no miracle cure that will make sore muscles disappear. Except not to do any sports at all. And that should certainly not be the solution! Also statements like, one can train the muscle soreness away, simply ignore and continue, should be regarded with large caution. This will only harm the nervous system and the regeneration process.
However, there are a few very good ways to shorten recovery time and make sore muscles more bearable:
1. breaks after the training! Your muscle or muscle group (here we also include the "supporting muscles") always needs a break of 2-5 days after a hard workout to regenerate.
2. sauna and / or hot bath! A visit to the sauna or a hot bath can work wonders. The warm temperatures promote blood circulation in the muscle, which makes it easier to initiate healing processes.
3. light exercise! Light jogging or walking can help you to slightly boost the metabolism again and thus promote blood circulation.
RECOMMENDATION
4. continue to maintain the supply of micro - and macronutrients! A balanced and athlete-friendly diet (rich in protein and amino acids) is by far the best thing you can do against muscle soreness. Additionally, of course, it has the nice side effect of building your muscle. Besides the basics, such as an adequate intake of protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, but also some targeted supplements can help you very well.
5. nutritional supplements that support you! During the sweaty workout your body loses a lot of minerals and vitamins. But these are exactly what you need so that your muscles can regain their strength and regenerate. The most important minerals and vitamins are magnesium, calcium and the B vitamins. Since muscle soreness is ultimately an inflammation, anti-inflammatory supplements such as omega 3 (EPA /DHA) high doses, vitamin D3, curcuma and L-carnitine are also extremely useful and effective.
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MUSCLE MEMORY - QUICKLY REBUILD LOST MUSCLE MASS
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DIET PLAN TO LOSE WEIGHT - WHAT FOODS MELT BELLY FAT?
Can you specifically burn belly fat or lose belly fat with certain exercises? As much as we would like to tell you otherwise, the answer here is a clear NO!
As hard as the truth sounds, belly fat is always visibly reduced only at the end of a diet. A targeted belly fat burning is unfortunately not possible. However, what sounds sobering, lengthy and tedious at first can be accelerated significantly with a few tricks! Certain foods, techniques and training exercises as well as some tricks can and will certainly help you to accelerate and optimize the entire process of losing weight.
Our fat cells order from 2 different receptors, the alpha receptors and the beta receptors. Areas such as the face, arms and chest have more beta receptors, while areas such as the hips and abdomen have more alpha receptors. Basically, beta receptors can burn fat very quickly and alpha receptors can burn fat very slowly. This is the reason why we see faster results at the beginning and during a diet in the parts of the body dominated by beta receptors.
This certainly seems unfair, but Mother Nature has already thought of something here. The reason that alpha receptors are predominantly found in the hip and abdomen area is purely a protective function of our body. The accumulated fat in this area serves as a protective function for many important organs, such as the kidneys and liver. It is this protective function that makes it so difficult for us or our body to burn fat in these areas.
So if you want to specifically get rid of belly fat, there is no way around tackling the entire body fat. And in general, this is only possible if "less goes in as goes out again". We'll show you the best way to lose weight.
Before you start, you should first define exactly how many calories you need every day. You can determine this either with a reliable fitness watch, a calorie tracker or a calorie calculator from the Internet.
If you decide to use a calorie calculator from the Internet, make sure that you can enter as much information as possible. This will ensure that the "tolerance range" is as low as possible. The most important thing when calculating your daily calorie needs is to be honest with yourself.
RECOMMENDATION
It won't do you any good to cheat here. Please remember that the calculation of your calories is the basis of your whole plan. Remember, you don't have to prove anything to anyone but yourself! Don't be ashamed, after all, unlike others, you have already laid the first foundation and are on the right track!
You now know your calorie requirements. However, this is based on your current weight or on the data that we want to change. So we should first subtract something from this to reach a calorie deficit and get into fat burning mode. The target range of the calorie deficit should be between 10% and 25%. The higher the calorie deficit, the faster the results will be visible. However, we recommend that you start with a deficit of 10% to a maximum of 15% so that your body can get used to the lack of energy intake. Once your body has become accustomed to the deficit, you can increase it to 25%.
Now let's look at your reduced calorie needs and see how we can fit the daily meals in there. It doesn't matter at all if you split those meals 3, 5, or 7 different times. Do it the way you feel most comfortable!
The best way to do this is to use Google and an Excel spreadsheet. A sheet of paper and a calculator will also do. The ratio between protein, carbohydrates and fats will vary individually. The following distribution has proven to be very effective: 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, 20% fat. This distribution usually also corresponds to the standard plan of most bodybuilders. In the course of time, the ratio can of course be adjusted and the protein slightly up and the carbohydrates accordingly down. Nevertheless, with this basic setting you will reach your goals.
The next step is to find the appropriate sources of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Based on their nutritional values, you divide them in the upper ratio and taking into account your calories.
Good sources of carbohydrate include rice (the best!), potatoes, pasta or whole wheat pasta, and oatmeal (for mornings). These are all (long-chain) carbohydrates that keep your blood sugar levels fairly constant and ensure that you don't have high spikes. If you were to replace the rice with a bar of chocolate, for example, it would cause a huge spike in your blood sugar. The body would release insulin and would not be able to burn fat for a long time.
For protein, the classics chicken as well as eggs, beef, turkey, salmon (pay attention to the fat content and include it!) but also ground beef, ground turkey and for vegans beans, peas, tofu and lentils. Small tip: If you do not come to your protein needs, it also does a protein shake to compensate.
Good fats for frying are, for example, rapeseed oil, linseed oil or walnut oil. Other good fatty acids are also found in foods such as walnuts, mozzarella (also a good source of protein), natural yogurt, light cheese and avocados.
Each of us surely knows the classic from various commercials or sees it every day in the gym - people who want to lose weight and limit your workout purely to sit ups and cardio. These exercises will certainly not hurt, but they alone will not bring the desired success!
What do we want to achieve in the gym anyway? That's right, we want to burn energy! And we can't do that by doing tons of sit ups. The abdominal muscles are simply too small for that.
Cardio is of course very important, but primarily for your cardiovascular system. In terms of fat burning, it doesn't really stimulate your body any more than daily exercise. It's great in principle, but not enough to really make much of a difference.
Cardio is of course very important, but primarily for your cardiovascular system. In terms of fat burning, it doesn't really stimulate your body any more than daily exercise. It's great in principle, but not enough to really make much of a difference.
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. This means nothing more than that you perform exercises with an enormously high intensity and maximum power, followed by an active rest period. HIIT training means nothing else. As a practical example: You sprint for 30-60 seconds (= load) with maximum power. Afterwards you walk for 10-30 seconds (= active rest). You can also train classically in the gym with heavy weights (= high intensity) and keep the breaks between the sets as short as possible. At the latest after you have tried HIIT training during a diet, you will realize why it will provide you with the said success.
Even if it sounds very cliché, but nothing comes from nothing! Especially in a diet you should continue to train with heavy weights. This serves on the one hand to protect the muscles (the body realizes that the muscles are still needed) and on the other hand to burn the maximum amount of calories.
If you still have some breathing room AFTER this program, feel free to do a few minutes of cardio at a moderate level and a few sit ups. At least now would be the right time for this!
Finally, a few small general tips to help you reach your goals faster and have consistent success!
Do not neglect your fluid intake! This is 300-350ml per 10kg of body weight and helps you keep your metabolism at a high level. In the morning after getting up, it is recommended to drink a large glass. This will help to get metabolism going.
RECOMMENDATION
Keep a certain routine! You've invested a lot of time in your diet and training plan. Now it's time to stick to it strictly.
Check your weight every few weeks and compare it with your calorie calculator. Once you've achieved your first successes, don't forget to adjust your calorie needs to your new weight.
After the workout, your fat burning is still running at full speed. For this reason, you should not take a meal or carbohydrates directly after the workout, but delay it a bit. A protein shake (with water!) or with amino acids such as BCAA / EAA are no problem and saturates first.
At a certain point in your diet, you may no longer see the successes so strongly on the scale. Do not let this unsettle you! In this case, the mirror is always your best contact and not the scale.
RECOMMENDATION
If you hit a plateau, it's no problem to use a workout booster or something similar. On the contrary, this can help you very well to get more drive and motivation for your workout again.
Forget Cheat Days! Any cheat day will only set you back. You often hear that it is part of having a cheat day because your metabolism has fallen asleep. But don't worry about it, it takes many, many weeks before it goes to sleep.
MUSCLE MEMORY - QUICKLY REBUILD LOST MUSCLE MASS
You were in shape, regularly in the gym and were able to gain some muscle mass - but then it came: the unwanted training break. Caused by injuries, lack of time, stress, the closure of the gym or simply because the inner pig won.
Your muscles have most likely lost weight during this time, as muscle loss starts as early as 10-14 days after your last workout. Finding new motivation is difficult, because you can literally watch your hard-earned muscles continuously recede. In fact, a rather thankless affair. After all the sweat, all the time invested and all the heavy training, a medium to long break from sports is probably enough and the muscles are gone.
Until you are back to the old level, the whole training has to be rebuilt from the beginning and completed again. At least theoretically. In practice, however, it looks different! Because your body or your muscles remember the peak of your muscle mass. Here we speak of the so-called muscle memory or the "muscle memory effect"! An effect from which you benefit when you return to strength training. The muscle memory ensures that you reach your old status quo much faster than you think. So your training was not in vain!
The muscle memory effect ensures that you can rebuild your once trained muscle mass faster after a training break. Basically, you have taught your body, your muscles and therefore your muscle cells in your past training sessions, which status they once had. This status is stored in the muscle cells and therefore does not need to be relearned. But how does muscle memory work? The memory effect is generally composed of 3 modes of operation that complement each other:
The cell nucleus - also called the brain of the muscle cell - permanently stores past and learned information about the performance level and also the former volume of the muscle cell.
Through regular and constant training with weights, growth stimuli are set in the muscle. The muscle is signaled that the previous strength is no longer sufficient, whereupon small tears develop in the muscle tissue: the all-familiar muscle soreness. To "repair" or "fill" these tears, the muscle cell doubles in size during the regeneration phase, which in turn leads to more volume being built up. This is called muscle growth.
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However, if the muscle is not exercised as usual for a longer period of time, a breakdown reaction sets in. Here, the body breaks down the unused muscle by metabolizing the proteins and water from the newly gained muscle cells. As a result, the volume of the muscle cells decreases - but the cell itself remains. A decisive advantage for the re-entry! Because when training is restarted after a long break, the cell nucleus quickly remembers the volume once gained and stimulates the muscle cells. Since the doubling has taken place and the cell nuclei are already present, the rebuilding of the volume is much faster.
This could also be called the perfect interaction between brain, spinal cord and the musculature = motor function. The human body has about 650 different muscles, which in turn are divided into different muscle groups. To understand the whole thing better, one should imagine the different movement sequences in the body as a kind of closed system. For every movement we make, there is an agonist and an antagonist. The agonist is the muscle that performs the movement. The antagonist is the opposite muscle to it, the one that supports. For example, biceps and triceps are agonist and antagonist. If we tense the triceps, it contracts and the biceps is stretched. It is exactly the same the other way around. The better the agonist and antagonist work together (= are trained), the better targeted movement sequences can be routinely executed.
The more often and intensively such movement sequences are trained - such as clean execution in the bench press - the more reflexively they can be recalled. Movement sequences are constant learning processes that can always be optimized, but never forgotten. This can be seen not only in weight training, but also in other sports, such as cycling or swimming. It takes practice to learn the necessary movements. But once learned, they are never forgotten.
Sport can change our genes and our genetic makeup! This sounds a bit like science fiction, but it is reality. Scientists found that even a single workout can positively influence our DNA.
Our genetic code, the DNA, was considered the origin of our way of life for a very long time. We find our genetic material stored in every cell of our body. An unchangeable building block in our body - one would think. But according to the latest findings, it is actually possible to influence, change or even "overwrite" the genetic code. This influence on DNA is achieved by changing chemical processes. More precisely, it is possible to influence so-called switch molecules. These molecules are located on the DNA and determine whether a hereditary trait is stored or not. Researchers at the Swedish Karolinska Institute proved this in a study. In the study, tiny tissue samples were taken from the muscle to be trained. The muscle was then specifically trained over a longer period of time. At the end of the study period, muscle tissue samples were again taken from the trained muscle. The result: the test subjects had succeeded in removing the so-called "blockade molecules" from the genes through targeted muscle training. This is proof that the DNA in our cells can indeed adapt to different conditions. In other words, it was proven that our genes are programmed very quickly to new situations, in this case sports, and can also store this information.
The duration of how long the muscle memory effect actually lasts has not yet been clearly proven. According to studies, however, muscle memory lasts for at least 7 weeks. Many experts assume that muscle memory lasts for years, if not forever, and thus for a lifetime.
Of course, the speed of building muscle mass varies from person to person. Nevertheless, you can assume that you can reach your old status quo after about 3-7 months of training.
The prerequisite is, of course, a proper diet and regular training. Booster are especially suitable for the re-entry and give you the necessary push.
RECOMMENDATION
RECOMMENDATION
After your fitness abstinence, it is very important not to start training at full throttle. Even if it's hard, you shouldn't give 100% right away, but slow down a bit to get back into the swing of things. For the first 2-4 weeks, we recommend a full-body workout with a little less weight and a little more repetitions. This makes it easier for you to get started, protects your joints and minimizes the risk of injury. Your body can then get used to the movement sequences and the load more easily and ultimately also regenerate better. Ideally you support your body right from the start with good fitness supplementslike Booster, Glutamine or EAA so that the re-entry is as effective as possible.
Probably after the first training sessions you will have quite a lot of muscle soreness and ask yourself if you can train with muscle soreness. The answer is clearly: No. At least you should not train the muscles that are affected by muscle soreness. Especially after a longer break, there is a risk that the already stressed muscles will be overstimulated. This can not infrequently lead to strains when the strain is renewed. Effective muscle building always requires a regeneration phase to be observed. Even though it is commendable that you do not want to let the training slide despite muscle soreness, you should always remember that muscle soreness is an indication that your muscle is working.
However, muscle soreness does not mean that you have to take a complete break from training. Muscles that are not affected by soreness can of course be trained. For example, if your arms are sore, you can still exercise your legs.
Getting back into strength training takes effort. But with the Muscle Memory Effect, high-quality nutritional supplements and discipline you will not only quickly regain your old form, but even improve it!
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-019-01070-4
- https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00747.2007
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37895-8
CREATINE MONOHYDRATE: EFFECT AND SIDE EFFECT
Around no other dietary supplement there is so much hype and myths, as around creatine monohydrate. Creatine monohydrate (often creatine monohydrate) is probably by far the most researched and used product in the sports sector and a true bedrock among the mass of supplements that exist on the market. How it really stands around the hype of creatine, which myths are actually true, what effects and side effects you can expect when taking creatine and how much creatine you should take best, you can find out here!
Creatine monohydrate is one of the few supplements whose effect is clearly proven. Accordingly, Creatine has also been created an entry in the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). The Creatine Health Claim reads as follows:
"Creatine enhances physical performance during high-speed strength training in the context of short-term intense physical activity. The claim may only be used for foods whose consumption ensures a daily intake of 3g of creatine. For the claim to be permitted, consumers must be informed that the beneficial effect occurs with a daily intake of 3g of creatine."
Creatine is a substance produced naturally in the body, mainly in the liver, but also in the building salivary gland and kidneys from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. The main task of creatine is to ensure the provision of energy supply.
Brief explanation to better understand the exact task of creatine: Adenosine triphosphate (=ATP) is a molecule in our body that provides energy in every cell of our body. This ATP molecule consists of a total of 3 phosphate groups (hence the name adenosine triphosphate). As soon as the body needs energy, one of the 3 phosphate groups is split off and the required energy is thus released. After the cleavage of a phosphate group, the ATP is now missing one of the 3 original phosphate groups, turning it into ADP (andenosinediphosphate). In order to now be able to restore ATP, the body needs creatine. Creatine is produced by the body itself and is in the form of creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate is a phosphate group that can bind to ADP (andenosinediphosphate). The binding of creatine phosphate to ADP creates the desired and necessary ATP.
The human body produces 1 to 2g of creatine daily, which is normally consumed again through the daily energy supply. Creatine can also be absorbed through various foods. For example, meat and fish also contain creatine (about 5g / 1kg). Here you can quickly see why an additional supplementation with creatine is also so useful to achieve more athletic success.
The more creatine is available to the body, the greater the energy supply! However, in order to reach the creatine content, which has a significant effect, a 100kg athlete, for example, would have to eat about 2kg of meat. Why this is so and how to calculate this, will be explained in the further text.
Creatine has been shown to increase performance and therefore muscle growth. A wide variety of studies and meta-analyses have shown that subjects (*1) taking creatine were able to bench press 6.85 kg more and squat 9.76 kg more than subjects taking placebo creatine alone. This increase in strength corresponded to approximately 10-15% compared to the placebo group.
In another study (*2), creatine was shown to block myostatin by approximately 17%. Myostatin is a protein in the body that is considered a catabolic regulator of skeletal muscle and is responsible for breaking down or inhibiting the buildup of muscle.
RECOMMENDATION
Some other studies (*3/*4) suggest that creatine generally has anti-catabolic properties. Catabolic = degrading / anticatabolic = preventing degradation.
But other effects have also been noted. Such as an improvement in memory performance (*5) and especially better short-term memory performance (*6) and better cognitive function and reaction time (*7) - especially in vegetarians or vegans.
There is a widespread myth that creatine should not be used in a diet or during a definition phase because it "pulls" water and makes you look bloated. This is absolutely not the case! Because our muscle consists of about 75% water anyway. Creatine only fulfills the function of storing additional water in the muscles - nowhere else!
It would also be a contradiction in terms to say that creatine should never be used in a diet, but in the same breath advise (at the end of a diet) to reduce carbohydrates and greatly increase the amount of protein. Especially advanced athletes eat at the end of their diet (depending on body weight etc.) sometimes far more than 1kg of lean meat. Which in turn also contains more than 5g creatine.
In practice, it actually makes sense to take creatine during a diet. Because especially in the phase in which less food is consumed, the body needs sufficient energy. This energy can be provided by the increase of creatine can. By the more energy, especially in the diet, you keep your performance more upright than without creatine, which in turn allows more calories to be burned. A meta-analysis (*8) proved that creatine can even promote fat burning - however, creatine itself does not burn fat!
RECOMMENDATION
There are also many myths about this and everyone does it a little differently. According to some studies, the ideal value is 1g creatine per 10kg body weight. This makes perfect sense, because why should a 50kg athlete take the same amount of creatine as a 100kg athlete.
In principle, it does not matter whether it is capsules or powder. The only advantage of powder is that it is usually cheaper and you can visually assess the mesh factor. The mesh factor indicates how finely the creatine has been ground.
It is assumed that creatine can be better absorbed by the body if the mesh factor is as high as possible - i.e. ground as finely as possible.
Tip: So when you buy a creatine product, always make sure that the mesh factor is specified. This should be "Mesh 200", which is also the highest mesh factor in which you can get creatine.
RECOMMENDATION
The exact time of creatine intake is always somewhat related to your training, at least if you want to be 100% accurate. Important info in advance: If you need more than 5g creatine, you should generally divide the intake into 2 times.
On non-training days, you should take the creatine first thing in the morning after getting up, as the body is most receptive here. If you take more than 5g creatine, you should take the 2nd portion in the late afternoon.
On training days, according to a study (*9), the best time is directly after training. However, you don't have to go crazy here, because the better muscle build-up shown here is only marginally lower. A few minutes earlier or later do not play a decisive role in the vast majority of cases.
The duration of how long the muscle memory effect actually lasts has not yet been clearly proven. According to studies, however, muscle memory lasts for at least 7 weeks. Many experts assume that muscle memory lasts for years, if not forever, and thus for a lifetime.
Not so long ago, it was assumed that it makes no sense to take creatine for a long time, but to use it for a short time, otherwise the effect would flatten out. Today we know that this is not true and you get the best results if you use it continuously. So-called creatine cures with loading phase and everything that goes with it, are now outdated by the latest findings.
It is controversial that creatine should not be taken together with caffeine, because it blocks the effect of creatine. However, there are no 100% clear findings on this yet. There are studies that speak for it, but also some that speak against it. If you want to be on the safe side, then you take it best without caffeine.
This is only conditionally true. Yes, creatine (*10) decomposes after a longer time (only after several days) in water to creatinine and becomes ineffective. However, this time is between 24 and 48 hours. In addition, the shelf life has a positive effect if the water, or generally the liquid, is cool and has a low pH.
Probably the most common side effect(s) are always problems with the kidneys and liver when taking creatine. In a healthy person, however, this is not the case; this could be proven in a meta-analysis (*11), in which even up to 30g creatine per day were administered.
Hair loss is also considered a more serious side effect. However, there is only one study (*12) that states that when taking 25g daily for 7 days followed by 5g for 14 days, the DHT level (dihydrotestosterone) increased. This value refers to hereditary hair loss and states that the hair loss would have come sooner or later anyway, since the increase in DHT level is in most cases hereditary. However, 12 other studies proved that taking creatine usually has no negative effect on hair.
Creatinine is a waste product of creatine. In medicine, the creatinine value is used to determine or measure whether the kidneys are still functioning normally, as the filtering capacity of the kidneys can be measured by this value. If this value is too high, it is often assumed that something is wrong with the kidneys. Unfortunately, even today many doctors are still not well informed. For people who additionally consume creatine or have an above-average musculature, it can be completely normal that the creatinine value is increased in a blood count. This is not a reason to immediately assume a kidney disease, but completely normal if these factors are given. It is also important to keep in mind that these values are "normal values" and are based on an average physique.
(*1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12485548/
(*2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20026378/
(*3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11509496/
(*4) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23392621/
(*5) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17046034/
(*6) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29704637/
(*7) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21118604/
(*8) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33467377/
(*9) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23919405/
(*10) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12916907/
(*11) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11224803/
(*12) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19741313/