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If you’re a passionate and regular gym-goer, then you’ve probably heard of creatine.
You’ve probably also been curious about the question: What’s the best creatine for men?
Well, in this post, you’re going to learn everything you need to know to answer this important question.
Creatine is an extremely popular workout supplement that’s reported to be super effective at aiding your workouts and helping you to reach your strength training goals.
But here’s the thing. Unless you’re a nutritionist, you may not completely understand what creatine does, or how it can be useful.
First off, it’s important to understand that creatine is not a steroid. In fact, aside from being a supplement that can help you to boost your workout results, it has nothing to do with steroids.
Creatine is actually an amino acid that’s found 100 percent naturally in foods like beef, pork, and fish.
In fact, the human body creates its own stores of creatine, thereby making it a completely natural and normal part of your body’s metabolism.
Of course, getting a healthy kick of extra creatine certainly doesn’t hurt anything. For the most part, people take it to help them improve athletic performance and workout recovery, fuel the muscles, and increase lean muscle mass.
In other words:
It helps you to work out harder, for longer, with better results and to recover faster from those workouts.
And it actually works quite well for these purposes.
So, let’s dig into it, and answer all of your burning questions about this amazing sports and training supplement.
Best Creatine for Men We Recommend – 4 Best Options
Crazy Nutrition – Ultimate CRN-5
Product Description
Crazy Nutrition’s Ultimate CRN-5 creatine formula utilizes five different types of creatine, plus added electrolytes, to help you build and repair muscle, recover from workouts, optimize muscle hydration, enhance performance, and also boost your focus and endurance.
Plus, it comes in a delicious orange and mango flavor, which makes it a pleasure to take along with your favorite workout smoothie, shake, or even just with a glass of water.
Price
You can buy 30 servings of Ultimate CRN-5 for $29,99, 60 servings for $53.99, or 90 servings for $71.99.
You can also set up a subscription for 20% savings. Cancel anytime and get free shipping as well. This is the best way to buy it if you plan to become a regular customer.
Crazy Nutrition also offers a 100% satisfaction, 60-day money-back guarantee which really takes all the risk out of giving it a try.
Creatine
The five types of creatine used in Crazy Nutrition’s Ultimate CRN-5 include:
With all of these different types of creatine, the idea is that you’ll see better, faster results. And the positive customer reviews certainly attest to this.
Benefits
The five different types of creatine utilized in this formula really help to provide the muscles with the fuel they need for growth and recovery. Plus, this formulation includes added electrolytes, to help with fast and optimal muscle hydration.
All things considered, Crazy Nutrition’s CRN-5 is one of the most comprehensive and powerful creatine formulas on the market.
How To Take It
To use Crazy Nutrition’s Ultimate CRN-5, simply add 1 scoop of it to 8-12 oz of water, or to your favorite fruit smoothie or workout shake.
Visit www.crazynutrition.com for more information.
Smart Protein – Creafuel
Product Description
If you’re a purist who isn’t into creatine that includes a bunch of “bells and whistles,” then Smart Protein’s Creafuel may be the absolute best creatine powder for you.
Here’s the thing. This formula is simple:
It contains 100% pure creatine monohydrate. That’s literally it. It’s even unflavored. If you’re looking for real, raw, and pure, this is the creatine powder for you. It’s suitable for vegetarians as well and offered at a membership-level price at a much cheaper cost than you can typically buy creatine for.
Price
You can buy 500 g (which equals 100 servings) of this creatine powder for just $17.99. Due to its simplicity, and the fact that it’s just pure creatine monohydrate, they cut out a bunch of extra costs.
If you become a member, however, and automatically order every month, that price drops down to $6.46. Since you’ll want to supplement regularly with creatine if you plan to use it, this is most definitely the way to go for maximum value and savings.
Creatine
The only ingredient in this formula is pure creatine monohydrate.
Benefits
This performance-boosting product will help you to increase your physical performance during short-term, HIIT-style workouts. This could include aerobic exercise or weightlifting.
How To Take It
Despite being unflavored, this powder is said to taste pretty good. Just add 1 scoop to 100 ml of water, your fruit smoothie, or your workout shake. Then, enjoy the benefits of a boosted workout.
Visit www.smartprotein.com for more information.
Xwerks – Lift
Product Description
If you’re looking for the best creatine for men, Xwerks really needs to be on your radar.
This simple product is highly effective for helping you to increase your strength and power during workouts. It’s made from pure micronized creatine monohydrate, which is arguably the best and most effective type of creatine available.
It comes in a simple bag, no-nonsense, unflavored, easy to order, and easy to take. It’s also gluten, dairy, and sugar free.
Price
You can buy 1 bag of Xwerks Lift creatine powder (80 servings) for $49.99.
Creatine
The only ingredient in this formulation is micronized creatine monohydrate. It’s pure, powerful, and awesome.
Benefits
Taking Lift is highly likely to help you increase your strength, build more lean muscle mass, and improve your athletic performance.
Also, due to the fact that it’s micronized, it mixes well with water with no annoying clumping.
How To Take It
For best results, take one serving of Lift per day, every day. It doesn’t matter when you take it. You can take it before or after your workouts.
You can even mix it with other Xwerks products for maximum benefit.
Visit www.xwerks.com for more information.
Cellucor – Cor-Performance Creatine
Product Description
Cellucor Cor-Performance Creatine is designed to help you develop your strength, muscle, and power through the use of creatine monohydrate.
More specifically, it’s designed to promote muscle energy during intense exercise, promote lean muscle mass, improve muscular endurance, and boost your peak workout power.
Created using unflavored micronized creatine monohydrate, it delivers maximum benefits while also being conveniently water-soluble. This prevents annoying clumping during use.
Price
You can buy 72 servings of this creatine supplement for $24.99 making it a bargain for the money. Plus, if you join their subscription membership, you can actually get free shipping and a reduced price of $17.49.
Once again, if you’re interested in regularly supplementing with creatine, the membership model is most definitely the best and most cost-effective way to purchase it.
Creatine
The only ingredient in this creatine formula is micronized creatine monohydrate.
Benefits
The benefits are pretty clear. Supplementation with creatine monohydrate is associated with an extra boost of energy, which can help you to power through those rather intense workouts. But it also helps with lean muscle growth, strength, and faster recovery times.
How To Take It
Take 1 scoop of Cellucor Cor-Performance Creatine before, during, or after training. On days when you don’t work out, take 1 scoop in the morning.
Visit www.cellucor.com for more information.
What Does Creatine Do?
Creatine basically functions as your body’s natural source of energy for muscle contraction.
Athletes, bodybuilders, and people who are trying to build more lean muscle mass and perform at their best take creatine in supplement form to help give them a boost during their workouts, and to improve recovery times.
Creatine creates what they call “quick burst” energy, and helps to increase strength, though it doesn’t necessarily help with aerobic endurance.
Different Types of Creatine
Once you start researching creatine, you’re likely to find all kinds of different types. This can be confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with all of the different terms.
So next, we’re going to break it down and go through each of these different types of creatine, to explain what they are and what makes them different.
Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is a combination of three different amino acids: methionine, arginine, and glycine. It’s not only the most popular form of the supplement, it’s also the most studied.
This is pretty much the baseline standard for creatine.
Creatine Ethyl Ester
Creatine Ethyl Ester was basically designed to make creatine easier for the body to absorb. Basically, it’s very similar to creatine monohydrate except that a smaller dosage is required because the body can utilize more of it.
Creatine Hydrochloride
Fundamentally speaking, creatine hydrochloride is a creatine molecule that’s been bound with hydrochloric acid. To explain its purpose in the simplest terms, creatine hydrochloride was designed to improve upon regular creatine monohydrate by providing superior solubility, with a pH alignment that works better in the human digestive tract.
Buffered Creatine
Buffered creatine is basically a form of creatine that’s mixed with magnesium. It was designed to be easier to absorb into the body, though studies are inconclusive as to whether or not it’s actually beneficial.
Liquid Creatine
Liquid creatine is usually creatine monohydrate in a liquid form. It’s designed as a product that’s easy to take, that can help people to max out their workouts, build lean muscle, and decrease recovery times.
Creatine Magnesium Chelate
This version of creatine is chelated with magnesium. In other words, it’s attached to a magnesium molecule. The idea behind it is that, in theory, it helps to speed up recovery times. However, in studies, it isn’t necessarily obvious that this version of creatine outperforms regular creatine monohydrate.
Who Could Benefit from Creatine?
As a general rule, anyone who wants to improve their workouts, gain more lean muscle, and reduce recovery times can benefit from creatine.
However, it’s also recommended that some people avoid it. Some of these include:
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People with kidney disease
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People with liver disease
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Children under the age of 18
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Women who are pregnant or nursing
Before taking creatine, it’s always a good idea to clear it with your doctor.
With that being said, creatine is known for being a very safe and effective athletic performance supplement.
What Are the Main Benefits of Taking Creatine?
A lot of people have a lot of different opinions about what exactly creatine helps with.
However, as a general rule, creatine is credited with producing the following benefits for people who supplement with it:
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Supports muscle function
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Improves exercise performance
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Speeds up muscle growth
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Reduces fatigue and tiredness
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Helps to speed up muscle recovery times
Creatine is also one of the cheapest and safest athletic performance enhancement supplements available.
It has been the subject of grueling research for over 200 years, and many clinical trials have confirmed that it rarely (if ever) puts anyone who’s already healthy at risk of an adverse side effect.
It’s just simply an awesome supplement!
Are there Downsides to Taking Creatine?
The only real potential downsides/side effects to taking creatine are the potential for dehydration, upset stomach, and muscle cramps.
However, with this being said, it’s also true that some of these side effect reports are not only super rare, but also difficult to verify.
Is Creatine Safe to Use?
Creatine has been reported to be beneficial for people who want to increase their workout/athletic performance. Many professional sports associations allow it, including the International Olympic Committee, as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
But is it actually safe to take?
According to Webmd.com, creatine is said to be “likely safe for most people.”
They also say that doses up to 25 grams daily for up to 14 days have been used safely, and that doses up to 4-5 grams daily, for up to 18 months, have been observed to be safe.
For all intents and purposes, it sounds like creatine is actually a pretty safe, healthy, and effective supplement.
How to Choose the Right Creatine?
When it comes to choosing the best creatine for men, there are definitely a few different criteria to take into account.
Creatine supplements, by and large, are safe and helpful. But you stand to gain even more benefits by doing your research and choosing a supplement/formula that has proven to be not only effective, but that also offers significant value.
So let’s dive into some of these criteria, to determine how to choose the right creatine for you.
Price and Creatine Grams
One great thing about creatine is that it’s pretty simple.
For example, all of the options we listed further up in this article contained pure creatine, and any of them would be an awesome choice that could aid you in getting better results from your workouts.
So, at that point, when you’re looking at a few different options, you may definitely want to do a cost analysis to figure out the price of the creatine, and how many grams you’re getting for that price.
The better the price you can get, the sweeter the deal — and the more workout super-boosting power you’ll have access to in exchange for your hard-earned money.
Texture and Taste
Texture and taste also play a valuable role in determining which creatine to buy. Some creatine supplements come in different flavors, while others come unflavored.
You also want to look for a creatine supplement that’s more water soluble, to avoid clumping. There’s nothing as annoying as a workout supplement that clumps up when you try to mix it with water.
Company Reputation
Finding a company with good reviews, and a good online reputation, is also important. This will assure you that you’re actually getting a quality product from a company that cares about their customers.
Effectiveness
The benefits of creatine really speak for themselves for the most part.
Still, it’s always a good idea to look for a creatine product that’s backed up with tests, clinical trials, or positive customer testimonials for that particular product.
This just further helps you to establish that the product is likely to work for you.
FAQs
How much creatine should you take?
Every type of creatine you buy will probably come with specific instructions for how to dose it correctly.
But in most cases, you’ll find that the instructions will call for taking about 1 to 5 grams per day. The baseline generally sits at 1 to 3 grams per day, with 10 grams definitely being considered overkill.
How to best take creatine?
The best way to take creatine is usually in a glass of water.
However, as long as you’re making an effort to stay hydrated, you can also take it in a workout shake, or even mixed into a fruit smoothie.
How many grams of creatine a day can you take?
Some people practice a “loading phase” where they’ll take 10 to 20 grams per day for the first 5 to 7 days of use, broken up into 3 to 5 gram doses four times per day.
However, with that being said, it’s not necessarily apparent that loading really accomplishes anything. As a general rule, staying within that 1 to 5-gram range per day is considered the best approach.
Can creatine cause hair loss?
This is a tricky question. Research hasn’t actually shown that creatine use directly causes hair loss.
However, there was one study done where a college-age group of rugby players experienced hair loss following a 3-week creatine supplement regimen, though it was believed that this hair loss was actually caused by an increase in the hormone DHT (dihydrotestosterone) within the players’ bodies.
Creatine may have contributed to these higher DHT levels, though creatine by itself is definitely not a product that has been proven to make people lose hair.
But this is certainly an area that needs to be explored more.
Can creatine make you fat?
This is really an urban myth. Creatine can bring more water into your muscles, but it can also help you to build more lean muscle mass.
Since muscle weighs more than fat, some people have mistaken this for creatine causing an increase in body fat.
But there really isn’t any evidence to show that creatine actually makes you fat.
Can you take creatine before bed?
Yes. Due to how creatine works, you can supplement with it at any time of the day. It doesn’t have to be taken directly before, during, or after workouts.
Can you mix creatine with pre-workout?
Yes, you can definitely mix creatine with other pre-workout supplements. You can also mix it with water, fruit smoothies, protein shakes, etc.
Can creatine go bad?
Yes, creatine can go bad. But as a general rule, it tends to last longer than the expiration date on the package.
Studies have shown that creatine tends to last about 1 to 2 years longer than the printed expiration date, as long as it’s stored in a cool, dry place.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, it’s apparent that creatine is actually an awesome athletic and muscle-building supplement that’s not only inexpensive and easy to use but also safe and effective.
It’s truly the body-builder’s dream.
We’ve also discussed the best creatine for men that you can currently buy on the marketplace and have gone-in depth on how to use it.
Now, all that’s left is to choose your product, start supplementing, and hit the gym.
It’s time to get out there and make it happen.
