Welcome to Creatine Reviews Plus! We have everything you need to make an informed decision about using creatine.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a compound naturally found in muscle tissue. We get it through diet (meat, primarily), and it’s also manufactured by the body. Creatine allows you to work harder and longer in strength/explosive type activities. For more information read my article on what creatine is and how it works.
Should I Being Using Creatine?
That depends. Do you want more strength, or larger muscles? Then yes, creatine will help you. Find out more about the strength and mass building benefits of creatine.
Recent research is finding that creatine has benefits for endurance athletes as well. I talk about that in my article on who should use creatine.
How Do I Know Which Creatine To Buy?
It’s tough to pick a creatine supplement because there’s so much hype and misinformation out there. The reason I created this site was to cut through the noise and give you honest, unbiased information about creatine. I’m not going to try to sell you the most expensive product. In fact, I want you to get the best deal for your money. Take a look at my creatine comparison page to compare features, prices, and read full reviews of each product. If you’re looking to save some time I’ll give you my top three choices right now:
Optimum Nutrition Creatine Powder
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ISS Complete Creatine Power
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ALLMAX Creatine
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Won’t Taking Creatine Just Make Me Gain Water/Get Bloated?
Not if you take a small dose. Many people do a “loading phase”, where they take a bunch of creatine (like 20g per day or more) for a few days. This will make you gain a few pounds in water weight. I don’t advise loading simply because there’s no evidence that it’s necessary.
A small daily dose will give you all the benefits with little or no weight gain. This is especially helpful for athletes who need to keep their weight down to stay in a certain class, such as powerlifters, olympic weightlifters, wrestlers, and many others. Learn more about dosing strategies by reading my article on the subject.
Is Creatine A Steroid? Is It Legal?
No, creatine is not a steroid. You won’t get steroid like effects from using creatine, just modest gains in strength and mass. Yes, it’s legal. In my research I could not find any sports organization which bans the use of creatine. Creatine is found in meat, so unless you’re a vegetarian you already get creatine from your diet. To find out more take a look at my article on creatine legal issues.
Won’t Taking Creatine Give Me Cramps/Dehydration/Kidney Problems?
There has been anecdotal reports of side effects, but none have shown up in research studies. None. This says to my that side effects are extremely rare, and creatine is very safe. I think very few people will experience any side effects when they take the recommended dose. Many people, especially young athletes, get into the mindset that more is better, but that’s not true when it comes to creatine. I wrote an article on possible side effects and how to prevent them, so check that out if you’re concerned.
Why I Created This Website
I decided to start lifting weights in the fall of 2010. I was looking around the internet for lifting programs and other advise, and started to notice a lot of ads for creatine and other supplements.
I did some research to find out if this stuff was worth taking. I found a lot of good information, but it was scattered around in different places. There was also a lot of misinformation and hype mixed in. And I couldn’t find any place where there was honest reviews of creatine supplements. All the websites I found pushed people to buy the most expensive options, so the site owner could make a bigger commission off what people bought.
I created this website so people could get research based information about creatine, and honest, unbiased reviews of creatine supplements.