2820: What Every Woman Needs To Know About Creatine

Summary

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Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Episode 2820: What Every Woman Needs To Know About Creatine

Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, Producer Doug Egge
Release Date: March 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the science-backed truth about creatine supplementation for women. The Mind Pump hosts dispel common myths, explain creatine’s benefits beyond strength—including mood, cognition, and bone health—and provide practical guidance for usage. Dispelling the fear and confusion many women have surrounding creatine, they conclusively argue that it's not just safe, but possibly one of the most essential supplements for female health and performance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Is Creatine and Where Does It Come From? [02:11–05:05]

• Definition: Creatine is a substance found naturally in animal protein sources, but can also be synthesized by the human body.
• Dietary Sources:
  • Contrary to popular belief, creatine is not exclusive to red meat—some fish (herring, for instance) have even higher ratios.
    • “I was under the impression that, like, red meat was not only the only place that you're really getting it from, but even if you got it in other places, it was so minimal in comparison. Not true.” – Sal Di Stefano [03:27]
• Benefits Even for Meat Eaters: Even with high meat consumption, supplementing with creatine has added benefits because reaching “optimal” creatine levels via diet alone is unrealistic for most.
  • “Even someone like myself who eats a couple pounds of meat a day, still, you're still not optimal numbers.” – Sal Di Stefano [05:05]

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2. Core Benefits of Creatine for Women [05:07–11:00]

• Increases Strength:
  • Creatine predictably increases strength quickly—often within a week.
    • “For supplements, is remarkable… you can pretty much predictably know that you're going to do £155 the following week, which is for supplements, is remarkable.” – Justin Andrews [05:31–06:20]
• Speeds Muscle Growth:
  • Creatine supports hypertrophy, not only by increasing muscle hydration but also facilitating more ATP for muscle contractions.
    • “It does seem to speed up the muscle building process or, or hypertrophy... the increase in strength—well, progressive overload is how you build muscle.” – Justin Andrews [06:41–07:50]
• Improved Recovery and Performance:
  • More ATP means more explosive power for each set, stimulating further muscle adaptation.
    • “When we take creatine, you replenish those at a faster or a higher rate… You have more energy to do more every set and that will naturally progressively overload the body because you're stronger and you can lift more.” – Sal Di Stefano [08:13–09:07]

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3. Safety & Longevity: Myths versus Facts [10:33–12:54]

• Safety Record:
  • Creatine is one of the most extensively studied supplements—shown to be safe even at high dosages, with no adverse kidney, liver, or muscle injury effects for healthy individuals.
    • “It's not just safe. And we're not, we don't necessarily have to go here, but it's not just safe, but it's probably helps with longevity.” – Justin Andrews [10:33]
    • “Very safe for the kidneys. Unless you have impaired kidney function... Then you're totally fine.” – Justin Andrews [12:25]
• Longevity & Disease Prevention:
  • New evidence suggests possible anti-cancer and anti-disease benefits due to creatine’s role in organ energy metabolism.

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4. Cognitive and Mood Benefits, Especially for Women [13:33–17:17]

• Elevated Mood and Reduced Brain Fog:
  • Studies show supplementation reduces mood swings in peri- and post-menopausal women and has antidepressant/anti-anxiety effects.
    • “Eight weeks of creatine supplementation reduced the severity of mood swings compared to placebo. There's also anti anxiety and antidepressant effects that have been shown now in studies.” – Justin Andrews [13:38]
• Sleep Deprivation:
  • Mega-dosing creatine (20g) during acute sleep loss can erase measurable cognitive impairment.
    • “A single dose of 20 grams of creatine essentially erased... the cognitive impairment that people [experience].” – Justin Andrews [14:30]
• Strong Benefits for Vegans:
  • Vegans, who naturally lack dietary creatine, show marked improvements in brain function and IQ upon supplementation.
    • “Creatine with vegan clients was like they would come in, you know, four or five days later, and they're like. It's transformative.” – Justin Andrews & Adam Schafer [17:14–17:42]

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5. Mythbusting Creatine Side Effects [18:05–22:29]

• Does Not Cause Bloating:
  • The scale may go up 1–4 lbs, but this is due to increased water INSIDE muscles (intracellular), not underthe skin (subcutaneous).
    • “When you take creatine, you increase intracellular fluid in particular in your muscles... They feel more toned. They're more shapely. They're more hydrated. You have just hydrated your muscles better with creatine.” – Justin Andrews [18:41–19:31]
• Hydration Needs:
  • Creatine increases thirst; users must drink more water to avoid cramps or discomfort.
    • “Your muscles are more hydrated, and you're gonna need more water as a result.” – Justin Andrews [21:05]
    • “Requires a lot more hydration in excess.” – Adam Schafer [22:08]
• Increased Lean Body Mass:
  • Any weight or scale increase usually equals an improved body composition.
    • “Your body fat percentage actually goes down a slight bit because your lean body mass went up... So when you add 2 pounds, it's good. Your muscles, again, are fuller, they're rounder.” – Adam Schafer [22:29]

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6. Creatine’s Unique Metabolic and Bone Health Benefits for Women [23:49–26:18]

• Supports Fat Loss:
  • Creatine aids fat loss indirectly by making you stronger and facilitating muscle gain.
    • “If it builds more muscle, you get... a good metabolic rate. This is actually one of the best supplements you could take for that.” – Justin Andrews [24:17–24:22]
• Improves Bone Density:
  • Two-year RCTs in postmenopausal women show higher bone density when combining resistance training and creatine.
    • “Showed that creatine supplementation with exercise increased bone density greater than not using creatine.” – Justin Andrews [25:43]

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7. Why Women Seem to Get Even More Benefit [26:18–27:52]

• Greater Relative Effects:
  • Women, especially those who eat less animal protein, show more pronounced improvements in strength, cognition, mood, and bone density with creatine supplementation.
    • “What's interesting about the studies is the benefits that they show for women are actually greater.” – Justin Andrews [26:18]
    • “Women generally eat less animal protein anyway... That tracks with the vegan reason.” – Sal Di Stefano [27:08]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is actually one of the few that are like, definitely, definitely take this. This makes a big difference.” – Justin Andrews [27:52]
• “So it's, it's a, it's a great supplement to take man or woman, but especially if you're female.” – Justin Andrews [27:52]
• “It's not just safe... it may be anti cancer and maybe anti disease.” – Justin Andrews [12:55]
• “Women seem to get more benefits. And I think it might be because women generally eat less animal protein anyway.” – Justin Andrews [27:28]
• “You have more energy to push more weight and to be stronger, which then in turn builds more muscle and building more muscle does all these things.” – Sal Di Stefano [26:11]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:11–05:05: What creatine is, sources, and why supplementation matters.
• 05:07–11:00: Breakdown of core benefits (strength, muscle building, rapid effects).
• 10:33–12:54: Creatine’s safety record and longevity data.
• 13:33–17:17: Cognitive/mood benefits, especially for women and vegans.
• 18:05–22:29: Debunking bloat myths, water retention, hydration needs.
• 23:49–26:18: Metabolic and bone health benefits, greater fat loss, and postmenopausal advantages.
• 26:18–27:52: Why women may benefit even more and host recommendations.

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Summary Takeaways

• Creatine is safe, effective, and confers unique health advantages to women—especially for strength, muscle building, mood, cognition, metabolic rate, and bone density.
• Common myths (bloating, kidney damage, “it’s only for men/bodybuilders”) are thoroughly debunked.
• Supplementation is especially beneficial for women who eat less animal protein, are vegan/vegetarian, postmenopausal, or seeking to optimize overall health, strength, and wellbeing.
• The hosts emphatically recommend daily creatine supplementation for women, stating the benefits are both scientifically validated and highly observable in real-world results.

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For more, check out their free Build Your Butt Masterclass at mapsbooty.com. Find Mind Pump on Instagram @mindpumpmedia.

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Transcript

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If you want to p and expand your mind, there's only one place to go.

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Mind Pump Mind Pump with your hosts

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Sal Destefano, Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews,

[Justin Andrews]

you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode what every woman needs to know about Creatine by the way, we have a build your butt masterclass. It's totally free. You can find [e-mail] we break down the best exercises, how to apply them, the technique to build your glutes. Now this episode is brought to you by a sponsor, Legion Legion supplements are some of the best in the world. They have great protein powders, they have great creatine, very pure sources of creatine and many other supplements that can help you with your fitness. They're all third party tested, some of the best, most backed by science supplements you'll find anywhere. Nothing is in the bottle that doesn't have something backing it. In terms of data, it's great stuff. Go check them out, get yourself a huge discount. Throw link go to buy legion.com forward/mind pump Use the code mind pump and you can buy one get one 50% off. We also have a brand new program bundle. It's called the Spring bundle. This includes our program Map Symmetry, Maps prime and the advanced training techniques guide. All of that under. Excuse me, over 50% off. You can get all for 147. Just head over to mapsmarch.com all right, real quick.

[Adam Schaefer]

If you love us like we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs or training gear [e-mail] I'm talking right now. Hit pause, Head on over to mypumpstore.com that's it. Enjoy the rest of the show.

[Justin Andrews]

Creatine. It's probably one of the most if not the most popular supplements around. But what about for the ladies? Should you take it? Yes. In short, today we're going to talk about many things, many things that every woman need to know about creatine. We're going to break it down for you. Let's go.

[Sal Destefano]

Still a common question that we get.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, yes, definitely.

[Adam Schaefer]

For the ladies.

[Justin Andrews]

So creatine for, you know, people aren't familiar with what it is. You find it naturally in animal sources of protein. You don't need to consume it. Your body will make it with certain amino acids. So if you don't consume creatine from animal sources, your body will produce it. That being said, supplementing with creatine provides more of what creatine does, even if you do eat a lot of animal sources, and especially if you don't. And it does produce or is used to produce a form of energy in the body called ATP. So that's where most of its benefit comes from. And it's been around for a long time as a supplement. I think it was the early 90s when it really hit the market, and it quickly became one of the most popular supplements around.

[Sal Destefano]

Random fact that I was so surprised by was we looked this up just last week, remember when we're talking about creatine.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal Destefano]

I was under the impression that, like, red meat was not only the only place that you're really getting it from, but even if you got it in other places, it was so minimal in comparison. Not true.

[Justin Andrews]

No, no.

[Sal Destefano]

In fact, I think Doug found a even higher ratio than red meat was. Right.

[Adam Schaefer]

I mean, one of the fishes had a higher ratio.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Sal Destefano]

So, I mean. And red meat is. Is higher.

[Justin Andrews]

Of all the things you'll typically eat, it's the highest one. Yeah, but not by a ton.

[Sal Destefano]

But not by a ton. It was like. Like 0.3 to 0.4 grams was like the difference or something like that. So, you know, if you. If you eat a good amount of meat, there's good sources of precin it. Now, what we see in the research as far as, like, the. The benefits for building muscle and the. Especially br. Which is even higher.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, we're gonna get into a lot of this.

[Sal Destefano]

Right. Like you would want to supplement in addition to that. But I just thought that was really fascinating and new to me because I was always under the impression, like, it was one of the only ones. What'd you find, Doug? Herring. Oh, yeah. Herring.

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Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, wow. Yeah. So nobody ever really eats that. So it's typically red meat would be the highest source, but it's not my stuff. Yeah, it's not by a ton. It's not that much more than chicken or other, you know, common sources. Exactly. Okay, so here's what's interesting. You could eat a lot of meat because sometimes people are like, well, if I eat a lot of meat, will I gain any benefit from creatine? Yeah, you still will, because your body actually has a pretty high capacity for how much creatine it'll utilize. And if you were to eat the amount of meat to reach that upper limit, pounds, it's just way more pounds. Even someone like myself who eats a couple pounds of meat a day, still.

[Sal Destefano]

Still, you're still not optimal numbers.

[Justin Andrews]

Right. So I'm still not going to get all the benefits of creatine. Let's talk about some of those benefits and we'll start with like the most common ones and the ones that are the most backed by literature, although all the ones we're talking about today are backed by, by studies. But number one is it makes you stronger. This is what made creatine initially popular. It was, it was two reps after

[Adam Schaefer]

you think you're done.

[Justin Andrews]

That's, it's, it's remarkably effective at increasing strength in comparison with, I mean, besides diet and exercise. Right. So diet and exercise always king. But in terms of supplements, creatine will make you predictably stronger most consistently compared to any other supplement that's out there that's not hormonal like anabolic steroids. You will get stronger if you take creatine. And what this typically looks like for people, both men and women, is about two pounds or an additional five pounds to every lift. So an additional two reps. Excuse me, and five pounds to every lift. So if your max, you know, deadlift is 150 pounds, you could, you could pretty much predictably know that you're going to do £155 the following week, which is for supplements, is remarkable.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. For a supplement that's pretty substantial.

[Sal Destefano]

It's also relatively quick that you feel the difference too. Right. It's not like one of those things that's like within a week. Yeah. It's not like one of those things you'll be taking for months and months to build it up before you start to really see a difference. It's pretty quick. And I'd say about a week is when, I know, like consistently taking it for a week the following week when you come back around to those lifts is when you tend to notice it.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. And that's what got a popular, got really Popular with sports at first because you would just see this increase in power and strength. Of course, people in the strength training world started utilizing it, which takes us to the next one, which is that it helps the muscle building process. This is very backed by data. It does seem to speed up the muscle building process or, or hypertrophy. Now, in the recent past, there's been some speculation as to whether or not it's actual muscle fiber or if it's just that the muscles are more hydrated. Remember, muscles are like 70, you know, 70 fluid.

[Sal Destefano]

I thought it was more to do with that. The rate that it's replenishing the ATP and adp.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, but that, that what that does is it increases intracellular fluid, so the muscles are more hydrated. So there was like, recently, there's some, some studies that said, okay, maybe it's not muscle growth, maybe it's just the muscles are more hydrated and we're registering it as lean body mass. Okay. But the, the, there's lots of data showing that it actually, and I, I'll say this, even, even if it doesn't directly build muscle, the increase in strength. Well, progressive overload is how you build muscle.

[Sal Destefano]

Well, that's right. So that's back to my point with the energy thing. I mean, even if that is. The other part isn't true. Just so let me. I haven't said this on the podcast in a long time. I think I've shared this with you a long time ago, how I used to describe this to be way back in the days, like, my understanding to like simplify it so the average person could understand. It's like, I would give this analogy of, you know, every time and I do this while I'm resting with a client. It's like while we're sitting down, resting, we'd be resting between like a bench press or something. I'd be like, right now, while you're resting, your body is replenishing like these energy molecules, ADP and ATP. Right. And let's just say for argument's sake, your body can make a hundred of them. Right, right. And while we're resting during this rest period for the Next, you know, 90 seconds, your body replenishes 97 of those hundred that we used, some of what we just used on the set. And so when we take creatine, you replenish those at a faster or a higher rate. So instead of, let's say, and then we go to our second set and we work all the way down to only 50 molecules left, you. If we are on creatine. If you weren't on creatine, we rest for 90 seconds. You only replenish back up to say 70 or 75. When you're on creatine, you replenish back to 85. 90.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal Destefano]

So you have more energy to do more every set and that will naturally progressively overload the body because you're stronger and you can lift more.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, and that's, that's not a, I mean that's a pretty decent illustration really. What it looks like is you have so much ATP available. So ATP is this, this type of energy. It actually is a cellular energy. So I think, I believe every cell in the body utilizes ATP. So it's like a primary source of energy, but when it comes to exercise, it burns up very quickly. So you use ATP in explosive movements or for strength. Once it burns out, then your body starts to tap into glycogen. So this is why doing, you know, long distance running, you use up the ATP very quickly and then you're, you're running on glycogen. This is why strength training, you do sets because you train the explosive energy and not the glycogen. And what happens is through the, through focusing on ATP. This is how the muscle building part of how the muscle building process works because your muscles get bigger to utilize more, more ATP. So, so through that process, I would say it builds muscle. And you know, when I bring up studies, the vast majority of them show it does help with the muscle building process. But even if it didn't directly help the muscle building process, it's makes you stronger. And we do know that when you, when you progressively overload the body, this is the most consistent way to build muscle. So if you can suddenly lift five more pounds, it's higher stress on the muscle fibers which will send a louder,

[Adam Schaefer]

easy to see how that'll help you in the muscle building part of it.

[Justin Andrews]

Totally, totally. It's also extremely safe. Creatine is easily the most studied ergogenic aid that exists. There's like thousands of studies on creatine. Double blind, placebo controlled. There's long studies, there's studies with high doses. It's extreme, it's, it's not just safe. And we're not, we don't necessarily have to go here, but it's not just safe, but it's probably helps with longevity.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I'm actually curious because I know a long time ago we were bashing the whole loading sequence even in the beginning because that was like, we're like, oh, they're just trying to get you through their product. And like has that changed at all in terms of their recommendation? Because they do recommend high doses for, you know, brain function now and cognition. But and two to, to be able to really get it in your system. I mean is that really a factor or not?

[Justin Andrews]

So you build up creatine stores or ATP and it takes, let's say it takes 10 days to, to maximize or top those out. Taking more in the beginning will probably make it happen faster. So Instead of taking 10 days, it might take something like six days.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Nonetheless, if you're talking about the muscle effects, loading isn't necessary. It just takes a little longer to get the maximal effect. So back in the day they would tell you to take 20 grams a day.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

For the first seven days and then 5 grams afterwards. You don't have to do that. You'll get the, you'll just get the max benefits maybe a few days sooner. Now the way you see the cool

[Sal Destefano]

part though is that if you did do that, does it hurt? Because then you get the brain benefits.

[Justin Andrews]

The brain benefits which we'll get to probably happen with higher doses. Because in order to get past what the muscles need and everything else you need to.

[Adam Schaefer]

Before that, I used to think that was a waste.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

You know, until these studies.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah, me too.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Sal Destefano]

Do you guys remember what some of the like fear mongering and stuff around

[Adam Schaefer]

the creatine one, kidneys or you have

[Sal Destefano]

to worry about kidneys.

[Justin Andrews]

So the places that they've done most studies for safety are kidney health, organ health, liver health. There were fears that it would increase muscle tears or injuries. That's also been dispelled. Very safe for the kidneys. Unless you have impaired kidney function and you're working with a nephrologist and they're like, hey, don't you know, do the following. Then you're totally, you're totally fine. By the way, if you have impaired kidney function, they'll also tell you to restrict things like protein and stuff like that.

[Adam Schaefer]

Sure.

[Justin Andrews]

So it's very, very safe on the body. Like I said, like every study done on safety with creatine has shown again, not that it's just safe that there's, there's longevity benefits. So now they're, now they're looking at data showing like oh there's, and again this isn't one of the points. But it's pro, it may be anti cancer and maybe anti disease. It seems to be good for your organs because all your organs run or utilize ATP as well. So it's not just safe, it's actually good for you. It's actually one of the things that good for you. It's also great for mood, which is really interesting. Now they did a study and I pulled it up here.

[Sal Destefano]

Now, is that just because you have more energy?

[Justin Andrews]

Brain energy?

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Oh, brain energy.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right. That's right. So they did a study on. There was a meta analysis that was assessing or, sorry, random randomized controlled trial of perimenopausal women and menopausal women. Eight weeks of creatine supplementation reduced the severity of mood swings compared to placebo. There's also anti anxiety and antidepressant effects that have been shown now in studies. So it's a mood lifting.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Supplement as well.

[Adam Schaefer]

So that's really an energy thing with the brain connected.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes, yes, totally. So it'll lift your mood in many cases from taking creatine, which is pretty wild. Again, all the studies that they do on creatine continue to show more and more benefits for almost everything that they study.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, yeah, I guess the next one about brain fog, like that has to like tie into that. And then two, like your point of like recovering from a bad night of

[Justin Andrews]

sleep and recommending that, that's the most interesting one. They, they did studies on sleep deprived individuals where they would purposely sleep deprive them and then they do a battery of tests to look at their cognitive function. And you can always do. You could see like the difference. Right. Like we did these tests when you weren't sleep deprived, then these ones when you're sleep deprived and we can see a difference. A single dose of 20 grams of creatine essentially erased. Yeah. The cognitive impairment that people. Now, this doesn't mean, I want to be clear, this is not a replacement for sleep. So it's not like, oh, cool, I'm gonna get bad sleep.

[Adam Schaefer]

No, this is a band aid.

[Justin Andrews]

But if you're like, hey, if you

[Sal Destefano]

just flew somewhere, 10 hour flight or something like that, you feel brain fog the next day, day and stuff like that. What a cool time to mega dose creatine.

[Justin Andrews]

Not just that. Like, if you're, if you're listening right now and you're like going through a season where, I don't know, you got little kids and you're getting bad sleep and it's just not optimal. Like creatine can help with your brain function quite a bit. Again, it's that energy molecule that it helps produce or helps promote and that just helps with cognitive function, but especially so there's two people where we see cognitive improvements, dramatic, I would say in the data, significant improvements in brain function. One is sleep deprived individuals and the other one, which has been well established, are vegans. You actually see an IQ increase with vegans.

[Sal Destefano]

That makes sense because if they take the least amount. Yeah, well, they don't eat meat. So if meat has at least a decent amount, even though it doesn't have optimal, it has a decent amount of creatine and you get none.

[Justin Andrews]

Or you know, by the way, creatine is a vegan supplement. So if you're a vegan and you don't want to take, you're like, oh, I want to take creatine. But it's derived from animal. It's not. It's actually vegan. The way they create it, amino acid. There's a process. This is what happened in the early 90s. They figured out how to make creatine in an expensive way. Before that, scientists had been able to make creatine, but it was so expensive.

[Adam Schaefer]

But doesn't it.

[Sal Destefano]

That's why it was so expensive back in the days.

[Justin Andrews]

Well, it was actually, it was already cheap by the time they made it in the 90s. But because they cornered the market.

[Sal Destefano]

Oh, it was considered cheap when we bought it.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Sal Destefano]

I remember when it was. So it was way more cheap.

[Justin Andrews]

Was like $50 for. This is back in like 92, 93 for, for like 30 servings.

[Adam Schaefer]

Pure chalk.

[Justin Andrews]

Now 50 bucks will get you 100 servings or more. But, but compared to when they first were able to synthesize creatine, it would have cost thousands of dollars. It was so expensive to make it.

[Sal Destefano]

Oh, I didn't know.

[Justin Andrews]

And they figured out how to produce it and make it.

[Sal Destefano]

When you think about it, that's so cheap when you consider inflation and everything too.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Sal Destefano]

There's not a lot of things that you can buy that you were buying 20 years ago at a price and it's now it's like half, half the price. Even with inflation, when you think about that, it's dramatically decreased. Yes, factor that in.

[Justin Andrews]

But if you're a vegan, so. So my vegan clients that I used to train, there were a couple supplements that I would always make them take because I just almost every time if they took it, we saw a huge difference. One of them was essential amino acids. I would have them supplement essential amino acids with their meals. The other one was a multivitamin, multi mineral, which I recommend to most people. Creatine with vegan clients was like they would come in. They would come in, you know, four or five days later, and they're like.

[Adam Schaefer]

It's transformative.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Like, totally changed our lives.

[Sal Destefano]

You know, speaking of multivitamin, I think that we predicted this a long time ago, that creatine would become in a, like, longevity and daily use thing that. I think there's companies already that are putting it in multivitamins.

[Justin Andrews]

Yep.

[Sal Destefano]

So it's already turning into that right now, 100%. It's only a matter of time before everybody's recommending. And it's thought of the same way. Like that.

[Justin Andrews]

Here's another one. It doesn't bloat you. This is like a big myth around creatine.

[Sal Destefano]

Explain. Okay. Explain how our body holds water. The difference between when it's between the skin and when it's in the muscle. Because that's the big difference.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. So. So if you're. If you're a woman and you have a regular cycle, you know that sometimes, especially when progesterone is high, you're just more bloated. And this is just. You're holding more water, and it's under the skin. It can make you look puffy, and it just. It looks different.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah, it looks. It's between the skin and the muscle.

[Justin Andrews]

Right.

[Sal Destefano]

And it looks puffy. It looks like. It looks like body fat.

[Justin Andrews]

Exactly.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Now, when you take creatine, you increase intracellular fluid in particular in your muscles. So your muscles, which are like 70% fluid now, hold a little bit more because ATP draws in water. So here's what happens, and this is why some women freak out, is the scale will go up three pounds. Right. Between two to four pounds, let's say one to four pounds is what a woman will typically see on the scale. Usually around two, and they'll freak out and they'll feel bigger. And so, like, okay, creatine's making me bloated. I heard about this. No, your muscles are rounder and fuller. They feel more toned. They're more shapely. They're more hydrated. You have just hydrated your muscles better with creatine. And it's not the same thing as bloat. It doesn't cause that kind of water retention. It's intracellular.

[Sal Destefano]

Do you remember I told you this a long time ago on the podcast? Do you remember how I used to use this for when I. When I would cut for a show?

[Justin Andrews]

No.

[Sal Destefano]

So I would intentionally not use creatine when I would be bulking. Although I understand all the benefits of it for building muscle, this and that. I get it. I used it more psychologically. And the reason why I did this was it was really difficult for me. I have the reverse effect of it of somebody who's always felt overweight. I felt, as always, skinny. So it was always hard for me to go on a cut because I felt like.

[Justin Andrews]

You're small.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah. All of a sudden the glycogen gets pulled up when you, when you are depleted, it, it depletes all the glycogen stores. So your, your muscle bellies. Look, in the bodybuilding world, we call it flat. Right. And so, you know, when you, you, you, you deplete all that. Your body is probably metabolizing body fat and you're leaning out. And that's all part of the process. And it would all. As a young, young kid who was insecure about being skinny and I've been muscle. It always would mess with my head. I'd try and go on a little bit of a cut or a diet. Oh, my God, I'm losing muscle. I could see it. It looks like I've lost. All it was, was my, my muscles were deflated. And I knew that when I went into the competing world, how much of a kind of a mind that was for me. And so I would intentionally not really use creatine that much during the, the bulking process. And then when I switch over to the cut, then I would take high doses of it in load water so it would fill my muscle bellies up a little bit so I'd have less of that psychological flat feeling. And it was great because it made me feel fuller. I had better pumps in the workouts. It looked better. And as I know I'm having to push myself through this. So that's how I used to use it when I was competing, by the

[Justin Andrews]

way, because it increases intracellular water. You're going to want to drink more water when you're on crazy. It's funny because I have some friends. Yeah. That one of them's a doctor and her husband. So it's a couple good friends of mine. And I'm, you know, she's asking me about creatine because now it's like, well known that it's good for you. She's in the medical space and she's like, should I take this? I'm like, oh, my God, absolutely. So her and her husband started taking it. Now both of them came back to me. They're like, I need to drink way more water. I'm like, thirstier. I'm like, yeah, your body, your Muscles are more hydrated, and you're gonna need more water as a result. Now, I never noticed this, and a lot of my clients didn't necessarily notice this because I would always promote them to drink more water anyway. So if you're drinking a lot of water, you're not gonna notice this. But if you're the average person who could benefit from drinking a half a gallon to a gallon of water a day, which is what we typically recommend, so you only drink a few glasses of water a day, like a lot of people, then you start taking creatine. You may suddenly notice, my mouth is dry, my eyes are dry. What's going on? Your. Your muscles are holding more water. You need more water.

[Adam Schaefer]

This makes me wonder, though, too, with. Back in the days where they had a lot of fear around this was, you know, you'd have some athletes, like, they were obviously already dehydrated, and then they're on creatine, and they were trying to pin it on creatine, and they had all these, like, symptoms and, like, muscle cramps. Yeah. And so but it's. It requires a lot more hydration in excess.

[Justin Andrews]

You got to drink more water because you're. Because you have more ATP. Your muscles are holding more fluid, which is good. So you'll need to drink more water. By the way, when the scale goes up two pounds, just for the women listening, because a lot of women freak out over that because the scale is, like, so scary. Oh, my God. It went up. When it goes up two pounds, and it's intracellular, intramuscular fluid. Your. Now, would it register on a. On a sensitive body fat test? It's not a huge percentage, but your body fat percentage actually goes down a slight bit because your lean body mass went up. Lean body mass is everything that isn't body fat. So when you get a test and you're looking at lean body mass and fat mass. Fat mass is fat. Lean body mass is bone, organ, water. It's everything that isn't fat mass. So when you add £2 on the scale, it's good. Your muscles, again, are fuller, they're rounder. And you have to understand this, because if you're so scared about getting bigger, you may feel a little bigger because your muscles are fuller. But I'm telling you, you look better. This is a really good thing. And hopefully, if you're listening to this, you understand that. Okay. The goal is to build muscle, but again, it doesn't bloat you. That's not what it does. Next up. It probably helps with fat Loss. In fact, I brought up some studies and there was a meta analysis.

[Sal Destefano]

Now is that indirectly because you're building muscle, therefore doing it, or there's actually some sort of mechanism that's causing you to.

[Justin Andrews]

So there's a lot of studies that show that there's a little bit of a fat loss effect. There was one meta analysis of adults aged 50 and older.

[Sal Destefano]

I mean, it makes sense that if you're. If every cell operates and utilizes creatine and taking creatine creates that ability for it to function at a faster rate, that metabolically could be positive too.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes. And if it builds more muscle, you get.

[Sal Destefano]

Which of course from that metabolic. That's what makes the obvious sense is like if you build more muscle that way.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right. That's right. So they shot. So here's one study. So they made actually a meta analysis and it showed that creatine supplementation during resistance training led to 0.5 kg greater fat mass loss compared to placebo. That's not a ton. You know, what is that, a pound extra? But in the world of fat loss, any supplement, that's actually pretty good. But at least this points to one thing. If it does trend in any direction, it trends towards fat loss. Yeah. So, and it's great because it's not a stimulant, it's not making your heart rate go up. It's none of those crazy things. And indirectly, like you said, if it helps build muscle, if it makes you stronger so you're lifting more weight and you understand fat loss, it's like what's really important with fat loss is that got a good metabolic rate. This is actually one of the best supplements you could take for that process. And then lastly, this one's a really good one, is it helps with bone strength. So they did a two year randomized controlled trial. Remember, like I said, I gotta say this again, it's one of the most studied supplement, if not the most studied supplement that exists. So thousands of studies and they're long. This is a two year randomized control trial. You know how hard it is to find something that long that's randomized in postmenopausal women showed that creatine supplementation with exercise increased bone density greater than not using creatine.

[Sal Destefano]

Now what's the theory on that?

[Justin Andrews]

Well, there were resistance training, so you're already strength training. So both groups are going to see increases in bone mass. Right. But now one of them is lifting a little heavier.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So the tension on the bone, I

[Sal Destefano]

mean, everything goes back to that it's just connected to.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right.

[Sal Destefano]

Getting stronger and building more muscle. That's right, getting stronger and building more muscle. Has all these. Has better brain health. It benefits, it has better stuff for metabolism benefits. It's got, I mean, you look better benefits. It's like it's almost all connected back to that.

[Justin Andrews]

It is.

[Sal Destefano]

You have more energy to push more weight and to be stronger, which then in turn builds more muscle and building more muscle does all these things.

[Justin Andrews]

Less brain fog. What's funny about what's interesting about this is because women for a long time, although they're starting to hear this, they're starting to get advertised to them quite a bit and women are starting to kind of figure this out. We've got really, really awesome people out there like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon who's like promoting creatine to women. So they're starting, starting to hear this. But there's been, there's this fear around creatine for so long with women around the. Oh, it bloats me. That's a myth. Or I don't want to gain a pound or two on the scale. What's interesting about the studies is the benefits that they show for women are actually greater. Yeah. Than the benefits. It's actually, I would say bone density wise, it's a big bone density and things like anxiety and depression. There's greater effects in women and I'm not quite sure why. Well, maybe that women eat least less meat to begin with and they get less crate.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah. But again, does it. Is it all connected back to getting stronger and building more muscle? Because it, if you have bigger muscles, you're gonna have bigger reserve tanks.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sal Destefano]

And if you have bigger reserve tanks, that allows you to eat in a calorie surplus and not have brain fog and not over spill and like, wouldn't that theoretically be part of the reason why all that?

[Justin Andrews]

No, I think because what I'm talking about is they compare men and women who supplement with creatine. So they're both supplementing with creatine, both get benefits. Women seem to get more benefits. And I think it might be because women generally eat less animal protein anyway. They're small, they don't need to eat as much. If anyone's going to shy away from eating too much meat, I mean, that

[Sal Destefano]

tracks with the vegan reason.

[Justin Andrews]

That's right. That's right.

[Sal Destefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

So it's, it's a, it's a great supplement to take man or woman, but especially if you're female. And this has gone from in my opinion, what I mean by that is I used to recommend creatine when people would ask me what supplement should I take to. Now it's like, this is actually one of the few that are like, definitely, definitely take this. This makes a big difference. Now I know we have a guide, Doug, that we're sending people to.

[Sal Destefano]

No, we have a masterclass.

[Justin Andrews]

Masterclass. Oh this is great. So this is a build your butt masterclass, which is you can go to maps booty.com and check it out. Basically, it's free and they're breaking that. We're breaking down the best butt building exercises, the technique, the form, how you maximize building your butt. It's totally free. It's@maps booty.com you can also find us on Instagram Mind Pump Media. We'll see you there.

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