It seems like everyone is sipping some sort of fitness shake -- and since L-glutamine, creatine and other amino acids sell a la carte, a regular protein shake can seem almost passe. With all the available options, it can be difficult to decide which shake will work best for you. Bodybuilders have been raving about the effects of creatine, although the science is not yet 100 percent. It's been established that protein helps in muscle repair, so a quality protein shake can certainly help you. Creatine, on the other hand, may only benefit certain populations.
Protein Supplements
Protein helps repair your muscles after a workout. This repair process also entails making the muscles a little bit stronger to allow them to better stand the abuse next time, and you notice yourself getting larger and stronger. If your diet is deficient in protein, that repair can't happen, and you may actually notice your strength diminishing as your damaged muscles degrade. This doesn't mean you need massive amounts of protein -- bodybuilders only need about 0.77 g per lb. of body weight, and endurance athletes may need up to 0.9 g per lb. during very intense training. No matter your sport, a protein supplement can help you meet your daily protein requirement in a quick-digesting form that speeds the nutrients to your muscles when they're most needed.
Creatine Supplements
The benefits of creatine have not been definitively proven, but the evidence so far shows that it may offer a benefit to strength athletes, but not endurance athletes. Creatine may help improve strength and muscle energy availability during short, intense exercise like weight lifting, sprinting and gymnastics. This can lead to increased muscle mass and a reduction in muscle breakdown, or the damage caused by exercise. Less damage to repair means that more protein can go toward muscle-building, which can help bodybuilders reach their mass gain goal a little faster. Weight gain is a potential side effect of creatine, making it unsuitable for endurance athletes, for whom extra weight can limit performance.
Either/Or
Many protein shakes already have creatine added. This is a nice feature if you're a bodybuilder, not so much if you're a marathon runner. Either way, creatine is a nonessential amino acid, which means that your body makes its own -- you also get it from foods such as red meat and fish, so as long as you're eating solid food as well as your protein shake, you probably already have enough creatine. Creatine supplements are less effective in people with already-adequate creatine levels, and some people don't respond to creatine supplementation at all. If you think creatine will help you, use a pill instead of a powder, and continue using your normal protein shake as well. With all the potential positive effects of creatine, it still doesn't provide all the necessary muscle-building nutrients that protein does.
Combination
Adding creatine to your protein shake may be beneficial for vegetarian bodybuilders. Those who don't eat meat or fish are more likely to have naturally low creatine levels, and therefore are more likely to see a greater benefit from creatine supplementation. Vegetarians also don't use whey, casein or egg protein supplements, which are the only ones that provide all of the essential amino acids; unless they use soy, they are missing out on complete protein. Adding creatine powder to a rice or hemp protein powder provides an extra boost of amino acids to an incomplete protein, and may result in better muscle repair.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Creatine
- American Fitness Professionals and Associates; Animal Vs. Vegetable Protein Debate: What is the Best Protein for Muscle Growth?; Bill Misner
- American Dietetic Association: Eat Right for Resistance Training
- American Dietetic Association: Eat Right for Endurance
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