Should I take protein or creatine? I want to get big and don’t know which one to take. We get this question a lot from High School athletes. With all the marketing out there, it’s hard to make a choice sometimes. If you don’t want to take both the answer is of course, it depends. What are your goals? What kind of workouts are you doing? How are your eating habits? Are you resting enough?
These are all questions you need to ask yourself to see if you have a good plan to ‘get big’. Getting big is also pretty vague, I would prefer you make a different goal like, improve my lifts/time by x%. Or increase muscle mass by 5 lbs without gaining fat mass. Before we try to answer to the question of whether you should be taking protein or creatine, lets talk about how Protein and Creatine can help you reach your goals.
Protein – building blocks
The quick story
Protein helps make up everything in your body from your fingernails and hair to the muscles on your chest that you like to flex in front of the mirror. The harder you work out, the more your body breaks down. Protein helps your body rebuild itself, so the harder you work the more you need. You can consume all the protein you need with common regular food (chicken, steak, fish, tofu, beans, egg whites, etc.) without having to take any shakes. If after tracking your meals you see a deficiency, then you should think about taking a protein supplement.
How much Should I take
You’re in luck! I have a post about this already with an easy to use form to help you figure it out. If you are wondering what kind of proteins to take I would say stick to Lean Cuts of meat, chicken, fish, and Beans. Remember how you prepare counts, so frying a chicken is not the same as baked or boiled chicken.
If you are looking for Protein powders, I personally like the full spectrum of Dymatize (Mass Gainer for gaining weight, Elite for normal calories, and ISO-100 for low calories) as well as Designer Whey. There are lots of good protein powders out there so do your research and buy small at first so you can try different ones. Getting stuck with a 5 lbs container of something you don’t like is not only hard to swallow but expensive
Creatine – Jet Fuel
The quick story
Creatine is made up of several amino acids and is made naturally in the body. I’m going to skip a long explanation of how your body stores and uses up energy and simply say that creatine is used up quickly when you perform small explosive movements, like lifting weights or sprinting. So a creatine supplement will help make sure your body can perform this type of work for longer periods of time. It’s what helps get you the last 3 extra reps on your last set.
Is it safe?
Creatine has been studied a lot, so do your research online because there are different types out there. Watch out for the supplement sites because they are selling mostly marketing hype to you. Some people also react differently and tend to bloat up. Most research however, tends to show that it’s relatively safe and that Creatine Monohydrate in particular tends to work well.
Personally, I don’t take a straight creatine product anymore because it’s not in line with my goals anymore. However when I did take it, I went with Dymatize or Universal brands. I wouldn’t buy too much into the hype that some products promise though, the simpler the ingredients list the better.
Here are some links on Creatine that you might find helpful:
http://www.menshealth.com/spotlight/muscle/creatine-101.php
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=100831
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263269.php
Can you just answer my question?
Ok, so back to original question, which one should I take? This is just my opinion so take it for what it’s worth (about 2 cents). First of all, I’m assuming you are trying to bulk up. If you are looking to cut weight then creatine should probably not be on your list of things to buy. So assuming you are looking for gains, I would make sure I am getting enough protein first. This doesn’t mean I would buy several 5lbs containers of protein, I’d have a look at my diet and see if I am getting enough protein as it is. If I am, then I’d try creatine out. If you want the best of both worlds and don’t want to buy two items, take a protein shake that also has creatine in it. That’s it in a nutshell, hopefully it can help you out.