AN Supps Creatine Formulas: Which One Is Right For Me?

Creatine is one of the fastest growing product categories in all of sports nutrition. With over 600 studies on creatine monohydrate alone it has become one of the most well-studied ingredient in sports nutrition and has been proven to be both safe and effective.

Creatine has long been known as the ingredient that can aid in muscle growth and fat loss. This is the primary benefit why people take a creatine product. However, more resent research shows that creatine is also safe and effective for increasing performance, improving focus and cognition and healthy aging. Creatine is an ingredient that needs to be taken daily to realize the best of the benefits the ingredient has to offer.

AN Supps has a line of creatine products giving users various different benefits in addition to the benefits of creatine. Before we dive into each individual version of AN Supps creatine "plus" line, it is important to understand what creatine is, what it does, and why you should take it.

Why Take Creatine?

Creatine has been proven to be safe and effective at improving exercise performance, muscle mass, aids in fat loss, improves cognitive performance and helps us during the aging process by preserving or increasing muscle mass. You don't need to be a meathead or a bodybuilder to take creatine. Creatine is beneficial for youth athletes, active adults and even the aging population.

There are a plethora of benefits when it comes to creatine. Those include:

• Increased muscle strength
• Improved power output
• Increased lean muscle mass
• Improved exercise performance
• Improved training volume
• Muscle recovery benefits
• Improve cognitive scores (focus)
• Healthy aging

How Does Creatine Work?

Supplementing with a creatine product helps the body replenish phosphocreatine levels in the body. By increasing phosphocreatine stores you aid the body in replenishing  ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the primary energy source used during muscular contractions. This in turn helps improve exercise performance and output which can lead to improved fat loss and growth of lean muscle tissue.

The cognitive benefits of creatine are also something to take into account for. Creatine has been shown to improve focus and alertness in users that are in a state of stress and/or sleep deprivation.

Is Creatine Safe To Use?

Yes. Creatine has been validated through various scientific studies to be generally regarded as safe (GRAS).

What Kind of Creatine Should I Use?

Creatine first started hitting its stride as a supplement people should take regularly in the 1990s and early 2000s. During this time various brands and companies came out with different versions of creatine. Although any variation of creatine may be beneficial, many brands tried to launch cheaper versions to increase their profit margins.

A few of the most common forms of creatine are:

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine monohydrate is the most popular form of creatine available today. This is the most studied and proven form of creatine. There are varying versions of creatine monohydrate available on the market today. Newer technologies have helped the absorption rate of creatine monohydrate, but at the end of the day getting your creatine in on a daily basis is the biggest benefit. Creatine monohydrate is the most proven form of creatine and the one we recommend you take.

Creatine HCL

Creatine HCL is the second most common version of creatine. This is creatine hydrochloride. The claim to fame of creatine HCL is that you can use less of this to achieve the same benefits of creatine monohydrate. That has not been proven to be true. The only proven benefit of creatine HCL to creatine monohydrate is that it is more soluble in water. Creatine HCl dissolves more readily in water than creatine monohydrate. However, greater solubility doesn't automatically translate into better absorption, muscle retention, or performance. In fact, many new versions of creatine monohydrate address this issue and improved water solubility. 

Creatine HCL has limited research and studies behind it, unlike creatine monohydrate. 

Creatine Ethyl Ester

A chemically modified form designed to improve absorption. Research indicates it is less effective than creatine monohydrate at increasing muscle creatine stores.

Kre-Alkalyn

Kre-Alkalyn is marketed similar to creatine HCL, you can take less of it but still get the same impact as creatine monohydrate. It's marketed for improved stability and reduced conversion to creatinine, but research hasn't demonstrated superior effectiveness over monohydrate.

How Much Creatine Should I Take Daily?

The old rule of thumb on creatine was 5g per day. That is still a safe bet, but with recent researching indicating higher amounts of creatine leading to other areas of improvement like cognition, we recommend 10g creatine per day.

How Can I Buy Creatine?

Creatine is available in many different formats. The most common formats are powders and pills. These are the longest standing formats where you can buy creatine. Creatine capsules are great for those on-the-go that do not want to carry a powder with them. Creatine powders are great as you can mix them in with another beverage, especially an unflavored version of creatine. Recently brands started launching more flavored creatine powders so you could drink something enjoyable while still getting in your creatine. The most recent technology in creatine has put creatine into liquid formats and a gummy/chew format. More research is needed on the stability of the gummy format.

What Creatine Is Right For Me?

After all of this information and intel you might still be asking yourself the question, "what version is right for me?" With a multitude of marketing messages and ads targeting you we can understand this ask and that's why we wanted to put together this guide for you.

As someone who has been in the sports nutrition space for over a decade, and has consumed creatine since the age of 16, I hope I can help shed some light on this topic and help you with that decision.

Creatine monohydrate is the only version I recommend to people. It is the most well-studied and proven version of creatine. In fact, it is one of the most well-studied and proven dietary supplement in history. It is also relatively inexpensive and you have different ways to get it.

I recommend a powder if you are able to make that work. A lot of people don't like swallowing capsules, and to get 5-10g of creatine per day that would be a lot of capsules. An unflavored or flavored version is fine depending on how you are going to use it. The main things is that you are taking it daily, time doesn't matter, and you are getting 5-10g (I recommend 10g) per day.

AN Supps is a proven brand in the sports nutrition space whose parent company, Applied Nutrition, is one of the largest in the world. AN Supps offers five different versions of a creatine monohydrate product that addresses your need for daily creatine intake in the creatine monohydrate form, but also gives you additional options by adding other daily ingredients for those who are seeking additional benefits.

AN Supps has a standard creatine monohydrate product, creatine + HMB, creatine + magnesium, creatine + ketones and creatine + peptides. I will break them down for you below and give you the reasons you should consider each one. One thing to note is if you are looking for multiple benefits, you could get a few of these listed and take a serving of each per day to get your 10g of creatine plus the added benefits of the other ingredients (i.e. you could buy Creatine + HMB and take that in the morning and Creatine + Magnesium at night).

AN Supps Creatine Monohydrate

This is going to be the staple in the line-up. AN Supps Creatine Monohydrate is a cost-effective version available from AN Supps that contains 50-servings of unflavored creatine monohydrate. This is great to get your 5-10g creatine monohydrate per day. It is going to be the most cost effective since there's no other flavors or ingredients added. It is versatile that you can add it to a pre-workout, protein shake, or any beverage to drink your creatine.

AN Supps Creatine + Magnesium

AN Supps Creatine + Magnesium combines 5g creatine monohydrate with 300mg magnesium from Magnesium Bisglycinate, Magnesium Taurate, Magnesium Citrate. This is three solid versions of magnesium that aids in ATP production and performance. Working side-by-side with creatine to improve ATP and hydration should improve exercise performance and output.

In addition to the benefits of combining creatine monohydrate with magnesium, many people are deficient in magnesium. Approximately 50% of Americans consume insufficient magnesium through their diets, according to U.S. nutrition surveys.

Magnesium may also improve quality of sleep too.

AN Supps Creatine + HMB

AN Supps Creatine + HMB combines 5g creatine monohydrate with 3g HMB (Calcium Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate). HMB is the precursor to Leucine. Leucine is the amino acid responsible for starting mTOR. This aids in muscle recovery and can help with lean muscle mass. HMB is especially beneficial for those who are novice trainers who may experience more muscle soreness from intense training programs. If you're newer to the gym or exercise, AN Supps Creatine + HMB may be a great option for you to get started on your journey.

AN Supps Creatine + Ketones

AN Supps Creatine + Ketones combines 5g of creatine monohydrate with 3g of goBHB ketones. Supplementing with goBHB ketones gives you exogenous ketones to support energy and endurance, alongside electrolytes. Ketones are cellular energy and works great alongside creatine monohydrate to improve performance. An area where this combination works best is if you workout early in the morning fasted. Your body will utilize the exogenous ketones from goBHB to help "energize" your workout and aid in improving muscle contractions.

AN Supps Creatine + Peptides

AN Supps Creatine + Peptides is their most advanced creatine formula, and it is available in great flavors like the authentic Sour Patch Kids flavors. AN Supps Creatine + Peptides combines 5g creatine monohydrate with 2.4g PeptiStrong.

PeptiStrong is a patent form of Fava Bean Hydrolysate from Nuritas. It has gained a lot of attention in the natural muscle building space due to the fact clinical studies have shown it to have five benefits at a 2.4g dosage.

The first benefits that the research has shown was it increases MPS (Muscle Protein Synthesis). Muscle protein synthesis is the biological process through which the body repairs and builds muscle proteins, particularly after exercise or physical activity. Per a study on Fava Bean Hydrolysate (PeptiStrong) researchers proved that MPS increased in the Fava Bean group by 4x during remobilization in young men. 

The supplementation of PeptiStrong has also been shown to reduce muscle breakdown. This is due to the link to increased MPS. The increased MPS also leads to a reduction in muscle soreness and a quicker time to recovery and strength levels after fatigue. 

In another study, subjects that supplemented with PeptiStrong reduced exercise inflammation. This also contributed to a reduction on DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). PeptiStrong was shown to increase strength recovery by 47% over placebo group by minimizing inflammation and DOMS. 

Myostatin is a protein that plays a crucial role in regulating muscle growth. Myostatin inhibits muscle cell growth and differentiation by signaling muscle cells to reduce protein synthesis and increase protein breakdown. The goal of any muscle building supplement is to inhibit Myostatin. PeptiStrong has been shown to lower Myostatin thus allowing more muscle growth through the increase in MPS.

The last big benefit of PeptiStrong is the increase in performance. Two studies have shown that supplementing with PeptiStrong at the 2.4g dosage users experienced improved power output, by up to 130%, and increased performance by up to 54%.

If you are more advanced in the gym or have been training for awhile, I would recommend AN Supps Creatine + Peptide formula. 

Final Takeaway AN Supps Creatine Products

I love the fact that you have a choice to pick what you want. I personally love Creatine + Peptide but I have been lifting for over two decades. The new peptide technology aids with absorption and in this particular formula you get the benefits of creatine monohydrate along with PeptiStrong to help improve performance, recovery and muscle-growth. With that said, all of these have a place depending on what you're looking for as a consumer. If you want a cost effective option, go with the creatine monohydrate product. If you're deficient in magnesium, like most are, use Creatine + Magnesium. If you're newer to training I would recommend Creatine + HMB. If you just want to improve exercise performance, especially if you're fasted, Creatine + Ketones is the way to go.

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