Well, there is most definitely a difference between plain creatine monohydrate and creatine ethyl ester. The CEE has been proven to have much more absorption in the body. It also doesn’t require that you pre-load it or that you take in huge quantities of dextrose to help push it into the muscles. Really no comparison at all. For my money I am going to go with creatine ethyl ester every time.

So, which CEE product is best? I certainly have not tried them all, but I can tell you my favorites. BSN Cell Mass and Omega Sports Cre-Ethyl Thunder. Both are inexpensive and do a great job as far as I am concerned. I use the Cre-Ethyl Thunder pre-workout and the Cell Mass post-workout for a total of about 5.5g of creatine.

BSN Cell Mass is a powdered form of creatine ethyl ester. That can be good or bad depending on you. Personally I am not that fond of having to mix my own and have no problems with pills so for me it is a negative. You may like it though. Where BSN Cell Mass really shines is in the effects. It pumps me up like crazy and seems to give me a huge strength boost as well. It also has glutamine added which saves me the trouble and expense of adding that to my post workout. And like I said it really is inexpensive.

Omega Sports Cre-Ethyl Thunder comes in capsule form which is great for me. Unfortunately you do have to take a ton of the capsules, 8 per serving, so if you don’t like pills stay away from this one. It is a pre-workout creatine and has caffeine, niacinamide and pyridoxine hcl added for an energy boost. Stacks really well with ephedra. And also inexpensive.

Creatine itself comes in several forms with creatine monohydrate being the most common. Last year it accounted for approximately 400 million dollars in sales for supplement companies. That’s a lot of new muscle being made!

Creatine monohydrate is creatine bonded with a molecule of water. This differenciates it from creatine ethyl ester (CEE) which is creatine monohydrate with an ester attached.

The effect of creatine in any form is to increase the capacity of the muscle to do work. A second effect is a volumizing of the muscle due to creatines ability to shuttle water to the spaces in between your muscles cells. This makes the muscles bigger and fuller, but has been thought to do much more.

The increase in strength from creatine monohydrate is thought to come from the pressure created in the muscles. It is also thought that this intra-muscular pressure creates a more positive nitrogen balance and thus increases protein synthesis. While this is unproven it does explain the increase in muscle mass seen in creatine users.

The bottom line with creatine monohydrate is that it works well and also does not have any significant side-effects. No wonder so many professional athletes use it to improve their performance.

Without creatine no muscular contraction would be possible as it is part of the cells energy path. The muscles energy in the first 10 seconds of intense work comes from adenosine triphosphate. It gives up one of the high energy phosphates to the cells for energy and becomes adenosine diphosphate. Creatine is stored in the muscles as phosphocreatine. Once all the ATP is exhausted phosphocreatine reacts with creatine kinase to give its phosphate group back to the ADP and form more ATP. This reaction also prevents the use of glycogen as an energy source and also stops the formation of lactic acid (that is what makes your muscles burn when you lift). So, the more creatine and phosphocreatine stored in your body the longer the cells can continue to function on ATP and the more work your muscles can do. In other words you lift heavier for more reps. Creatine supplementation has been shown to increase the level of phosphocreatine by up to 20%.

Because of the way that creatine works in the body it has three main effects

1. Increased strength
2. Increased capacity for work
3. Increased size or muscle mass

Creatine comes in several forms, but the most popular by far is creatine monohydrate. This is just creatine with a water molecule added. It works ok, but the absorbtion is not great so more needs to be taken. Absorbtion can be increased by creating an insulin spike using a simple sugar, but there is some question if this is good since insulin is also responsible for fat storage.

A second form of creatine is rapidly becoming popular and this is creatine ethyl ester. This is creatine monohydrate that has been esterified to promote better absorbtion. Reports indicate that it increases absorbtion 30-40 fold!

You take in about 1 gram of creatine a day, mostly from meat and fish. Your body also produces another 1 gram a day. Only 2 grams, but you can store many times more than that. And the more creatine you can hold in your muscles the greater the benefit you get from creatine. That is why we use creatine to raise the level of creatine in our bodies.

But don’t take my word for it alone. If you look at all of the professional bodybuilders and athletes you’ll find that a majority of them use creatine too. In fact, 75% of the competitors at the 1996 olympic games used creatine. It should be noted as well that if you already have a diet high in red meat you may not experience as many benefits from creatine. Remember red meat has high levels of creatine so you are already getting increased amounts.

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The daily amount of creatine from natural sources is 1-2 grams. Half of that is from food sources and half the body makes itself. But, we can safely take in 5 and possibly even 10 grams per day. Some bodybuilders are known to take 20-30 grams a day for years with no negative side effects. That is where creatine supplementation plays its part. Increased creatine in our bodies leads to increased strength and muscle mass. See the effects of creatine.

When starting creatine some recommend a one week loading phase where you take in 2-3 times the normal amount of creatine. While this will saturate your muscles more quickly it is really not necessary. A maintenance dose will create the same amount of creatine in the muscle within 4 weeks.

Recommended doses per bodyweight follow:

• Less than or equal to 140lbs = 5-6grams per day
• 141lbs to 170lbs = 6-7.5 grams per day
• 171lbs to 200lbs = 8 grams per day
• 201lbs to 240lbs = 8-10 grams per day
• 241lb and up = 10-12 grams per day

Daily doses of creatine should be taken immediately following training as the muscles are most depleted at this time and will literally “soak up” the creatine.

Initially it was thought that creatine should be taken with a simple sugar (usually fruit juice). The idea was that the sugar would create an insulin spike which would push the creatine into your muscles. While studies have found this to be true there is much debate concerning the benefits of pushing creatine into your muscles like this vs. the effect of such an insulin spike because insulin also has the effect of causing your body to store fat. This combined with the usually high levels of cortisol in your system post-training have made it questionable whether the gain outweights the negatives. My suggestion is that you take your creatine with lukewarm water and then have a post-workout shake or meal containing 40g protein and 80-100g complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal.

Be careful and read the ingredients when you buy your creatine as many of the creatine monohydrate powders also contain dextrose to promote the insulin spike. If you do choose to go this route make sure you only use the dextrose added creatine after training. Get a straight creatine for off days. A creatine ethyl ester will work well here.

Creatine ethyl ester IS creatine monohydrate…with the addition of an ester group. I’m not going to bore you with the science behind WHY esterification is important here. The thing is, creatine monohydrate is not absorbed well by the body which means you have to take in way more than necessary to raise your muscles creatine levels. By adding the ester group creatine is absorbed much better by the body. This means you need to take much less creatine, can avoid using simple sugars to create an insulin spike driving the creatine into your muscles and can avoid creatine bloat!

Creatine ethyl ester was initially discredited by supplement companies. They simply did not want competition for their creatine monohydrate products. But creatine ethyl ester is for real. Absorbtion has been since shown to be 3000% to 4000% better than creatine monohydrate. It means you literally stuff your cells with creatine and begin to enjoy the benefits of creatine immediately and dramatically.

Creatine ethyl ester has also been shown to be every bit as safe as creatine monohydrate. No nasty side effects just the same strength, muscle mass gains and performance enhancement you’ve always enjoyed with creatine, but more effectively and cheaper.