It sounds simple enough: take creatine daily and get better results out of your workout. But, as any real-deal fitness enthusiast will tell you, working out is a far more complex and ever-evolving endeavor than the average person gives it credit for.
And, while it’s true that creatine is one of the most proven effective supplements out there for exercise, how you take it can play a massive role in the results you get, and, of course, “exercise” is a term that can encompass all kinds of different means for working the body, with creatine impacting each form of exercise in its own way.
One common question that we get is whether creatine is better suited for bulking or cutting. Let’s answer that as thoroughly as possible, because the answer involves a variety of variables.
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How Does Creatine Work?
First, let’s quickly touch upon how creatine works in the body, since its unique effect on the muscles explains its role in both cutting and bulking regimens.
Creatine is an amino acid that’s produced mainly by the liver of the body, and 95% of it is stored in the cells of the muscles to fuel a variety of muscular functions, while drawing water into muscle tissue to give muscles a larger appearance. Being a supplement, creatine works cumulatively, accumulating in the muscles more over time when taken consistently. Each time we exert our muscles, they burn through their creatine supply, which is why taking it consistently is paramount to success.
Bulking vs. Cutting: What Do These Terms Really Mean?
For those who are new to the advanced world of fitness, let’s explain what bulking and cutting actually mean, as there are a lot of misunderstandings out there. Bulking means to bulk up the muscles, by eating an excess of calories to put on muscle mass. The idea with bulking is that if you consume a lot of calories and work out your muscles as much as is reasonably possible, you’ll be burning fat, and those calories will be put to good use, increasing the size of your muscles instead of turning into fat gain.
Cutting, on the other hand, works differently. Also known as “shredding,” cutting is a phase of eating less calories than you burn in order to lose weight, while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible, to look “cut,” aka “shredded,” or, in simpler terms, very toned. The idea is that you go through a bulking phase first, and then when you go through the cutting phase, the muscle mass remains while you lose weight.
What Does Creatine Have to Do with Bulking and Cutting?
Creatine has a strong influence on muscle mass, acting as one of the building blocks to muscle tissue, while aiding in muscle growth. Those who take creatine daily report faster muscle growth, as well as improved strength and endurance which allows them to complete more reps than they would otherwise.
Creatine also attracts water into the muscular tissue, hydrating them and increasing their size. This has the unique benefit of preventing muscles from deteriorating. You can see that this makes creatine a fantastic choice when you’re in a cutting stage, because the use of creatine helps keep those muscles high in mass even when you’re consuming a low-calorie diet, so that you can get the shredded look you’re aiming for.
A lot of people notice that when they start going through the cutting stage, the muscles deteriorate quickly – and remember that they’ve spent, often, months working very hard to build those muscles in the first place. Creatine generally helps you maintain that muscle mass that you worked so hard for, so that when you go on a low-calorie diet, you don’t have to worry as much about muscle loss while you burn surrounding fat.
As for bulking, creatine is just as beneficial. Creatine helps muscles grow quickly, and again, the hydrating effect makes them bigger. So, while you are undergoing a bulking stage, you can achieve the bulked effect you’re hoping for faster than you would without creatine supplementation, so that you don’t need to maintain the high-calorie diet for too long before you can move onto the cutting stage.
In fact, many people line up their “bulking” stage with their “loading” phase of creatine supplementation. A lot of people, when starting out a creatine regimen, engage in loading, which is consuming a high dose of creatine daily for up to 7 days – usually 20 grams, give or take, before undergoing the “maintenance” phase of 2g-5g, daily.
Loading is done to acquire a large reservoir of creatine in the muscular tissue, so that when you engage in your bulking regimen, there’s a lot of creatine to support your heavy workouts and facilitate fast accumulation of muscle mass. Creatine monohydrate is often seen as the best type of creatine for bulking, since it contains a water molecule that brings even more hydration into the muscles.
Finally, we want to point out that it seems that creatine supports both bulking and cutting best when it’s taken right before working out. While researchers aren’t exactly sure why just yet, they have found that creatine supplementation has the biggest positive impact on muscle when it’s consumed within about an hour of starting your workout routine.
Taking it immediately after can be beneficial too, giving the muscles what they need to repair themselves and grow. This is why many people split their daily dose in two, taking a half dose before and a half dose after exercise.
The Takeaway
Creatine can benefit you both when you’re bulking and cutting, and that’s not surprising considering the fact that creatine’s primary functions involve supporting healthy muscle growth and muscle hydration. Both bulking and cutting require these functions in order to be as effective as possible.
Meanwhile, creatine is a safe supplement to take daily, so incorporating it into both stages of your fitness lifestyle can be enormously beneficial in helping you achieve the results you want faster and better than ever.