Why should women take creatine? 

Creatine is a popular supplement in men’s fitness, so if you equate creatine with guys lifting heavy in the strength section of the gym, you are not alone.

However, creatine is not just for men. Research suggests that creatine can help women with various health and fitness goals. In this post, we will look briefly at what, why and how.

Please note: this post is purposely designed for brevity and take-home messages rather than a full exploration of the research behind creatine. It is a mini post to give you answers. With that said, let’s jump in.

What is creatine?

Whilst we think of creatine as a supplement, it is important to say that it is produced naturally in the body. Creatine is produced daily in various organs, especially the liver, from particular amino acids. We consume these amino acids from the protein we eat in our daily diet. So, first and foremost, it is essential to emphasis that creatine is natural to the body.

Second, there is an ongoing turnover of creatine in the body, which means we must also replace it daily. Creatine status is impacted by various factors such as age, muscle size and exercise demands. Research suggests the body needs to replace 1-3g of creatine per day to maintain normal creatine stores in our muscles, though this will vary depending on your starting point and personal needs and can be higher[i]

What does creatine do? There are two ways to answer this question - one that is deeply scientific and honours fellow sports scientists and researchers, and the other which is less technical for fitness enthusiasts. We will focus on the latter, as my goal is to empower you with helpful knowledge about creatine.

Simply put, creatine helps you produce energy when demands are high. Put this in the context of a workout, and it sounds helpful, right? When you are on a mission to build your health and fitness, you want to know that you can push hard when it is appropriate to elicit training gains and then recover fast, and lots of research over many years shows that creatine helps here.[ii]

To make this real, remember a recent workout when you pushed hard, with significant demands on your energy. Remember what it felt like in those rest periods, trying to recover between bouts of effort. This is where creatine can come into its own as a dietary supplement. Creatine enables you to meet energy demands better and recover faster, especially at high intensities.

Central to understanding creatine is a compound in the body called ATP, which stands for adenosine triphosphate. You do not need to remember that. What is worth remembering is the role of ATP in our body. ATP is like a battery in that it is a source of potential energy. When you exercise at high intensities, ATP is degraded to other compounds to liberate energy for short bursts. Creatine helps buffer ATP energy production so that you have ongoing fuel to tackle a hard cardio session, strength workout or sporting activity.[iii]

The most well-known and researched form of creatine supplementation is creatine monohydrate. This supplement is tasteless and odourless, making it easy to add to your training regime. Other forms of creatine are emerging, such as creatine HCL, but creatine monohydrate is currently the most researched and validated in peer-reviewed studies.

How should you take creatine?

From a practical perspective, taking creatine is as easy as adding creatine powder to your workout shake, bottled water, or yoghurt.

When you take creatine might depend on your goals:

Pre-workout: If you intend to push hard or are about to compete in a sport, you might take creatine 30 minutes before warming up. This approach can help with energy availability.

Post-workout: If you are looking to top up your “creatine pool” within cells having depleted the body via training or sport, you might prefer to take creatine in your post-workout recovery shake to help with overall regeneration.

How much creatine should you consume? As with most answers in health and wellness, the answer is “it depends”. Nevertheless, let us make it as simple as possible whilst still being practical 

A traditional approach to taking on creatine is with a “loading” phase[i]. Here, you increase muscle creatine stores by ingesting 5 g of creatine monohydrate (or approximately 0.3 g/kg body weight) four times daily for 5–7 days. This might translate to 20 g over a day for a week. You can then transition into a “maintenance” phase by taking on 3-5 g daily.

However, this approach is quite specific, and you can take a more straightforward approach. Taking onboard 3-5 grams daily over a month will gradually help creatine status in the body and support your training efforts [iv].

Anecdotally it is worth saying that even top-flight professional athletes frequently opt for the latter and just have it as part of their daily supplementation. In my experience coaching premier league footballers, for example, I have yet to come across a player who does not typically defer to regular lower-dose consumption combined with other supplements to aid performance and recovery. 

We like simplicity - it gets things done!