Creatine works the best for rapid or intense sports sessions. Weight lifting and sprinting are types of activity where creatine does its best. If you are a marathon runner, creatine may certainly not be for you.
93% of all the creatine in your body is stored in the muscles. It plays an important role in the body's energy production by providing you with a boost of energy needed to perform a heavy lifting workout.
The energy in the muscle needs a substance called Adenosine Triphosphate or ATP to fuel it. Muscles usually have enough ATP for a burst of exercise lasting for no longer than 6 seconds. Creatine restores the ATP store so it can act as fuel for the muscle, so it can continue the exercise for another 6-12 seconds.
Try to think of the muscle as if it were an engine. ATP is the gas for the engine and creatine is an octane booster that allows that engine to perform better.
Going back to the body again, it will mean more repetitions and more weight lifted. More weight lifted means more muscle mass and more muscle mass means a greatly increased strength and endurance.
Creatine has the ability to decrease muscle soreness after a heavy workout as well as decrease recovery time needed between workouts.
Joggers and marathon runners are not going to get the same benefit from creatine supplementation as weight lifters will. That's because the muscles work at a slower pace for these kind of activities and the muscles are able to restore ATP at a rate that meets the needs for these workouts.
Creatine is a natural substance and it is produced by the body itself. It is also found in all kind of meat and fish. So, why not just eat meat or fish? There are many reasons why not just doing this. Many people are not meat-eaters. It is also nearly impossible to eat as much meat needed to get the required amount of creatine. Supplemental creatine will also allows you to know the exact amount of creatine you are getting.
For optimal performance, the suggested dose for creatine is between 2-5 grams per day. There are a few negative side effects of creatine, you can become dehydrated and if you are working out in a very hot gym - this can be dangerous. The body can lose up to 2-3 quarts of water in only one hour if it is hot enough. So you have to drink plenty of water during your workout!
Creatine is excreted directly through the kidneys, and because of the increased risk of dehydration, creatine supplements are not recommended for people with any kind of kidney disease.
When you take creatine supplements for the very first time, you may see an immediate gain of weight of between 2 to 5 pounds in as little as one week. That's because your muscles will store more water and carbohydrate which seems to assist in creating more muscle mass. This effect causes many people to think that creatine is similar to anabolic steroids, which is far from the truth! Creatine is a free-form amino acid and it does not affect the body the same way that steroids do.
Some other side effects include injuries from working the muscles too hard, but this not a direct result of the creatine supplementation, but is more related to the misunderstanding of what creatine can do for your body.
If you do suffer from any chronic illness or are on prescription medications for your heart, blood pressure or other medical conditions you should always consult your medical provider before supplementing creatine.
Should you just wish to tone your muscles, rather than build them up, then lifting weights which are much lighter will help you do the trick. For many women, lifting very light weights such as half a kilo or one kilo doesn't seem to make any difference from the outset. However, after a short period of time, they notice their biceps looking much more sculpted.
Of course, lifting weights as a form of toning only works if you have already removed the fat. If the excess fat is still there ? meaning if you still have flabby arms, shall we say ? then you will not notice any difference, but you will feel it.
Lifting weights is a deceptive sport. Whereas sports such as running or swimming seem to require more energy, weightlifting will burn more calories in one session than either of them, provided the amount of weights lifted is correct.
Common areas that people want to focus on are shoulders, arms, legs, back, and chest, and there are specific lifting weights exercises that have been created in order to work these areas out more. Probably the most well-known of these exercises is for the biceps: dumbbell curls.
It is very easy for over-ambitious people to try lifting weights too heavy for them. Should you do this, you increase the chances of you doing yourself a bad injury, more than likely concerning your back. Unfortunately, once you have damaged you back, there is no way to fix it, so the utmost of care should be taken when lifting weights.
Interestingly enough, studies completed in the US showed that men and women alike, when asked to choose the weight they believed to be appropriate for them, opted for weights that were significantly less than what they would ideally need to burn fat.
With women traditionally shying away from weight training and lifting weights, newer franchised gyms ? geared solely and specifically for women ? have sprung up internationally to promote weight lifting and circuit training with incredible success.
One major reason for this is that until now, lifting weights has had a stigma attached to it. Whether it was because of fear of becoming bulky or getting hurt, women generally stayed away from this type of exercise, favouring aerobics or pilates instead.
What is generally unknown amongst fad dieters and yoyo exercisers is that lifting heavy weights is an excellent way to burn fat in a relatively short amount of time.
The heavier the weight, the better it is for burning fat, though it does take some time to get used to the feel of the weights and therefore become able to judge what weight you should be lifting.
Lifting weights is one of the secrets to losing weight. With just two workouts a week you will notice a significant difference in your overall shape, and over time, particularly in women, lifting weights decreases their likelihood of contracting osteoporosis.
The best thing about lifting weights is that for the simple exercises you don't really have to join a gym, as it's just as easy to do them at home. In addition, a set of weights in a good investment, as they can be used repeatedly and by other members of the family.
Both Michael Russell & Steven Magill are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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