The tried and true. Creatine monohydrate. I started using creatine back in 1996 as a 16-year-old preparing for baseball. It flat out worked and it worked really well.
I benched 190lb my sophomore year of high school. Heading into my junior year I was benching 270lb. A year later and I had upped my bench 80lb. I was new to weightlifting, so I can attribute the large gains to being new to the sport and progressing fast. Being a teenager helped quite a bit too.
3 Reasons to take creatine: https://hsecrossfit.com/3-reasons-to-take-creatine/
The funny thing is though, everyone else started using it. I had it in my bag and I started buying it and selling it in the locker room and out of my trunk. It worked and people wanted it.
That was 24 years ago and it’s by far the most popular supplement besides whey protein. It’s been vetted through and through by labs and universities. Creatine proves time and time again that it boosts strength, helps build muscle, improves recovery, enhances anaerobic output, helps burn body fat, and even helps with endurance.
https://ergo-log.com/creatine-endurance-training-more-mitochondria-in-muscle-cells.html
How do you take creatine? There are 2 schools of thought. One is to just take 5 grams a day and the other is to do a loading phase of 5 days x 25 grams per day, then move to a maintenance dose of 5 grams daily thereafter.
Creatine is cheap and it won’t hurt to do a loading phase. 3 days can even work well for most. I have yet to see someone in the gym not benefit from the daily 5 grams post-workout.
Yes, post-workout, and take it with some carbs to help transport the creatine to your muscle cells.
https://ergo-log.com/creatine-works-better-after-strength-training-than-before.html
PS: I have often told athletes to find me a reason not to take creatine and I’ll show you 3-5 reasons why you should. It’s the perfect match for what we do in the gym.
-Coach Bryan
