Creatine Monohydrate
Highest-evidence supplement in the muscle-and-strength category.
What it does
Creatine monohydrate has one of the deepest, most replicable human evidence bases of any supplement. It supports strength, lean mass, and recovery in trained and untrained adults, and the cognitive evidence is becoming credible. It earns a place as a default, not an experiment.
klik surfaces creatine on a plan with no data at all. That is an authored stance, not a gap in the rules: there is no marker to test, no upper limit to respect, and the evidence is broad enough that the recommendation does not wait on a measurement. The one lab note — it raises serum creatinine as an assay artifact — is a disclosure, not a risk. Training status sharpens who gains most; it does not decide whether the suggestion is safe to make.
Creatine raises phosphocreatine stores in muscle, which speeds ATP regeneration during hard efforts. The same effect draws water into muscle cells, contributing to lean-mass gains.
What the evidence shows
Overall evidence strength: High certainty
Who it's for, who should skip
Anyone doing resistance or high-intensity training who wants the highest-evidence, lowest-cost option. Older adults and the sleep-deprived may also see a cognitive benefit.
Running it
- Form
- oral
- Dose
- daily · any time — consistency matters more than timing
- Titration
- no loading phase required at the standard dose
- Cycling
- none required
Safety
- raises serum creatinine as a lab assay artifact — not kidney stress; flag before interpreting a renal panel
Access & cost
Available over the counter. Look for: creatine monohydrate — avoid HCl, ethyl-ester, buffered, or micronized "advanced" variants.
Citations
- creatine reliably increases strength, lean mass, and high-intensity performance in randomized trials
Last reviewed 27 August 2026.