Creatine for Climbers: A Performance and Recovery Booster?
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Athletes have long supplemented with creatine, particularly in sports that require explosive speed, power, and strength. It can also help improve muscular endurance and recovery time. But can the benefits of creatine also help climbers perform better?
In this article, we’ll explore the physical and cognitive benefits of creatine on climbing performance, how climbers can take creatine for optimal results, and examine the potential side effects of creatine supplementation.
How Creatine Can Help Climbers Perform Better
Creatine is a compound made from three amino acids that plays a vital role in the energy production process. It is used in the muscles to help create ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the primary source of energy.
Although it is naturally produced by the body, we only create a small amount of it (1-2 grams per day). The amount consumed in our daily diet (through foods such as red meat, poultry, seafood, and animal milk) is typically quite low (especially if you’re vegan), so creatine supplementation can prove highly beneficial.
In fact, this study showed that creatine supplementation, even in omnivores, elevates resting total creatine levels by ~20%. This can be particularly beneficial for those looking to maintain optimal energy levels during high intensity exercise and activities such as climbing.
Increased levels of creatine through supplementation has a strong link with improved levels of power and strength, as well as an improved response to strength training. This study, a recent review of 16 randomized controlled trials, found that creatine is an efficient form of supplementation for muscle growth with adequate training in a variety of athletic activities.
This research, which looked at physical working capacity when fatigued and maximal isometric grip strength, showed significant improvements in the group who supplemented with creatine versus the placebo group.
Although creatine use has long been associated with shorter, high intensity sports, it can be beneficial for those athletes exercising for longer too. This study, published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, looked at how creatine can improve muscular endurance and found it can increase time to exhaustion during high-intensity endurance activities, likely due to increased anaerobic work capacity.
Creatine supplementation can also help expedite recovery post-workout by reducing inflammation, increasing glycogen storage, and activating satellite cells in muscles to help heal micro-tears. The results from this study showed how creatine supplementation enhanced muscle recovery after muscle damage.
Other Benefits of Taking Creatine
Creatine’s benefits are not just physical, it is increasingly being recognized as a supplement that can help enhance cognitive function and performance.
This study concluded that creatine supplementation can improve cognitive processing, especially after experiencing acute stress, e.g., sleep deprivation or post-exercise. It also found it can help with chronic, pathologic conditions, such as TBI (traumatic brain injury), aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression.
Creatine supplementation can also help reverse or slow the decreases in muscle mass, bone density, and strength that are associated with aging, as evident in this research.
The Potential Side Effects of Supplementing with Creatine
There are typically few side effects to supplementing with creatine, although in some rare cases people can experience weight gain or digestive issues like stomach cramps, nausea, and diarrhea. This is more commonly associated with taking high doses of creatine, such as during a loading phase (taking 20 grams of creatine per day).
Some people are wary of taking creatine because of the notion that it causes you to retain extra water. As it’s transported by sodium, creatine increases cell volume but this leads to hydration and performance benefits, not noticeable weight gain according to this study on creatine myths. This cited research that showed “it does not alter total body water (intra or extracellular) relative to muscle mass over longer periods of time.”
Instead, taking creatine during consistent resistance training can help increase strength and power, leading to hypertrophy (muscle growth). This can contribute to greater lean body mass and so you might gain a little total body weight. But the notion that this is just water weight is false.
Of course, in sports like rock climbing and bouldering, where an excellent strength-to-weight ratio is an advantage, climbers understandably want to see an improvement in performance in return for an increase in muscle mass.
Next Step: Check Out Our Top-Rated Creatine Supplement
Momentous offers the highest-quality supplements and nutrition designed for everyday performance. With a product portfolio that is curated by world-leading experts and driven by the latest in human performance research, Momentous prides itself on offering supplements that are rigorously tested and independently certified.
Momentous Creatine is sourced from Creapure®, the purest form of creatine monohydrate available and widely considered to be the gold standard of creatine. While the majority of creatine on the market is sourced from China, ours is a single-sourced ingredient from Germany with no additives, sweeteners, or other ingredients.
It has excellent solubility and zero taste, mixing well into any liquid or drink. It is also fully NSF and Informed Sport certified.
How We Recommend People Take Creatine
- How to take: Mix 1 scoop (5 grams of creatine) with 6-8 fluid ounces of water or your preferred liquid daily.
- Results: Most people see results within 14 days, although we estimate 2-4 weeks of supplementation for initial impact and effects to occur. Long-term benefits are best achieved with regular daily supplementation.
- Physical benefits: Results can vary depending on the individual, but you can expect to experience improvements in your physical performance, enhanced lean muscle development, and improved strength gains and power.
- Cognitive benefits: You may experience cognitive benefits such as enhanced memory and reduced mental fatigue. With regular use, creatine can help you increase brain creatine levels, helping you perform better mentally.
Emma-Kate Lidbury
Emma-Kate Lidbury is a freelance writer and editor with 20 years of experience working in the health and fitness world.
