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Creatine 3 Month Results
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Here's What Could Happen After You Take Creatine for 3 Months
Creatine is one of the few supplements that has been shown time and again to produce real results in terms of lean mass and strength gains for the majority of users, but you may be wondering what you can you really expect when you embark on a regimen of creatine supplementation.
What will happen to your muscles and physique in the first week, and after the first few weeks? Perhaps more importantly, what will continued use of creatine do for you — or to you — after three months or more?
Luckily, exercise scientists are just as interested in these questions as we are, and they have some answers for us.
The Set-Up
In 1999, J.S. Volek and colleagues published the results of a study that was designed to examine the effects of consistent creatine supplementation on body composition and exercise performance over the course of three months.
This was a classic double-blind, test-control experiment that split a set of 19 healthy men who already worked out with weights into a group that ingested creatine during the study (10 of the subjects) and a group that ingested a placebo (nine of the subjects). Both groups then engaged in the same periodized resistance training program for 12 weeks, and researchers made careful measurements of body stats and exercise performance along the way.
Immediate Results
Volek and his team found that the effects of creatine were seen almost immediately and continued throughout the entire course of the study. Within a week, creatine levels in the muscles of the non-placebo group skyrocketed by 22%, and they remained there for the duration of the study.
By contrast, the placebo group saw no change in their muscle creatine levels.
Long-Term Effects
Creatine theory says that more of the organic acid in muscles means a leaner body and bigger lifts, and this study bears that out.
While both groups gained body weight during the 12-week study, the creatine grouped gained more than twice as much lean muscle tissue, on average, as the control group. What’s more, while the placebo group added a bit of fat along with their muscle, the creatine group’s gains were nearly all solid muscle.
Likewise, the creatine group outpaced their placebo counterparts in strength increases by the end of the study. In particular, creatine helped lifters increase their bench press load by an average of 24%, compared to just 16% for the control group. In the squat, creatine users gained 32% against just 24% for those taking a placebo.
As a side note, Volek reported no negative side effects during the study, but you should talk to your physician before taking creatine, or any substance.
In the Gym
This study put a scientific stamp on the results that lifters have been seeing from creatine in the years before and after Volek set out to answer questions about its continued, long-term use.
As anecdotal evidence suggests, Volek found that you can expect a significant uptick in body weight and workout energy in the first week or so of beginning a creatine regimen, thanks to increased phosphocreatine levels in your muscles.
Once your muscles are full, your creatine levels will remain elevated, and so will your workout intensities, as long as you continue to use the the supplement. Assuming you also work out consistently, heavier weights will lead to bigger muscles in the long term, which will lead to even bigger loads.
It’s a giddy cycle of progress that every lifter hopes to find.