Should I take creatine as well as protein?
They are not alternatives. Protein supplies building material and creatine supplies energy for short, hard efforts, so it lets you train slightly harder rather than building anything directly. Creatine monohydrate is among the most studied supplements there is, and neither substitutes for enough total protein.
Key takeaways
- Protein is material. Creatine is energy for short, hard efforts. They are not substitutes for each other.
- Creatine does not build muscle directly. It lets you do slightly more work, and the work builds the muscle.
- Monohydrate is the form with the research behind it, and the cheapest. The novel forms are not better.
- Getting total protein right first is the higher-value move, because creatine has nothing to add without training.
- Some of the early weight gain on creatine is water in the muscle, which is expected and not fat.
These two sit next to each other on a shelf and get compared as though you have to pick. They are not the same kind of thing.
| Protein | Creatine | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A macronutrient with a daily requirement | A compound your body makes and meat contains |
| What it does | Supplies the material tissue is built from | Supplies rapid energy for short, hard efforts |
| How it helps muscle | Removes the material constraint on building | Lets you do slightly more work, and the work builds |
| Needed if you do not train | Yes, for every other protein in your body | No obvious case |
| Dose | 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg a day for people training | Commonly 3 to 5 g a day, every day |
| Timing | Daily total matters most | Irrelevant, it works by saturating a store |
Creatine does not build muscle
This is the sentence worth taking away, because the marketing implies otherwise.
Creatine increases the muscle's store of phosphocreatine, which is the fuel used for very short and very hard efforts. The effect is that you can do an extra repetition, or use slightly more weight, or recover faster between sets.
That extra work, accumulated over months, produces more training stimulus. The training builds the muscle. Creatine bought you a slightly better version of the session.
It is one of the most studied supplements in sports nutrition, with a position stand covering its safety and efficacy in exercise, sport and medicine.1 The evidence base is unusually good by supplement standards, and what it supports is the mechanism above rather than a direct anabolic effect.
Protein does not replace it, and it does not replace protein
Nothing about creatine changes the material requirement. You still need amino acids to build with, and the meta-analysis of protein supplementation during resistance training found gains in fat-free mass flattening past a total intake of about 1.62 g per kilogram a day.3
Equally, protein does not do what creatine does. No amount of it raises phosphocreatine availability.
They are complementary, which is why the sensible answer to "which one" is a question about your situation rather than about the products.
Which to bother with
Neither, if your total protein is not sorted. That is the constraint most people actually have, and both supplements are downstream of it. Working out the number comes first.
Neither, if you are not training. Creatine has nothing to act on without hard efforts to fuel, and protein you can get from food.
Creatine, if you are training and eating enough protein. It is cheap, well evidenced, and does something protein cannot.
Protein powder, if reaching your target from food is genuinely difficult. That is a convenience problem, and whether powder is worth it is its own question.
Practical notes on creatine
- Monohydrate. It is the form the research used and the cheapest one. The novel forms are more expensive and have not shown themselves to be better.
- 3 to 5 g a day, every day, including rest days. It works by saturating a store, so consistency matters and timing does not.
- A loading phase is optional. It reaches the same place either way, faster with loading and more slowly without.
- Early weight gain is water in the muscle, not fat. Expected, usually small, and worth knowing before you see it on a scale.
Where the general advice stops
The position stand's safety conclusions are for healthy adults. If you have reduced kidney function, liver disease, or any condition where your care team manages what you take, adding a supplement is a question for them rather than for a position stand written about athletes. Supplements are also regulated more lightly than food in most markets, so third-party testing on the tub is the only real quality signal available.
More questions about Muscle and training
Can I take creatine and protein together?
Yes, they are separate things doing separate jobs and there is no reason to keep them apart. Plenty of people put creatine in the same shake for convenience, which is fine. Creatine does not need to be timed around training either, because it works by saturating a store over days.
Which should I buy first?
Neither, until your total protein intake is sorted, because that is the constraint most people actually have. After that, creatine monohydrate is the better-evidenced purchase of the two and considerably cheaper, and protein powder is the more useful one if hitting your target from food is the problem.
Does creatine make you gain weight?
Some early weight gain is normal and it is water drawn into muscle rather than fat. It is typically a small amount and it is a sign the supplement is doing what it does. If that matters for a weight class or a measurement, it is worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by.
References
- International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine
- International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise
- A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults
