Creatine for lifters: what it does and how to take it

Creatine helps your muscles make energy for short, hard efforts like a set of squats. Taking it raises the amount stored in your muscles, which lets most people do a rep or two more per set. Over months that adds up to a little more strength and muscle. It's one of the most studied supplements there is.

How to take it

• Creatine monohydrate, the plain kind. Fancier forms cost more and aren't better.
• 3 to 5 g a day, every day, at any time. With a meal is easiest to remember.
• Loading is optional. 20 g a day for a week fills your muscles faster; 3 to 5 g a day gets there in about a month.

Common worries

• Weight gain: a kilo or so in the first weeks is water stored in the muscle, not fat.
• Kidneys: studies in healthy people at normal doses haven't found harm. If you have kidney problems or take medication, ask your doctor first.
• Hair loss: this comes from one small study that has never been repeated, and it didn't measure hair loss.

It's a small extra

Creatine helps at the edges. Training hard, adding weight over time, eating enough protein and sleeping well matter far more. See progressive overload and sleep and muscle growth.