I can see people saying “but Will, you have been singing the praises of creatine longer then anyone I know, now you tell us it’s all placebo effects!?” Not quite my friends as you will shortly learn. I have lamented as to why it makes little sense creatine should be in a pre workout product for the same reasons, and over the years would see people say things like “they only use creatine on workout days and similar, and I would tell them to stop doing that! Why? Creatine works chronically via elevated tissue levels over time that one maintains continuously, not acutely like say a stimulant. Yet, I have had people say “but I feel it when I take it before workouts.” No, no you don’t. What you “feel” is the placebo effect (which is a legit and interesting effect not to be underestimated or ignored…) as that’s not how creatine does its thing. So now you all can see that yes, under the right conditions, the effects creatine are actually placebo.
This study just published demonstrated exactly that, so again, take your creatine, as monohydrate, every day, Creapure sourced recommend, and worry about more important things like which coffee to use with your AlphaJoe… Capiche?
Psychological effect of acute creatine pre-workout supplementation induces performance improvement in resistance exercise
J. of Research in Sports Medicine June 2022
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to test whether believed versus actual acute creatine ingestion impacted resistance exercise performance. Fifteen men (21.9 ± 2.7 years old) completed four bouts of three sets each of squat and bench press to volitional fatigue at a 10RM load with 1-min between-sets rest interval. Thirty minutes prior to each exercise bout, they received the following treatments in a randomized order: 1) nothing (CON); 2) 0.3 g·kg−1 dextrose placebo (PLC); 3) 0.3 g·kg−1 dextrose, identified as creatine (Cr-False); 4) 0.3 g·kg 20 −1 creatine, identified as creatine (CrTrue). Between-treatments comparisons included the total repetitions completed and the rate of perceived exertion.
Results revealed (p < 0.05) higher repetitions performed for all treatments versus CON for both squat and bench press. In the squat, more repetitions were performed with Cr-True (p < 0.001) and CrFalse (p < 0.001) than with either CON or PLC. Bayes Factor analyses revealed strong (PLC to Cr-True BF = 19.1) and very strong (PLC to CrFalse BF = 45.3) posterior probability favouring positive effects for both “creatine” conditions over PLC for the squat.
In conclusion, in acute measures, belief versus ingestion of creatine yields similar exercise performance.
People can also request a copy of the full paper HERE.
Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 30 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.
His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.
He’s also been published in peer reviewed journals.
Will is the author of the popular e-books, both accompanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealed & Fat Loss Revealed.
You can also buy Will’s other books on Amazon, Apple iBook, and Barnes and Noble.
Thanks for this Will, regarding taking creatine every day… once the muscles are fully saturated, is it possible then to just take creatine a few times a week? And wouldn’t taking it every day just be an additional waste of money, I think it was Layne Norton who said you only need 2.5 grams a day once muscles are 100 % saturated so, can we not just take 3-5 grams a few times a week instead?
P.s. I want to thank you for the insightful articles and research, it’s admirable that not only do you read into scientific data, but you interpret them and break them down for the reader in layman terms. Sadly, the influencers in the bodybuilding community are full of ‘grifty’ type characters who just recycle old content people have already heard and claim it as their own, they then put their own catchy spin on it to make it sound sexier to profit or pay a hot girl to help market “their” Idea. Very few coaches in this industry are original and actually have insightful value to offer, and unfortunately those who have value to offer are usually less noticed (unfortunately due to most peoples dimwitted nature) so I just wanted to let you know your work is appreciated and thank you for not jumping on the Grift bandwagon! Cheers.
We don’t have the studies to target exactly what dose every X number of days will keep tissues saturated, so current rec is still 3-5g per day, using Creapure obviously. Glad you enjoy my stuff!