Yes, creatine can be interesting in street workout, particularly for improving strength and explosiveness in technical movements. Provided you manage your weight/power ratio properly.
What is creatine and how does it work?
Creatine is an organic compound naturally present in our bodies. It plays an essential role in rapid muscle energy production, particularly during short, intense efforts.
Our bodies naturally produce around 1g of creatine per day, mainly in the liver and kidneys. It is also found in our diet, notably in red meat and fish.
Our natural creatine reserves enable us to sustain maximum effort for 8 to 10 seconds without supplementation.
Creatine is converted into phosphocreatine in the muscles, enabling the regeneration of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), our main source of muscular energy. This rapid regeneration is at the root of our ability to sustain an explosive effort.
Supplementation increases creatine stores above their natural levels. This increase translates into improved performance during high-intensity efforts, which is why many athletes choose to start a course of treatment once their training and nutrition have been optimized.
Creatine supplementation has several benefits:
- Increased power and maximum strength
- Improved explosiveness for short efforts
- Optimizing recovery and training volume
Creatine is not a doping substance, but a nutrient essential to our metabolism. Our article on the best creatine on the market focuses on this aspect!
Creatine acts mainly on the anaerobic alactic pathway - the one that provides energy for explosive movements, particularly useful for certain dynamic movements in street workouts.
Why take creatine in street workout?
Improved explosiveness
As previously mentioned, creatine is at the origin of the immediate energy production required for explosive movements. In street workout, many dynamic exercises require strength to be mobilized over a few seconds, hence the need for supplementation.
Athletes can thus improve their power on certain high-intensity exercises such as muscle-ups, explosive pull-ups and strength figures. Creatine will be of less interest for static positions exceeding 30 seconds of effort, such as the handstand.
| Exercise | Category | Creatine benefits | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Up | Dynamics | High | Explosive movement requiring high power over a few seconds |
| Explosive traction | Dynamics | High | Short, intense effort with a high explosive phase |
| Explosive pump board | Dynamics | High | Powerful short-duration movement |
| Front Lever Pull | Dynamic Force | High | Combining strength and explosiveness |
| Back Lever | Static Force | Average | Static position but intense effort over medium duration |
| Front Lever | Static Force | Average | Static support with high strength demand |
| Handstand | Balance | Low | Long static position > 30 seconds |
| L-Sit | Static Force | Low | Prolonged static hold |
| Dragon Flag | Static Force | Low | Long static position with control |
To remember:
Creatine improves performance in short, intense exercises lasting less than 30 seconds. It enables:
- A better ability to maintain intensity over repeated sets
- An increase in maximum developed power
- Faster recovery between sets of explosive exercises
Possible benefits of muscle gain?
Creatine supplementation offers interesting benefits for muscle development in street workout, but requires a balanced approach to maintain an optimal strength-to-weight ratio.
By increasing the athlete's capacity to sustain more intense training, creatine intake can indirectly promote muscle mass gain, an important factor in improving performance targets.
In street workout, weight gain must be controlled so as not to compromise performance in technical movements.
You should also take into account the initial water retention that often accompanies a creatine cure. During the first few weeks of supplementation, some athletes notice a slight weight gain of 1 to 2 kg due to thenatural increase in intracellular water. This weight gain is temporary, natural and has no impact on muscle definition.
To optimize your supplementation :
- Prefer gradual daily intake
- Avoid starting just before a competition
- Prefer Creapure®-certifiedcreatine monohydrate, the most studied and purest form.
Creatine can therefore contribute to muscle development while preserving performance, provided that the initial adaptation phase is well managed and that attention is paid to changes in body weight.
Creatine Creapure®
The best for maximizing muscle power in a healthy way and optimizing intensive performance
- Standardised without doping substances
- No additives, no sweeteners
- Made in Germany, packaged by Protéalpes in Albertville
How to optimize creatine intake for street workouts?
To observe the benefits of supplementation, athletes often opt for one of these two scientifically validated cure protocols:
- Protocol with load phase (Pr. Harris)
- 20g/day for 5 days, divided into 4 doses
- Then 3-5g/day maintenance dose
- Rapid stock saturation
- Progressive protocol (Pr. Hultman):
- 3-5 grams daily dose
In street work-outs, a progressive approach is recommended in order to monitor the evolution of the weight/power ratio. Regular intake is essential, including on rest days, in order to saturate creatine reserves and observe the effects of the treatment.
On the other hand, there's no such thing as the ideal time to take creatine, although taking it after training and with carbohydrates could improve assimilation.
The optimal cycle length is 4-8 weeks, followed by an equivalent break. This cyclical approach maintains efficacy while remaining sensitive to the compound.
