How does creatine work?
Every muscle needs energy.
Approximately 90 percent of the body's creatine stores are located in skeletal muscle. All living cells need energy – and muscle cells in particular require large amounts of energy when they are active. Creatine helps make this energy available to the muscle cells.
How does the muscle obtain energy?
During short, intense bursts of activity – such as sprinting – muscle cells require a large amount of energy in a very short time. At the beginning of such anaerobic (independent of atmospheric oxygen) exertion, the muscle must therefore rely on energy sources that are immediately available. These are in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and creatine phosphate.
Adenosine triphosphate and creatine phosphate are energy stores – a kind of battery – and bridge the time until the breakdown of glucose (glycolysis), glycogen (glycogenolysis), and fat (lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation) can release further energy.
How is energy released in the muscles?
ATP is the energy currency for all biological processes. The ATP molecule has three so-called phosphate groups. When ATP cleaves off a phosphate group, energy is released for muscle work. What remains is adenosine diphosphate (ADP), which the body converts back into ATP using energy from our food. However, this process takes some time, and sufficient ATP is only available for a few seconds. Therefore, the body has an additional way to quickly regenerate ATP during prolonged muscle exertion: creatine or creatine monohydrate.
How can creatine (monohydrate) support muscle growth and muscle function?
In resting muscle, approximately two-thirds of creatine exists in the form of the high-energy creatine phosphate, which contains an additional phosphate group. Before the hard-working muscles run out of ATP, the enzyme creatine kinase (CK) transfers this phosphate group to ADP, converting it back into ATP – but only as long as sufficient creatine phosphate is available. This allows the muscles to continue working anaerobically until the creatine phosphate supply becomes depleted. During the next rest phase, the creatine produced is reassembled into creatine phosphate by adding a phosphate group. Once the creatine phosphate supply has returned to its baseline level, it is able to provide ATP during the next intense exertion.
Supplementation with creatine monohydrate
Taking creatine monohydrate as a dietary supplement can support muscle growth by providing a phosphate group (creatine phosphate) for energy supply to the muscles. You can find more information about taking creatine supplements at What is Creatine Monohydrate, When to take creatine, How much creatine to take, and Creatine Supplementation.
