Creatine for Women: Should Women Take Creatine?

As an active woman, what are your fitness goals? Are you a long distance runner, a cross-fit junkie, athletic woman who loves the weights, or the girl that talks on the phone while walking on a treadmill? If your goal is primarily weight loss, creatine will not help you.

If you are the athletic type of woman who isn’t afraid to get after the weights at the gym, creatine may be something you need to take your training to the next level.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is an organic acid already produced by your body in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Over 90% of the creatine in the human body is found in our muscle. Creatine can also be found naturally in the meat and fish we eat. However, a lot of creatine is destroyed when cooking.

The best chance you have to get the most creatine into your body is through taking creatine supplements. Creatine supplements are commonly sold as powders and pills; however, you may find some form of it in a pre-workout or drink mix of the sort.

How Does Creatine Work?

Our bodies naturally produce creatine from amino acids (arginine, glycine, and methionine).  The body converts creatine to creatine phosphate and stores it in our muscles for energy. During exercise, the creatine phosphate is converted into ATP which is what our bodies use for energy.

Creatine pulls water into the cells where creatine is stored. This is significant because by doing this, you increase muscle volume so your muscles look fuller. Creatine can also help support protein synthesis, which helps muscles grow and keeps your body from breaking down your lean muscle.

It’s safe to say that increasing your creatine intake will increase your body’s ability to produce energy which in turn will give you better, more productive workouts, increased strength, lean muscle mass growth, and help aid in muscle recovery.

Creatine and Water Retention

In the past, creatine has derived a negative connotation when it comes to women. Most women think they will get bulky or gain muscle too fast or even put on some water weight.  If this is happening, you are consuming more creatine that your body needs. Furthermore, when muscles have stored as much creatine as they can, any leftover may be excreted into the GI tract causing bloating. The last thing a woman wants is to feel or even worse, look bloated when you have been busting your butt at the gym everyday! Preventative measures can be taken. To avoid looking bloated be sure to read the label. It’s recommended a woman take 3g a day for 4-6 weeks then cycle off of it for few weeks.

Should I take Creatine?

Creatine isn’t some magic supplement. If you don’t train with high intensity or plan on picking up that dumbbell, don’t take it. If your goal is to increase strength, energy, and lean muscle mass then you should be confident that creatine can help step up your training!