Creatine 5.15 g by Thorne

If your goal is stronger lifts, faster sprints, or preserving lean mass, creatine monohydrate is the workhorse. It especially helps if you train with heavy resistance or repeated high‑intensity bouts, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet with little dietary creatine, or are an older adult working against age‑related muscle loss. It’s also a pragmatic pick if your baseline strength is plateaued despite adequate protein and sleep. Thorne Creatine delivers the standard 5 g dose per day that research typically uses.

Creatine monohydrate raises muscle phosphocreatine, the quick‑release fuel your cells use to remake ATP (the molecule that powers muscle contraction) during hard efforts. With larger phosphocreatine stores, you squeeze out extra reps and recover faster between sets, which translates into better training volume and strength over weeks. As muscles store creatine with water, expect 1–3 lb of intracellular water gain early, which is normal and sits inside muscle, not under the skin.

One stick daily mixed well in water or a shake is a maintenance approach that saturates muscle in about 3–4 weeks. If you want faster results, a short “loading” phase of ~20 g per day split into 4 doses for 5–7 days then drop to one stick daily reaches saturation sooner. Timing matters little; taking it with a meal or your post‑workout protein can reduce stomach upset and may slightly improve uptake. Stay hydrated.

Healthy kidneys handle creatine well, but if you have kidney disease or a low eGFR (estimated filtration rate, a measure of kidney function), skip it unless your clinician agrees. Creatine can raise Creatinine (the breakdown product doctors use as a kidney marker) without harming kidneys, so tell your clinician you supplement if labs look higher. High‑dose NSAIDs or other kidney‑stress drugs are a reason to reconsider. If you’re troubleshooting, avoid mixing creatine into very strong coffee; heavy caffeine intake taken at the exact same time can blunt benefits for some.