With the modern standards of beauty built around athletes and the buffed kind and the growing awareness of the need to look good, men have started to become just as passionate with their looks as women. However with men, there is a greater emphasis on creating that perfectly fit body than maintaining a flawless and youthful face.

Some prefer the traditional hard core lifting and just lift away at the gym, while others prefer the more intelligent approach, which is to combine the workout with supplements like creatine. 

Aside from knowing the best creatine on the market, there are other concerns that the users of this supplement should know to maximize the benefits and minimize the side effects of its use.

Why Creatine?

As a kind of organic acid, it acts a supplier of energy that is badly needed when you lift your weights. Like all weightlifters know, you need to lift heavy if you want to gain mass and this is the perfect partner for this objective.

While it is stored in the muscles, it supports the production of adenosine triphosphate or ATP that acts as the primary source of energy of the body. Because of this, ATP has been acknowledged to improve your performance in the muscle boosting department. 

Diet with Creatine Supplementation

Creatine can be obtained from protein rich sources, like beef and fish with 2 to 5 grams per pound. Studies built around the benefits of creatine were made on dosages of 5 grams and this makes it impossible for the human body to reap the benefits with anything lesser than amount studied. 

Creatine Benefits:

• Bigger Muscles – With the increased dosage of creatine, the water content of the muscles also increases and enlarges them effectively. Although the muscle does not really increase in size, it definitely increases fat free mass. More than that, it gives you additional strength and power to enable you to lift as much as you need to achieve your personal fitness goals.
• Athletic Prowess – If you are an athlete, you will definitely benefit from the extra speed and strength that you get from creatine. This is perfect for high intensity activities, including your muscle building routines.
• Supports the synthesis of muscle protein – Creatine in itself does not do the job. But because it increases the ATP, which is important to muscle contraction, it effectively adds to your performance.

Recommended Variety:

Like every other supplement out there, all the different types of creatine become effective only when taken the proper way. Among the ones out there, the oldest one is the creatine monohydrate and is probably the best out there as proven by its track-record in the in the studies related to its field. Price wise, it is also the winner.

Other types of creatine include creatine ethyl ester, creatine citrate, creatine hydrochloride, tri-creatine malate, micronize creatine and buffered creatine. There is a new form called conjugated creatine. Also, while there are liquid creatine available out in the market, it considered to result inferior outcomes. 

To summarize, the ideal amount of creatine to maximize its muscle building effect is 3-5 grams. The ideal type would be creatine monohydrate which should be taken pre or post workout. If big is your dream, then take 5 grams of it, 4 times a day in a period of 6days then lower it to 3 grams per day. Just be sure to check on your kidneys for additional amounts.