The Student Room Group

Should I stop taking Creatine after gym sessions?

I regularly have one scoop of creatine after a gym session. I am a 16 yr old turning 17 in a couple of months. Is it harmful for me and should I stop?
I regularly go to gym 3 times a week and during the 3 month summer holidays, I will go 4 times a day. My aim is not to be a power lifter, but to be fit and relatively strong. I don't aspire to be "super strong" or "a heavy lifter".
Original post by hh1209
I regularly have one scoop of creatine after a gym session. I am a 16 yr old turning 17 in a couple of months. Is it harmful for me and should I stop?
I regularly go to gym 3 times a week and during the 3 month summer holidays, I will go 4 times a day. My aim is not to be a power lifter, but to be fit and relatively strong. I don't aspire to be "super strong" or "a heavy lifter".

god I love creatine highkey, keep taking it
Original post by ElGattoZeLatto
god I love creatine highkey, keep taking it

how old are you tho? apparently people my age shouldn't be taking it and should just have a good balanced diet
Reply 3
Creatine is a compound that is naturally present in small amounts in food that you eat, particularly in meat and fish. So it's not something that your body isn't able to handle already. It's basically a source of energy. The only reason it's useful to supplement is because you'd have to eat a heck of a lot of meat or fish to get the maximum performance benefit (which is small anyway), so it's both cheaper and easier to supplement. Even if you do take too much, it's easy for your body to excrete in urine, so you'd just **** it out anyway. In short, take it if you want a small performance boost and don't worry about it.
Creatine is a compound that is naturally present in small amounts in food that you eat, particularly in meat and fish. So it's not something that your body isn't able to handle already. It's basically a source of energy. The only reason it's useful to supplement is because you'd have to eat a heck of a lot of meat or fish to get the maximum performance benefit (which is small anyway), so it's both cheaper and easier to supplement. Even if you do take too much, it's easy for your body to excrete in urine, so you'd just **** it out anyway. In short, take it if you want a small performance boost and don't worry about it.

My teacher always says that as I am still relatively young, my body hasn't developed fully yet and so creatine could have side effects such as stunted growth. They say a good diet is best.
Reply 5
Original post by hh1209
My teacher always says that as I am still relatively young, my body hasn't developed fully yet and so creatine could have side effects such as stunted growth. They say a good diet is best.

Your teacher is correct that a good diet is best. If there's anything about your diet which could be improved, for example inadequate protein, inadequate fruits and vegetables, too many or too little calories, this will have a far bigger long term effect than creatine supplementation.

However, your teacher is not correct that it stunts growth. How would it? It's just a source of energy. It's not a hormone and it's not a steroid. Some studies, like this one, actually find a correlation between creatine intake and increased height in children. From the conclusion: "Our study demonstrated that the daily intake of creatine from a regular diet in taller children and adolescents was higher than those in shorter peers aged 2–19 years".

This is an example of why you should do your own research on things regarding fitness and nutrition rather than being too quick to believe things by word of mouth. There's so much misinformation spread around on this topic, either through laziness (often the case for normal folk) or because people lie in the hopes of making money (often the case for fitness influencers).
Your teacher is correct that a good diet is best. If there's anything about your diet which could be improved, for example inadequate protein, inadequate fruits and vegetables, too many or too little calories, this will have a far bigger long term effect than creatine supplementation.
However, your teacher is not correct that it stunts growth. How would it? It's just a source of energy. It's not a hormone and it's not a steroid. Some studies, like this one, actually find a correlation between creatine intake and increased height in children. From the conclusion: "Our study demonstrated that the daily intake of creatine from a regular diet in taller children and adolescents was higher than those in shorter peers aged 2–19 years".
This is an example of why you should do your own research on things regarding fitness and nutrition rather than being too quick to believe things by word of mouth. There's so much misinformation spread around on this topic, either through laziness (often the case for normal folk) or because people lie in the hopes of making money (often the case for fitness influencers).

That is really insightful. I will do my research into it, and not be so quick into believing what people say. Thanks! :smile:
Original post by hh1209
I regularly have one scoop of creatine after a gym session. I am a 16 yr old turning 17 in a couple of months. Is it harmful for me and should I stop?
I regularly go to gym 3 times a week and during the 3 month summer holidays, I will go 4 times a day. My aim is not to be a power lifter, but to be fit and relatively strong. I don't aspire to be "super strong" or "a heavy lifter".

You don't need to stop taking creatine especially if you haven't suffered any side effects(I'm not even sure what side effects it has). Creatine is okay for 16-17 year old as a supplement provided your diet is good. It does not effect your growth or hormones in any way.

Creatine is far too innocuous to worry about, it is like asking should I stop taking vitamins as a 16-17 year old. The answer is simple you should focus primarily on your diet, supplements like Creatine can help but certainly can't harm you.
Now if you talk about more powerful supplements like SARMs/steroids then yes they can/will disrupt your natural hormones(HGH, Testosterone). Therefore best to avoid them when growing up(well best to never use them at all 🙂 ).

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