Creatine: The Most Researched Supplement

I’ve been around the supplement industry long enough to watch trends come and go. Remember NO2 boosters? Tribulus? The magic berry from some remote mountain range that was supposed to triple your testosterone?

Most supplements are marketing wrapped in a capsule. Creatine is different.

Creatine monohydrate has been studied for over 30 years. Not by supplement companies—by independent researchers at universities around the world. We’re talking thousands of peer-reviewed papers. It’s one of the few supplements that actually does what the label claims.

Let me explain what it does, how it works, and whether it makes sense for you.

What Creatine Actually Does

Your muscles run on ATP—adenosine triphosphate. Think of it as the fuel your cells burn for energy. When you contract a muscle, ATP breaks down into ADP (adenosine diphosphate), releasing energy in the process.

Here’s the catch: your muscles only store enough ATP for about 10 seconds of maximum effort. After that, you need to regenerate more ATP. The faster you regenerate it, the longer you can maintain high-intensity work.

Creatine speeds up this regeneration process.

When you supplement with creatine, your body converts it to phosphocreatine and stores it in your muscles. Phosphocreatine can rapidly donate its phosphate group to ADP, turning it back into ATP. More phosphocreatine in your muscles means faster ATP regeneration, which means you can work harder, longer.

This isn’t theoretical. It’s measurable in labs. It’s visible in the weight room. It’s real.

The Benefits (What the Research Shows)

Increased strength and power: This is the headline benefit. Meta-analyses consistently show 5-15% improvements in strength and power output with creatine supplementation. For a working man who needs to lift heavy things repeatedly, that’s meaningful.

More muscle mass: Creatine doesn’t directly build muscle, but it enables harder training. Train harder, recover better, grow more. Studies show creatine users gain more muscle over time than non-users, even when everything else is equal.

Faster recovery: Some research indicates creatine helps with recovery between sessions. The mechanism isn’t fully understood, but it may relate to improved cell hydration and reduced muscle damage.

Cognitive benefits: This one surprised researchers. Creatine is concentrated in the brain as well as muscles. Studies show improved cognitive performance, especially during sleep deprivation or mentally demanding tasks. If you’re working long hours, pulling early mornings, this matters.

Bone health: Emerging research suggests creatine may support bone density, particularly when combined with resistance training. More data needed, but the early signs are positive.

Who Benefits Most

Not everyone needs creatine. But certain groups see bigger returns:

Strength athletes and powerlifters: If your training involves maximal or near-maximal efforts—squats, deadlifts, bench press—creatine directly improves your performance capacity.

High-intensity sport athletes: Wrestlers, football players, sprinters. Anything with repeated bursts of maximum effort.

Older adults: Sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) is real and serious. Creatine plus resistance training is one of the most effective interventions for maintaining muscle mass as you age.

Vegetarians and vegans: Creatine is naturally found in meat and fish. If you don’t eat animal products, your baseline creatine levels are lower, and supplementation has a bigger effect.

People doing physically demanding work: If your job involves repetitive heavy lifting, carrying, or high-intensity effort, creatine can help maintain performance throughout the day.

Loading vs. Maintenance

This is where people overcomplicate things.

The “loading phase” concept suggests you should take 20 grams of creatine daily for 5-7 days to saturate your muscles quickly, then drop to 3-5 grams daily for maintenance.

Does loading work? Yes. It saturates your muscles faster—about a week instead of 3-4 weeks.

Is loading necessary? No. If you just take 3-5 grams daily from day one, you’ll reach full saturation in about a month. You won’t notice a difference in the long run.

My recommendation: skip the loading unless you’re in a hurry. Taking 20 grams a day can cause digestive issues for some people, and the extra week of full saturation isn’t worth the stomach upset for most of us.

Just take 5 grams a day, every day. Simple.

Timing Doesn’t Matter

The fitness industry loves to obsess over timing. Take creatine before your workout! No, after! No, with carbs!

Here’s what the research says: timing doesn’t matter.

Creatine saturation is a long-term game. You’re not looking for an acute effect like caffeine. You’re building up stores over weeks and months. Whether you take it at 6 AM, noon, or 9 PM makes zero practical difference.

The only timing rule that matters: take it consistently. Same time every day if that helps you remember. With food if it upsets your stomach on an empty belly. That’s it.

Why Monohydrate Beats Fancy Forms

Walk into a supplement store and you’ll see creatine hydrochloride, creatine ethyl ester, buffered creatine, liquid creatine—each one more expensive than the last, each one claiming superior absorption or effectiveness.

Here’s the truth: creatine monohydrate is the form used in virtually all the research demonstrating creatine’s benefits. It’s 99% bioavailable. It’s stable. It’s cheap.

The fancy forms have one advantage: better marketing. Some may dissolve slightly better in water. Some may cause less bloating for people who are sensitive. But none have been shown to produce superior results in head-to-head studies.

If you want to pay three times as much for creatine hydrochloride because it mixes easier, go ahead. But don’t expect better results. Monohydrate works. It’s the gold standard because it earned that title.

Built Daily Supply’s Creatine

Built Daily Supply offers straight creatine monohydrate. Unflavored. No fillers. No “proprietary blends.” Just creatine.

The advantage of unflavored creatine is versatility. You can mix it with anything—water, juice, your protein shake, coffee. It doesn’t lock you into a flavor profile. And because it’s unflavored, there’s nothing to hide behind. The ingredient list has one item.

This is what a creatine supplement should be. No games. No marketing fluff. Just the most researched, most effective form at a dose that works.

Potential Side Effects and Concerns

Let’s address the elephant in the room: is creatine safe?

Short answer: yes. Decades of research haven’t found serious health risks in healthy individuals taking recommended doses.

Weight gain: When you start taking creatine, you’ll likely gain 1-3 pounds. This isn’t fat—it’s water being pulled into your muscles. This is actually part of the benefit (better hydrated muscles perform better). But if you’re a wrestler making weight, plan accordingly.

Digestive issues: Some people get bloating or stomach discomfort, especially with large doses. Spreading your dose throughout the day or taking it with food usually solves this.

Kidney concerns: There’s a persistent myth that creatine damages kidneys. This came from a single case study of a man with pre-existing kidney disease. In healthy people with normal kidney function, creatine has been shown safe in studies lasting up to 5 years. If you have kidney disease, talk to your doctor first. Otherwise, you’re fine.

The Bottom Line

Creatine isn’t magic. It won’t replace hard work, good nutrition, or adequate sleep. But it’s one of the few supplements with the research backing to justify its use.

If you’re an active person—whether that’s in the gym, on the job site, or both—3-5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily is a low-risk, low-cost way to potentially improve your physical (and mental) performance.

Don’t overthink it. Buy quality monohydrate. Take 5 grams daily. Stay hydrated. Get back to work.

The results will come.