Nathanael: Ladies and gentlemen, what
is going on and welcome to another video. My name is Nathaniel Morton and I am a sports performance
coach who specializes in basketball players. And within this video series, I'm going over the top
supplements for athletes in sports performance in general. I'm going to talk about what they are,
why you should be taking them and whether or not you even need to take them at all. The
link for this entire playlist will be down below in the description of this video. The last video
I talked about protein. Today, we are going to be talking about creatine and in the next video,
we're likely going to talk about pre-workout. Nathanael:
Before we get started, remember that if you comment jump J-U-M-P down below in the comment
section, I will send you a free vertical jump training program. If you want to take your sports
performance to the next level, you want me to personally coach you, or you want my advanced
training programs, $20 a month gets you access to every single program that I offer and coaching
from me. That's my advanced weight training, vertical jump programs, upper body programs,
knee strength programs, et cetera, et cetera. Link for that will be down below in the pinned comment
and in the description as well. Nathanael:
But all right, let's dive into it and let's talk about creatine. What is it? Why should we take it?
Who should take it? And should we take it at all? I'm going to answer all those questions for you
right now. And at the end of this video, I'm going to do a Q&A. I asked everybody on my Instagram,
what are your questions on creatine? Got a lot of great answers. So I'll do a rapid fire
Q&A at the end so that you guys get the most value of this video, and you get all of your questions
answered. And by the way, micronized creatine monohydrate. If you're going to get creatine is,
what you want to get. You don't want creatine malate, creatine HCL, creatine nitrate. You want
creatine monohydrate. Why is that? It's because this is one of the most studied supplements. And
one of the most backed by research and science. And monohydrate, creatine monohydrate is opposed
to all of the rest of the types of creatine. Nathanael:
Monohydrate is the one that we want for sports performance. And then micronized,
all that, that means is that it's been broken down. The molecules have been broken down
into its simplest form so that it gets into your muscles faster. So that's what micronized means,
and that is why we want monohydrate. What is creatine? Creatine is just an amino acid.
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. So creatine is an amino acid that is already present
in your body and is also found in animal foods like meats, like steak, pork, chicken. You can
get it from salmon. So you can eat foods to get creatine. But the recommended dosage for creatine
is five to 10 grams per day. So you would have to eat a lot of steak and a lot of salmon
to actually get that much. I think steak has 1.1 grams in eight ounce steak, something like that.
Nathanael: What does creatine do and why as athletes,
should we take it? In layman's terms, in easy terms, in simple terms, creatine helps you train
harder, longer. It helps build muscle. It helps build strength and it helps with brain cognition.
There's tons of other benefits, but those are the main ones for athletes and for sports performance.
In scientific terms, it helps turn Adenosine diphosphate into Adenosine triphosphate. So ATP,
which is just energy. Think about when you're doing squats. You are using up your ATP,
your energy. You use energy when you do squats. If you have creatine present in your muscles,
it helps turn that ADP back into ATP so that you can continue training. That is
why creatine monohydrate is one of the most recommended supplements for sports performance.
Nathanael: So who should take it? Let's go
over what ages because I got a lot of questions. I'm 14. Should I take it? I'm 17. Should I take
it? I'm a female. Should I take it? So creatine monohydrate is good for everybody to take. Yes,
it's good if you're 13. Yes, it's good if you're 17. Yes, it's good if you're a female. Yes,
it's great if you are an older athlete. Everybody, if you can take creatine monohydrate, you should.
Nathanael: Let's go ahead and
dive into the questions that you guys asked on Instagram. So that is what creatine is,
what it does, why you should take it and who should take it. But I got a lot of other good
questions that are more specific. So let's go ahead and let's do a rapid fire section right
here. Is creatine safe? Yes. Creatine is one of... Actually, it's not one of,
it is the most studied supplement ever. The most scientific and research backed supplement to date,
to date. There's been the most research and evidence that creatine is beneficial for you
than any other supplement that exists. Nathanael:
At what age should we start using creatine? There's really not an age limit, but let me think
about if I had a child of my own. Because I'm not going to give my two year old child creatine,
but I would say if it was my own child that at 13 years old, I would say that he should start taking
creatine, supplementing with creatine. Does it make that much of a difference for lifting? Yes,
it does make a big difference. It does help with sports performance. It does help replenish your
energy stores. It does help you train harder and longer. It does help you build strength. It does
help you gain muscle. Nathanael:
Are there any downsides or negative side effects that you personally have faced with creatine?
No. I've been taking creatine for a while now. I used to do body building shows. Now I'm move
more towards athletes. I have cycled on and off creatine, which is another question. You
do not have to cycle creatine, but I'll get to that later. I think somebody asked it,
but I have taken creatine repeatedly four months at a time. And then I've spent months off of
creatine. If there were going to be any side effects, which I can think of two off the top
of my mind, negative side effects. One would be that if you do cycle off of creatine, then you're
not going to get that muscle building and that strength building and that energy replenishing.
So you are going to probably see a little bit less in your sports performance if you do stop taking
creatine. And another one would be the water weight. And this is actually a beneficial thing.
Nathanael: Remember your muscles need water. A high hydrated
muscle is a healthy and a stable muscle. If you have a dehydrated muscle, then your muscles
aren't going to perform the way that you want them to. So if there were any negative side effects,
those would be the two. But water going into your muscle is actually a beneficial thing. And that's
part of the reason why it helps you gain strength and gain energy and gain muscle. Should I take
creatine when trying to cut? Yes. You should take creatine when cutting, when bulking, when
maintaining, you should take creatine. You really shouldn't cycle off creatine at all because you
don't need to. So like I said, this is the most researched and studied supplement that there is.
Studies have shown that you don't get any creatine sensitivity. So you know how if you drink caffeine
you get caffeine sensitivity? If you go ahead and you drink pre-workout the first day you're like,
"Yeah, let's go bro. Let's lift." Nathanael:
And then as you continue to take it by month two, you're like, "Yeah bro, I feel it. Let's go." So
you get this caffeine sensitivity because your body gets used to the caffeine. It's not like that
with creatine. There is no such thing as creatine sensitivity. It's just the same thing. If you take
creatine, it's there for your muscles to use when you are working out. If you cycle off, it's just
not as much. Five to 10 grams a day of creatine. There's not as much there for your muscles to use
when working out. But yes, you should it take while cutting. Yes, you should take it while
bulking. Yes, you should take while maintaining. Some people might ask, "While I'm cutting, I don't
want that increase of weight with water weight." Nathanael:
It's really like one to two pounds of water weight. And while we're here,
we might as well talk about the water weight. So water weight and creatine. Yes. Creatine does
suck all the water from your body to your muscles which is why when you're taking creatine,
you should actually drink more water. Like a whole gallon of water every single day while you're on
creatine is good for most people because your creatine does suck all the water to your muscles
from the rest of your body. So you want to replenish that. But it's really like one or two
pounds that you're going to gain. And if you take creatine all year long and you don't cycle off,
then that extra one or two pounds is just going to become normal, okay? It's just going to be your
weight is one or two pounds up all the time. Nathanael:
Which brings me to another question that I got. Is the one or two pounds that I'm going to gain
from taking creatine, going to be negative for my vertical jump? Because we all know
relative strength as you increase your weight, it gets harder for your body to propel yourself
in the air. Think about if you put a 50 pound weight vest on and you try to jump higher than
you currently do, it's going to be really hard because the more you weigh, the harder it is for
your body to jump in the air. One or two pounds, isn't going to make any difference. And the
positives that you get from the increased strength gain, the increased energy stores, the increased
muscle gain is going to far outweigh the one or two pounds that you will gain in water weight.
Nathanael: How much creatine should I consume per day? So
five to 10 grams of creatine is going to be all that you need each day. So this micronized
creatine monohydrate from 1st Phorm has five grams per day. But the pre-workout that I take
also has five grams. So personally, I'm getting 10 grams of creatine per day. Plus any meat, steak,
chicken, salmon that I eat and any other food sources that give creatine. So I'd say for myself,
I supplement with 10 grams of creatine, but I get a little bit extra from food. How should we
convince our parents? My mom thinks creatine is steroids. So Creatine is most definitely
not steroids. And the way that you convince your parents, what I would do, if I was you, I would
go look at all the research, find all the research studies because there's tons of them out there and
bring your mom the facts. Say, "Mom, we need to sit down. We need to have a conversation." Show
her all the benefits that you get from creatine. Show her how there are very little risk factors,
if any, at all. And then I would just do that. Nathanael:
Will there be a problem if I stopped taking creatine? No, there won't be a problem. You just
won't have that added energy in muscle endurance and strength gain, and muscle gain that you would
get if you continued to take creatine. Should high school athletes take it? Yes. Can creatine
help you jump higher? Yes. If you can train harder and longer and you can increase your strength by
training harder and longer. Remember to increase your vertical jump, you need to get stronger.
You need to get faster, increase your speed of movement and your strength. So if it helps do
all that, it will directly relate to a higher vertical jump because you can train harder,
longer and more intense. Nathanael:
When should we take it? This is the time that you take creatine during the day actually matter? So
not really. It's not going to make or break your results. But if I were you, I would take creatine
pre-workout but you got to be careful because if you already take a pre-workout supplement,
a lot of pre-workout supplements already have creatine monohydrate in them. So in that case,
I would take it after. In that case, you might not even need creatine monohydrate. If you take
a pre-workout that has creatine monohydrate in it, like this Project-1 pre-workout has
five grams of creatine in that. So if you're already taking a pre-workout, you might not even
need this. But for me, I like to take that, which has five grams pre-workout and then I put this in
my post workout protein shake. That is my 10 grams per day. Five grams before my workout and then
five grams after my workout. But it's not going to really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Nathanael: What is the difference between creatine
and protein? So creatine is an amino acid. So it is one of the building blocks of protein.
It has no calories. Protein has calories. It is one of the macro nutrients. Remember the macro
nutrients are proteins, fats, carbohydrates. They have calories. But the difference is just that
creatine is a building block of protein. Will you jump lower because of the added water? So,
no. As I stated earlier, the benefits, the strength benefits and the muscle building
benefits far outweigh any water weight that you might gain. Plus a hydrated muscle is a healthy
muscle. Will any brand of creatine do? So yes. You don't have to get this 1st Phorm creatine.
Just make sure that it is micronized and make sure that it is monohydrate and you'll be good.
Nathanael: How does creatine help basketball
players? So we already talked about the strength gain, about the muscle gain, about the increased
energy in ATP and endurance. But I will also add in there that basketball is a skill sport. So when
you're handling, when you're shooting, these are all going through neural pathways in your
brain and creatine is good for your brain and the myelination of those skill circuits that you use
when you are playing basketball. What is the best brand of creatine? There's a lot of great brands,
but I obviously like this 1st Phorm creatine. Nathanael:
Is it necessary to do the loading phase with creatine? So you can do the loading phase,
but you also don't have to do the loading phase. So creatine is going to get to your
muscles regardless. The loading phase just helps it get to your muscles
more quickly. So I do like to load. I've also heard that you don't really need to load,
but if you have a championship coming up in two days and you want that creatine to your muscles
more quickly, then go ahead and load. I would load because why not? Why wouldn't we want the
creatine there faster? Nathanael:
And all right guys. Those are pretty much all the questions that I got about creatine. The rest of
the questions were just repeated over and over. And I pretty much answered everything that I could
answer. Other than that, the link for the playlist is down below. Next up we have pre-workout and
whether or not you should be taken pre-workout because it's not what you think. I'll see you guys
in the next video. By the way, stop playing with your results. Get my coaching link down below in
the description. $20 a month gets you access to every single program that I offer and customized
coaching from me. Nathanael:
I will make a custom program for you based on your goals and your needs. Do you need upper body? Do
you need lower body? Do you need vertical jump? Do you need knee strength? I will take all of
that into consideration. Do you have weights? Do you not have weights? What injuries do you have?
How many days a week can you train? Are you in season, off season? I will take all of that.
Put it together, make a program for you to increase your sport performance.
Link for that is in the description below, but I'll see you guys in the next video.
Nathanael: (singing).