How Protein and Creatine Can Help Your Fitness Journey

Protein and creatine might be things you have heard mentioned in the fitness space, but what are they? And what do they do? Here, we want to give you some of the benefits of adding creatine and protein supplements to your daily routine, for women who are active and regularly working toward goals in the gym. If you haven’t tried either of these products, hopefully this blog will help you understand the benefits of adding them to your daily routine!

Creatine

Creatine is found naturally in muscle cells. Creatine supplementation can aid in muscle strength, growth, and adaptations to greater overload. It can also increase cellular swelling and water uptake into the muscles, this will help increase recovery and decrease soreness after working out! Since creatine is naturally produced by the body, adding as little as 5 grams daily can greatly increase your ability to lift more weights for longer periods of time without suffering from the usual soreness that adding weight often gives. Overall, creatine is one of the top supplements used to increase gym performance.

Scientifically speaking, most of the creatine produced naturally in your body comes from food (especially red meat and seafood), the rest of it is produced from amino acids in your kidneys and liver. 95% of It is then stored in your muscles, and the other 5% is stored in the brain. 

Here are a few articles you can use to learn more about creatine from a scientific perspective:

Creatine Journal Article

Everything You Need To Know About Creatine

Protein

Think of protein as the building blocks in your body. They are used to create almost everything in your body including organs, skin, tendons, muscles, hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and various other molecules. Your body naturally produces some of the amino acids needed to form the proteins, but the rest is created through protein intake via diet. 

The amount of protein you should intake depends on multiple factors including age, activity level, muscle mass and overall health.Quantity and quality both matter with protein intake. Many people get all of their essential protein from animal products.   

Protein aids with the growth of muscle strength and mass when protein and training are regularly part of a routine. Similar to creatine, increased protein intake can also decrease muscle fatigue after strenuous resistance training, increasing recovery times without the added days of soreness. Regular intake of added protein allows heavier loads when strength training which can also increase your bone density and slow the loss of bone density due to aging. To tie the two together, creatine also increases your body’s ability to synthesize and take protein into the muscles!

Here are a few articles you can use to learn more about protein from a scientific perspective:

Protein and Bone Density  (this test was done on baseball players but applies to anyone who is weight training)

Protein and Muscle Recovery

Protein Intake Guidelines

While adding either of these two supplements alone is good, adding both will allow your body to perform better than ever, as both increase recovery rates. If you still have questions, please reach out to one of our coaches! We would love to give you more information and help you walk through this new area of fitness/wellness. We are currently partnered with PEScience and have these products in the studio (and make pre-orders often), if you want to get some to try for yourself!