Does Creatine Work Or Is It An Overhyped Scam?

Let’s be blunt: Most so-called ‘muscle building supplements’ and products are junk which simply do not work either at all, or anywhere near as well as they are advertised to. Quelle surprise. However, despite the bad name given to the supplement industry by the mountains of junk on the market, some supplements really do work, and work well – and creatine is one of them. It has a long history which is backed up by tons of empirical evidence as well as scientific research. That said, some creatine supplements don’t work well and are not even worthy of the name ‘creatine’. But, which sort?

If you only remember one thing, remember this: The most effective type of creatine is creatine monohydrate powder*. Nothing added, nothing taken away.

As of the time of writing, no type of creatine has proven to be greater, so any which claims to be superior to creatine monohydrate most likely isn’t and is relying on marketing gimmicks to hook you in and probably isn’t worth the price tag.

*Notice I emphasized ‘powder’. You can get creatine monohydrate in capsules but it’s thought to not to be digested and assimilated into the body so thoroughly.

If a supplement has lots of other ingredients and consequently less creatine, is it really a creatine supplement?

This is a question well worth asking and thinking about. In my opinion, the answer is no. Many so-called ‘creatine’ products do contain ingredients which may be beneficial to working out and muscle growth, but the simple fact is, a creatine supplement is a creatine supplement – and one lacking in creatine will not perform as well as a creatine supplement which isn’t lacking in creatine.

What I’m getting at is, many people hear about the great benefits creatine can have, then purchase a subpar creatine supplement loaded with other ingredients and less creatine, get poor results, and then say creatine is a scam or creatine doesn’t work – it’s a little like watering down gas before putting it in your car and when your car splutters to a halt saying gas doesn’t work.

That’s not to say that some hybrid creatine supplements don’t work well with other ingredients in, but is it really the creatine doing the work?

If you want a creatine supplement that has the best chance of working, then make sure you purchase one which doesn’t have any other ingredients in. Purchase a simple creatine monohydrate powder.

This said, for the potential benefits of creatine to your training and muscle growth (read Does Creatine Build Muscle?) then pure creatine monohydrate powder may well be well worth trying and is cheap enough. Some people get excellent results with it and you may well be one of them.