Should I Take Them Together
Having two supplements with so many benefits and with so much scientific backing, it seems like a perfect idea to take both together but, but theres some bad news! There are several studies showing that it is very likely that taking creatine and whey protein at the same time does not provide any benefit over taking either alone.
In fact, a study, published in The journal of nutrition, health and aging , was done that showed that of 42 men tested, none of those who took the two supplements together showed any benefit in their training compared to those who took creatine or whey protein alone.
Another study with 18 women resistance trainers found that those who had taken the two supplements together for 8 weeks noticed no difference in their muscle mass and strength compared to those who took whey protein alone.
Although science is not able to provide proof of the benefits of taking both supplements together, many people continue to do so, and it does not appear that this can cause any negative effects.
If your question is whether to choose between taking creatine or whey protein, it all comes down to your individual goals. If you go to the gym from time to time and you are interested in staying in shape, whey protein may be a good idea for you to have a better recovery and more muscle development. If on the other hand your goal is to maximize your muscle mass and strength, you can try taking both together.
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How To Mix Creatine With Protein
The timing for both protein and creatine is a hot topic for debate.
With protein, you can maximize muscle synthesis by evenly distributing protein intake throughout the day , including before bed.
Taking protein both before or after workouts is beneficial. The International Society for Sports Nutritions stance is that you can choose whatever timing you tolerate best: pre- or post-workout.
With creatine, the jury is still out on what timing is ideal. While some sources suggest before and some suggest after, the main consensus is that any time is good, so long as youre getting it in.
Amidst conflicting evidence, the best approach is probably to take creatine and whey whenever you tolerate it best.
If youre someone who prefers an emptier stomach during high-intensity exercise, then post-workout supplementation is a better fit.
Alternatively, you might prefer to fuel up beforehand. Taking both at the same time can streamline the process, as creatine and whey can easily be added to the same beverage.
What Is Creatine And What Does It Do
Creatine is a combination of three different amino acids methionine, arginine, and glycine. Creatine is naturally synthesized in your body by the liver and kidneys, yet the majority is stored in your muscle tissue. Creatine helps form adenosine triphosphate , your bodys natural energy source. Additional stores of creatine can help your body create more ATP, which is the key energy source during your heavy lifting session or high intensity training. When your muscles contract during short bouts of exercise, or explosive movements, creatine is your muscles primary fuel source. Studies have shown that creatine can improve athletic performance, leading to greater gains in strength, speed, and muscle growth.
There are several different types of creatine, which are sold and marketed other than traditional creatine monohydrate such as, creatine HCL, creatine ethyl ester, creatine nitrate, and Kre-Alkalyn. Studies have shown however that there is no real performance differences amongst other versions of creatine when it comes to fueling muscle growth and performance, besides Kre-Alkalyn.
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Studies have shown that Kre-Alklayn is the only alternative to creatine monohydrate that demonstrates superior performance measures, in bioavailability, endurance, and strength outcomes as compared to creatine monohydrate .
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What Is Whey Protein And What Does It Do
Protein is the primary macronutrient responsible for getting you ripped and building more muscle. Protein is comprised of amino acids and is responsible for creating new proteins, and initiating the muscle building process, protein synthesis.
Whey protein originates from dairy and is a derivative of the cheese manufacturing process. Whey protein is rich in essential amino acids, especially the branched chain amino acids, which promote muscle growth and exercise recovery. Several studies have shown that whey protein is the best type of protein to improve athletic performance, muscle gain, power, and optimize body composition.
Its crucial to provide your body with the protein it needs to rebuild and replenish essential amino acids to build more muscle mass, strength, and maximize workout recovery.
But what about different whey protein powders, such as whey isolate and hydrolysate? The real difference between whey protein isolate vs whey concentrate, is the lactose content and nutrition profile. Isolate and hydrolysate, are isolated forms of whey, which go through an additional cold filtering process, to remove excess lactose, fat, and carbohydrates, leaving you with a purified form of protein. Studies show that performance benefits and differences are negligible, however if you have a lactose sensitivity, and whey upsets your stomach, isolate is a very good alternative.
- Improves Performance
The Point Of Whey: Why Creatine Helps
Its also important to look at why a lot of people use whey rather than casein for their protein shakes: its fast.
The point of a whey protein shake is to provide fast-absorbing proteins to the body when it needs them most. This has some mild benefits in the short-term.
Creatine helps improve the rehydration of cells and restoration of energy stores after exercise. This can be useful independently of whey, but combined they make a great post-workout recovery drink.
If youre looking to rapidly boost your recovery and to feel better after a workout, mixing whey and creatine might be the edge you need.
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Best Whey Protein Supplement
There are hundreds of whey protein supplements on the market these days. Online and in sports nutrition stores, you can become overwhelmed with the choices. Many of these products make all kinds of claims, but what you really need is a whey protein supplement that simply packs all the nutrition and amino acids of a solid whey protein.
Nutriwhey from NF Sports is precisely the whey protein supplement you need. Whey Protein is considered to be the most anabolic of the protein sources because its higher in BCAAs.
Its also the protein that is highest in bioavailability, meaning you absorb more of the protein you take in vs other sources. Its rapid digestion time has made it a popular option for use around the time of your workout to maximize recovery.
What Is Whey Protein What Does It Do
So what does whey protein do for your body? Whey protein is best understood by looking at the foundational building blocks of the body.
Muscles Are made up of nine smaller molecules called amino acids, as you have heard us refer to consistently throughout this article. Some are naturally produced by the body and others are attained through nutritional consumption. It just so happens that whey protein is extremely rich in all 9 amino acids, supplying the muscles with sufficient quantities required to build and repair.
If you’re unsure of what whey looks like, picture the clear liquid that gathers at the top of your yoghurt when you first break the seal. That’s it – the stuff that you profusely stir into the yoghurt to avoid getting a soured dose of yoghurt water .
If we were to break down the protein contents in a carton of milk, we would see 80% casein protein and 20 % whey protein. You’re probably thinking, well there’s more casein protein in milk, so it must be better, but let’s take a look at the health properties of both whey and casein and discuss what’s going to work best for you.Want more on Whey Protein?
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Can You Take Creatine And Protein Powders Together After Working Out
If you’ve spent any time in the gym trying to make muscle gains, you’ve undoubtedly heard of creatine. This supplement is known as a phenomenon when it comes to getting results from your resistance training because it has positive effects on muscle growth, metabolism, exercise stamina and recovery.
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If you want to add creatine to your post-workout nutrition regimen, you may question whether it’s prudent to mix creatine in a protein shake. Combining protein supplements with creatine is perfectly safe and may have some positive effects. Just be sure to stick to recommended serving sizes, however, and be aware of other supplements and how they may interact with creatine.
Tip
Mixing creatine with whey or another protein is not contraindicated or unsafe. It’s convenient to take all your supplements together after your workout, but it doesn’t add value. If you prefer to take them at different times, that’s OK too.
Mixing Creatine With Whey Protein Is It Okay
Whey protein and creatine, both are essential supplements to regulate the growth of the muscles. This might have flashed in your mind too that can you mix creatine with protein?If yes, then my friend you have hit the right chords.
According to a survey published in International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism- the people, who used creatine and whey protein in combination, experienced more strength gain and muscular mass.
Still, you might be having doubts with mixing creatine and whey protein.
Well, not any more. Because here we are clarifying what you need to know about mixing creatine with whey protein.
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How To Use Whey Protein In A Workout Routine
Whey protein is typically consumed after a workout. While the post-workout window can be a great time to drink a whey protein shake, you can drink it at any time of the day to help meet your overall protein intake goals. For the purposes of building muscle and increasing strength, total protein intake is more important than timing.
When And How Much Protein And Creatine Should I Take
Whey protein has been hyped for its ability to be digested and absorbed into the muscles quickly, supposedly jump-starting the recovery process and improving muscle gains, but the importance of timing your protein intake has been overstated.Whey is indeed a fast-digesting protein, but a review in the Journal of the ISSN determined that total daily protein intake trumps timing, so theres no great rush to consume and assimilate the stuff as long as your body gets enough over the course of the day.
One exception, however, is if youre an athlete who does some type of training more than once a day. If youre an MMA fighter, for instance, who lifts weights in the morning and hits pads in the afternoon, youd be wise to recharge your muscles as quickly as possible after the strength training session so they dont get depleted further by the skill work. Wrestlers and tennis players, who may compete multiple times in a day, are in the same boat. A study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found that subjects taking hydrolyzed whey proteina type of whey thats been processed so it digests even fasterwere fully recovered six hours later.
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Where Protein Powder Packs A Punch
Protein powders are popular because theyre an easy and convenient way to get the full range of amino acids your body needs to support muscle growth.
There are tons of different protein powders on the market, including whey, casein, soy, pea, and hemp. But peeps looking to bulk up may prefer whey protein, as it contains all nine essential amino acids that your body needs for healthy functioning. Because your bod cannot produce these amino acids, you need to obtain them from your diet.
Does Creatine Build Muscle Faster Than Whey Protein
That is not essentially true. Creatine helps send signals to the body that its time to increase protein synthesis in the muscles while whey protein provides the amino acids to be used in the production of that tissue.
Creatine gives the muscle the energy to optimize your workout, whereas whey gives you fuel to strengthen your muscles. Therefore, as mentioned above, taking them together gives the best result.
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How To Use Creatine In Workout Routine
Creatine is typically consumed before or after a workout. Creatine can be loaded, 0.3 g/kg body weight/day to reach a saturation point and then 3-5 g can be taken daily for maintenance. The goal with creatine supplementation is to saturate your muscles so ultimately the most important detail is to consume enough consistently.
How To Supplement Whey Protein With Creatine
Whey protein and creatine monohydrate can be supplemented together, as both supplements are combined to produce a more dynamic way of helping you produce greater muscle mass once you have been to the gym and improving your workout. Taking them together combines the benefits of the two to support your goals.
Those who are training at the gym should aim to take around 1-2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight split across the day, ideally every 2-3 hours in your meals or snacks. After exercise, 20g of protein is recommended as the optimal dose of protein to support development and growth of muscle tissue.
Creatine should be taken daily, around 3g. It can be taken per serving in a protein creatine shake. This shake should be taken 30 minutes after finishing your workout as at this time, this will help to maximise the benefits of taking these supplements. Or, you may wish to take creatine before your workout and then supplement protein after your workout.
The shake could include a source of carbohydrate whenever you choose to take it, as this makes the shake easier to digest and improves the quality and benefits the shake can provide to the body. For a leaner shake, use non-fat milk and include a banana its rich in potassium and peanut butter, which is also rich in protein and good fats.
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Which Is Better: Creatine Or Whey Protein
As mentioned earlier, it is best to take them both. However, if you really have to choose one, then creatine is recommended. Most people are capable of meeting their protein requirements each day through food.
However, creatine absorbed from food may be enough for the average person, but if you are into building muscles, you will definitely need more.
But, consuming 5g of creatine per day through diet is not that easy. Only if you are ready to have 1 kg of raw meat a day, it is achievable.
Summary: If you are into the middle of selecting between creatine and protein, you should go for the former, provided your diet has plenty of protein that should suffice your amino needs.
Does Creatine Cause Kidney Stones
Before talking about Creatine, lets talk about why we get kidney stones.
A person who doesnt drink enough water throughout the day is more likely to get kidney stones. Less water makes our kidneys store waste food in our kidneys, which leads to kidney stones.
Creatine or not creatine, If you dont drink enough water, youre going to get kidney stones anyway, even when you are not using any supplements.
Creatinine, a waste of Creatine, starts to store when we dont drink enough water.
Proper hydration helps in the standard extraction of waste food from the body.
You have to drink water regularly whether you are using a creatine supplement or a whey protein powder supplement.
Creatine is the most researched nutritional supplement in the world. There is not a single evidence that proves that Creatine damages your kidney or kidney stones.
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Is It Safe To Mix Creatine With Protein Powder
It is safe to mix creatine with protein powder.
Both creatine and protein powder have been studied extensively and evaluated for safety. Multiple reviews have reached the conclusion that:
As well, there are no studies showing adverse effects from the interaction of supplemental creatine and protein powder.
However, both creatine and protein powder are considered dietary supplements, meaning that they are not regulated to the same standards as food by the Food & Drug Administration .
Dietary supplements do not need to be proven safe to FDAs satisfaction before they are marketed, nor do marketing claims need to be proven as accurate or truthful.
As with any supplement, we encourage you to be a safe and informed consumer. Any and all dietary supplements should be discussed with and disclosed to your healthcare provider.
We also encourage you to seek out third-party certified supplements. Independent third-party organizations objectively certify supplements for purity, safety, and quality. A third-party certification stamp can assure you that the product actually contains the ingredients stated, in the amounts stated, and that its safe for consumption.
Learn more about creatine in the article Types of Creatine.
Can You Mix Creatine With Whey Protein
Yes, you can mix whey protein with creatine as they are absorbed and utilized by our body as on need basis. Simply put, when you take creatine and whey protein together, both gets absorbed and stored in body tissues.
At the time of workout, when stamina is required, our body automatically uses creatine . Post training, to replenish the burnt tissues, our body can make use of the protein through the whey protein already taken.
But, it is important to understand the type of whey protein and creatine you are mixing and in what proportion.
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