Creatine does make your muscles retain water. That’s the desired effect. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a very desirable trait creatine imparts. There seems to be a misunderstanding as if increasing muscle cell fluid content is a bad thing. Don’t confuse increasing muscle fluid content with subcutaneous (under the skin) water retention. These are two completely different things. Creatine does not cause subcutaneous water retention.
Increasing muscle cell fluid content increases muscle cell volume – muscle size. Increasing cell volume also increases muscle leverage and strength. It’s believed that increasing cell volume through creatine use also enhances protein synthesis by creating a “friendlier” growth environment within the cell. This what you want and this is what creatine does.
Aside from creatine’s effect of muscle cell fluid content, creatine also plays a key role in ATP (adenosine triphosphate) re-synthesis. ATP is your body’s chemical energy source that fuels muscle contraction at the cell level. Creatine buffering ATP production allows you to train harder with more strength.
Enhanced cell volume, increased muscle leverage and strength, increased protein synthesis, and enhanced ATP buffering and production all combine together to make creatine a very potent and effective performance enhancing supplement.
This is just a broad overview of creatine’s effect. There is so much misinformation about creatine. It’s pretty simple though. Give Micronized Creatine a 6 week try and you’ll never train without it. You’ll see significant strength increases, greater muscle fullness, enhanced training intensity, greater muscle endurance, and increased muscle growth.
After this you can share your experience with your friends and co-lifters. Believe me, they’ll want to know.
