It’s summertime and plenty of people feel like it’s the perfect time to lose weight. I don’t know about you, but many of the people I know have chosen this season to get a head start on their fitness journey. Nothing wrong with that, because any time is the perfect time to decide to take care of yourself!
As a result, I have been getting a lot of questions about carnitine and creatine. Which is better? Which one will help me lose weight faster? Which one will help me gain muscles? People have long been debating which one works more effectively. So, today, let us take a closer look at these two substances found in our bodies and see for ourselves which will work to our advantage more.
What Is Carnitine?
Carnitine came from the Latin word carnus or flesh. Why you may ask? Carnitine was first isolated from meat. As studies furthered, it was found in every cell of the body and derived from an amino acid. Carnitine is the generic name for a number of compounds: L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine, and propionyl-L-carnitine.
How Does Carnitine Work?
Carnitine moves long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria to be converted into energy. It also transports toxic compounds to prevent their accumulation. Carnitine is concentrated in skeletal and cardiac tissues to use fatty acids as fuel. When the body lacks carnitine, fats cannot enter the mitochondria and be converted into energy. That is why carnitine is best known as a fat-burner.
What Does Carnitine Do?
Carnitine is an effective fat burner, especially when you combine it with exercise. The more you move, the more fats are converted into energy that results in weight loss and muscle gain. It is a very simple process, but you know what makes carnitine more special? It does its work even when you are asleep. Granted, it is not as effective when you are working out, but just the same, fat-burning still occurs when you are resting.
In the same way, carnitine gives you more energy to make sure that you last longer when you work out. Fat burned should be enough to fuel you to perform your best at the gym, so there should be no more excuses.
What Is Creatine?
First, let’s get this out of the way – creatine is NOT a steroid. It is nothing but a combination of three amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. Now that we have cleared that up, let’s move on to a more detailed description of creatine. Creatine is naturally found in our muscle cells.
Creatine is naturally produced by the body and can be found in certain high-protein foods like fish and red meat. You should know that around 95% of creatine naturally found in our bodies is kept in the skeletal muscle while the remaining 5% is in the brain. On a daily basis, around 1.5 to 2% of the body’s creatine supply converted by the liver, kidneys, and pancreas to be used. It is transported through the blood to be used by body parts that require high energy to function like the skeletal muscle and the brain.
How Does Creatine Work?
I will try my best to explain this simply. Creatine exists to regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is our body’s main source of energy. Once the creatine stored in our muscles is depleted, ATP production also stops which causes our energy to drop. If we increase our creatine, then we also increase our body’s ability to produce ATP. As a result, we perform better and endure longer while we work out.
Creatine is also known to improve cell signaling. This means that it can increase signals to the muscle that helps with repairing and growing new muscle. It also increases cell hydration. This means that water content within the muscles is improved, thus causing cell volumization that plays an important role in muscle growth.
What Good Does Creatine Do?
First of all, creatine is not the same spinach that Popeye eats and he instantly grows incredibly huge muscle. What creatine does is to give you the strength to work harder. In fact, the use of creatine is common in athletes and bodybuilders, because it has been scientifically proven that creatine is especially effective in high-intensity training. The idea being: the more creatine, the more ATP, the more energy to perform and train. The bottom line is: Creatine improves strength and power.
Creatine is also known to increase body mass. There is an important distinction here that you want to take note of: Creatine does increase body mass, but does not help build muscles. The increase in body mass happens because creatine causes the muscles to hold water. However, this is not the same as saying that the use of creatine does not lead to muscle gain, but rather, muscle gain occurs because of working harder during exercise.
Creatine also promotes muscle healing and even injury prevention, because it also has an antioxidant effect after an intense session of training. It also helps reduce cramping and is scientifically-evidenced to have a role in the rehabilitation of the brain and other injuries.
Carnitine or Creatine?
Now, begs the question: Which is better, carnitine or creatine?
If you were to ask me, I would wholeheartedly go for carnitine. Not only does it provide you energy to give your best at the gym, but it also burns fat! It can speed up your weight loss twice as fast because you are working out and your body acts as a fat burning machine as well. I personally use carnitine whenever I work out and I just feel invigorated even after I work out.
If you guys are looking to try out carnitine for the first time, the best option in the market is Nutra Botanics’ L-Carnitine. Try it out and see for yourself how it will change your workout game.