Creatine Monohydrate
Also known as: Creatine, Monohydrate, Creapure, CrM
Lower numbers = closer to natural. Higher numbers = more enhanced.
Why this rating?
Creatine is the reference point for what "natty" means. It is a naturally occurring compound found in meat and synthesised by the body, it is legal everywhere, permitted by every sporting body including WADA, and it works by saturating an energy substrate you already have rather than by altering hormones. It measurably improves performance and lean mass, and it is still unambiguously natural. Rated 1: this is the ceiling of what a drug-free athlete can do, not a step beyond it.
Overview
The most effective legal supplement in sports nutrition, and the yardstick this entire scale is calibrated against. If you take creatine, train hard and eat well, you are natty. The compound raises what your natural physiology can express without changing the physiology itself. Included here so the scale has an honest floor.
Important Warnings
- •Raises serum creatinine on bloodwork without indicating kidney damage. Tell your doctor you take it
- •Causes a small rapid weight gain from intracellular water, which matters for weight-class athletes
- •Loading doses (~20g/day) are for 5-7 days only, not an ongoing dose
- •Alternative forms are not superior to monohydrate despite costing more
Purpose & Use Cases
Increasing High-Intensity Work Capacity
Its core, extremely well-supported effect. The ISSN position stand describes creatine monohydrate as the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training.
Supporting Lean Mass Gains
More total training volume over time translates into more accumulated hypertrophy stimulus. The mechanism is indirect, which is exactly why it does not compromise natural status.
Non-Athletic Clinical Applications
Creatine has been studied across neurodegenerative conditions such as muscular dystrophy, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, as well as diabetes, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, aging, brain and heart ischemia, adolescent depression and pregnancy.
Benefits
- Performance of high-intensity and repetitive exercise generally increases by 10-20% after creatine loading, depending on the magnitude of the phosphocreatine increase
- The most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement available for high-intensity capacity and lean body mass, per the ISSN position stand
- Short and long-term supplementation up to 30g/day for 5 years is described as safe and well tolerated in healthy individuals
- Studied in populations ranging from infants to the elderly
- Completely legal and not prohibited by WADA
- No hormonal action, no suppression, no PCT, no bloodwork requirement
- Extremely cheap: among the best value interventions in the entire archive
Good to Know
This is what the scale is calibrated against
Creatine works. 10-20% improvements in high-intensity work capacity are real and measurable. And it is still completely natural. That combination is the point: enhancement is about changing your physiology, not about whether a supplement helps. Creatine helps you express your natural ceiling; it does not raise it.
Loading is optional
Loading with ~20g/day for 5-7 days saturates muscle stores faster. Taking 3-5g/day from the start reaches the identical saturation in about 4 weeks. The end state is the same, loading only changes how quickly you get there, at the cost of more GI complaints.
It raises serum creatinine without harming your kidneys
Creatine supplementation increases serum creatinine, which is the marker used to estimate kidney function. That can look alarming on a blood panel and does not indicate kidney damage in a healthy person. Mention creatine use when discussing renal markers with a doctor.
Monohydrate is the form that has the evidence
Creatine monohydrate is what the research used. The more expensive alternative forms have not shown superiority over it. Paying more buys marketing, not results.
No cycling required
There is no receptor to downregulate and no axis to suppress. Continuous use maintains saturation; stopping simply lets stores fall back to baseline over several weeks.
Dosage Guidelines
| Experience Level | Dosage Range |
|---|---|
| Beginner | 3 – 5 g/day |
| Intermediate | 3 – 5 g/day |
| Advanced | 5 – 20 g/day |
Two equally valid protocols per the ISSN position stand. Either load with approximately 5g four times daily (about 20g/day) for 5-7 days and then maintain at 3-5g/day, or simply take 3-5g/day from the start and reach the same saturation in roughly 4 weeks. Loading gets you there faster; it does not get you further. The advanced range above reflects the loading phase, not a higher long-term dose. Nobody should be taking 20g/day on an ongoing basis. There is no need to cycle off. Creatine monohydrate is the studied form; the more expensive alternative forms have not demonstrated superiority over it.
What matters is muscle phosphocreatine saturation rather than plasma clearance. A loading protocol saturates muscle stores in 5-7 days; 3-5g/day with no loading phase reaches the same saturation in approximately 4 weeks. Once saturated, the maintenance dose simply holds the level.
Side Effects
Water retention / weight gain
very commonAn increase in intracellular water accompanies muscle creatine saturation, typically showing up as a small rapid weight gain in the first week. This is the mechanism working, not a side effect in any harmful sense, though it matters for weight-class athletes.
Expected. Weight-class athletes should account for it in timing.
Gastrointestinal discomfort
uncommonBloating or stomach upset, most often reported during high-dose loading rather than at maintenance doses.
Skip the loading phase and take 3-5g/day, or split the loading dose across the day with food and fluid.
Muscle cramping (commonly claimed, poorly supported)
rareFrequently asserted, but not borne out as a consistent finding in the literature underpinning the ISSN position stand, which describes creatine as safe and well tolerated at recommended doses.
Maintain normal hydration.
General Mitigation Strategies
Creatine is among the most thoroughly studied supplements in existence and the safety conclusion is unusually clear: no adverse effects at recommended doses in healthy individuals, with data extending to 30g/day for up to 5 years. The persistent claims about kidney damage in healthy people are not supported by that literature. Note that creatine supplementation can raise serum creatinine, a marker used to estimate kidney function, without indicating any actual kidney impairment, which is worth mentioning to a doctor reading your bloodwork.
Post Cycle Therapy (PCT)
No HPT axis interaction whatsoever. No PCT implications. Frequently continued through PCT since it supports training performance without any hormonal action.
How It Works
Creatine is stored in muscle as phosphocreatine, which rapidly regenerates ATP during short, high-intensity efforts. Supplementation increases muscle phosphocreatine stores, allowing more work to be performed before fatigue, more reps at a given load, better repeat-sprint capacity. The lean mass increase comes partly from intracellular water retention and partly from the additional training volume the improved work capacity makes possible. It does not act on the endocrine system at any point.
Hormonal & Androgenic Profile
N/A: not an androgen and does not interact with the androgen receptor.
Not a hormonal compound. No aromatase or estrogen relevance.
A single small study once reported an increase in DHT with creatine loading in rugby players; it has not been replicated, and the ISSN position stand does not treat creatine as having androgenic activity. Not a basis for hair-loss concern relative to any actual androgen.
No adverse cardiovascular effect at recommended doses.
Fundamentals
Reference on the practices relevant to Creatine Monohydrate: how they are done and where they go wrong. Not a recommendation to use it.
Common Stacks
- Creatine on its own: the single highest-value legal supplement there is
- Creatine maintained through PCT, since it supports training with no hormonal action
- Creatine + caffeine pre-training, despite the old and poorly-supported blunting hypothesis
Legal Status
Sold freely worldwide as a dietary supplement. Not prohibited by WADA or any major sporting body. Creatine monohydrate is one of the most extensively studied supplements in existence.
Legal status varies by country and changes over time. This is a general summary, not legal advice.
WADA Status
Creatine is not prohibited by WADA and is permitted in all sports. It is a naturally occurring dietary compound.