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Creatine or Protein Shakes?

Although this may seem like a pretty simple enough answer to those who are advanced level athletes however, those who have never used bodybuilding supplements such as these before may not know. In a quick explanation, both creatine supplements and why protein shakes will enable you to advance your physical ability and appearance quicker and to a higher level, this is why;

What Do Protein Shakes Do?

Protein shakes are often cheap and they are an easy way in which to get protein into your system for a diet or to gain muscle. Having protein shakes will work out cheaper than consuming tuna, chicken or any other normal food high in protein. They are made from milk, via complicated processes that retains the protein quality, whilst removing the sugars and fats. The fact that protein shakes are very low in carbs and fats means they are low calorie and you can therefore drink 3 or 4 them per day.

Your digestive systems digests up to a total of 40g of protein every 2-3 hours and small regular meals avoid you gaining fat, hence the 6 meals per day recommendation. 6 meals a day may sound like a lot of eating however all that is require dis breakfast, lunch, dinner and a protein shake 2-3 hours after each meal. When you consume protein every 2-3 hours, it keeps your body in an anabolic muscle building state, as opposed to a catabolic muscle losing state which occurs when your body hasn't been supplied with protein in the last few hours. This is why a high protein breakfast as soon as you wake up is vital; similar applies for a protein shake before bed.

For every second of the day, your body is either gaining or losing muscle, sometimes both. The overall gain or loss is important; your diet controls this more than any other factor. Additional factors include being well hydrated, performing regular intense exercise, avoiding stress, not over heating and also getting enough sleep.

What Do Creatine Supplements Do?

Creatine is used by the body muscles for intense exercising and lasting less than 60 seconds. Creatine can be found within beef and other natural foods and supplementing with additional creatine provides more energy that can be used resulting in greater performance and a longer performance. If, your diet is sufficient for muscle growth, you can literally gain 7 pounds in 7 days, but it will be mostly water, associated with the super hydration effect that creatine has on your muscles. When you stop using creatine you lose this water, but the net result is that you have trained heavier over the last 8 weeks or so than you would have normally and you should have therefore gained a lot more muscle than you would have done without using creatine.

So Creatine or Protein Shakes?

Protein shakes are the only realistic and doable way of consuming 6 high protein, low calorie meals daily and is essential for muscle growth. In conclusion, the simple short answer is protein shakes over Creatine. If you are still not contempt with results, use a creatine supplement at the same time, but not instead.