HealthProtocols
← All protocols

Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation

Oral creatine monohydrate increases intramuscular creatine stores and, when combined with resistance training, augments lean mass and training adaptations in pooled trials; meta-analyses also report small pooled gains on common strength and power tests (bench/chest press, squat, jump, Wingate) with important subgroup and testing caveats.

Scope of this entry

Creatine monohydrate taken orally to raise muscle phosphocreatine—used for strength/power training, hypertrophy programs, and some clinical/rehab contexts in the literature.

Dose and schedule (variation within one protocol)

  • Maintenance: commonly ~3–5 g/day after saturation, or ~0.03 g/kg/day in many training studies.
  • Loading: optional ~20 g/day split across 4–5 doses for 5–7 days to accelerate muscle uptake—then drop to maintenance; GI upset is more common during loading.
  • Co-ingestion: carbohydrate or protein may aid uptake in some study designs; pooled hypertrophy meta-analyses have reported null extra benefit from adding carbohydrate to creatine for body-composition endpoints—read linked rows for subgroup details.

Evidence themes (PubMed-first)

  • Body composition + RT (adults <50 y): linked Desai et al. 2024 meta-analysis pools 12 RCTs—quantitative vs RT alone on lean body mass and fat mass (% and kg).
  • Strength and power tests (bench/chest, squat, jump, Wingate): Kazeminasab et al. 2025 (Nutrients; PMID 40944139; kazeminasab-2025-creatine-strength-power-meta-nutrients) pools 69 RCTs (n = 1,937) with random-effects WMD signals on compound-lift and power outcomes versus placebo—read full text for non-significant pooled leg press / handgrip, young vs older and male vs female subgroup patterns, and author COI declarations.
  • Safety, performance breadth, clinical niches: linked Kreider et al. 2017 ISSN position stand synthesizes short- and long-term supplementation data and frames ergogenic, recovery, and special-population research streams (not a substitute for disease-specific guidelines).

Distinct protocols (do not merge)

  • Resistance training (resistance-training) — volume, frequency, exercise selection; creatine is an adjunct pharmacokinetic lever indexed here.
  • Caffeine (acute ergogenic dosing) (caffeine-ergogenic-supplementation) — adenosine-antagonist / CNS–peripheral acute performance literature (umbrella of meta-analyses); not phosphocreatine kinetics.
  • Marine omega-3 (EPA/DHA) (marine-omega-3-supplementation) — different supplement class and trial endpoints.
  • NAD+ precursors / NMN (nmn-precursors, nmn-supplementation) — separate redox / supplement literature.

Safety hygiene

Screen for kidney disease history and medications with prescriber when contemplating high doses; weight gain from intracellular water is an expected early signal, not necessarily fat gain.

Tertiary map

Wikipedia: Creatine (wikipedia-creatine-overview) covers biosynthesis, dietary intake, athletic use, and research controversies—pooled kg LBM and % body fat changes belong to the PubMed-linked meta-analysis row here.

Evidence