What is the best supplement to pair with creatine?

A pair works on a different mechanism: what creatine's one mechanism is, why a full store cannot be added to, and the products that share the mechanism and pair with nothing

What is the best supplement to pair with creatine is a question that the shelf answers with the products that sound most like creatine, and the physiology answers with a rule that excludes exactly those: a pair is two things working on different mechanisms, and a product on the same mechanism as creatine adds nothing to it. Creatine's mechanism is single and well described. The muscle holds a store of phosphocreatine that regenerates its immediate energy currency in the first seconds of a hard effort, a maximal lift, a sprint start, the last repetitions of a set, and creatine supplementation at 3 to 5g a day saturates that store, after a count of doses, so that the muscle regenerates energy slightly faster in those seconds and does slightly more work before it fades. Once the store is saturated the mechanism is full: more creatine does nothing, a different form of creatine does nothing, and a product that acts on the same store or the same energy molecule has nowhere to act. A pair, to add anything, has to act somewhere else.

The products that share the mechanism are the ones most often sold as creatine's partners, and the ledger of trials places them. Ribose, a sugar that forms part of the energy molecule, was sold as replenishing what creatine regenerates, and the randomised trials in trained adults found no effect on strength, power or repeated sprint performance. Oral ATP, the energy molecule itself in a capsule, is broken down in the gut before it reaches a muscle, and the performance trials are small and inconsistent. The buffered creatine, the hydrochloride, the nitrate, the ethyl ester and the creatine blends are the same molecule in a dearer form, each with fewer trials than the monohydrate and none with a demonstrated advantage, and pairing a monohydrate with a hydrochloride is pairing a full store with itself. The energy blends that put creatine beside ribose, ATP and a B vitamin for energy metabolism are the whole group in one tub. A buyer who applies the rule has removed the products that sound most like a pair before reading a label, because sounding like creatine is the mark of acting like it.

What remains are the products that act on a different mechanism, and there are three a lifter uses, with the training as a fourth that is not sold. The next section places each, names the one pair every lifter runs without calling it a pair, and gives the rule for choosing: the best pair is the one whose mechanism the lifter is short of, which for most lifters is a specific one.

A rule that removes the look-alikes, and the three mechanisms that pair, the one pair every lifter runs, the sport-specific pairs, and the worked example on its own mechanism, which is the next section.

The three mechanisms that pair with creatine, protein on material, caffeine on effort and carbohydrate on fuel and uptake; the one pair every lifter runs; the sport-specific pairs; the worked example; and the verdict

The first different mechanism is material. Creatine lets a session contain slightly more work, and the extra work builds muscle only if the material is there to build it from, which is dietary protein at around 1.6g per kilogram a day spread across three or four feedings that each cross the per-meal threshold; the resistance training trials that gave both against either alone find the two together produce the lean mass and strength gains, and the trials of protein intake find most lifters below the target. Protein is therefore the best pair for most lifters, not because it is the most exciting but because it is the mechanism most lifters are short of, and a lifter who takes creatine on a plate at a gram per kilogram has paired a full store with an empty building site. The pair costs the price of food, with a powder for the feeding that falls short.

The second different mechanism is effort. Caffeine at 3 to 6mg per kilogram about an hour before a session lowers perceived effort and improves strength endurance and power output on the day, acting on the nervous system's reading of the work rather than on the muscle's energy, and the two together improved performance more than either alone in several trials, with the one disputed early study and the stomach discomfort when both are taken in one large dose arguing for a few hours between them rather than against the pair. Caffeine is the best pair for a lifter who is at the protein target and has a heavy session ahead, kept for the sessions that matter because tolerance blunts it and sleep pays for it. The third different mechanism is fuel and uptake. Carbohydrate acts on the glycogen that a long session runs on after the first seconds creatine covers, and on the uptake of creatine itself into the muscle through insulin, which the early trials showed with a sugar dose and the later work showed with a meal; carbohydrate is the best pair for a lifter whose sessions run past ninety minutes, and for everyone else it is the meal the daily dose is taken with. The fourth mechanism is the signal, the training that asks for more over the block, which is not sold and without which the other three pair with nothing.

The one pair every lifter runs is creatine with protein at a meal, which satisfies the material mechanism and the uptake mechanism at once and is the pairing the trials support most consistently, and most lifters run it without calling it a stack. The sport-specific pairs are beta-alanine for efforts of one to four minutes and bicarbonate for repeated sprints, each acting on acid buffering, a different mechanism from creatine's and one that a maximal lift never reaches, so that they pair honestly for a rower or a sprinter and not for a lifter.

The worked example is placed on its own mechanism, in the same muscle on a different pathway: {FL}, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, two capsules with the evening meal, with authorised claims for normal muscle function, normal protein synthesis and electrolyte balance, which describe the mineral's role in the contracting muscle and the building of protein, no pair claim and no trial of the pair, which this page does not invent, batch tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium, UK made, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day, taken by a lifter whose plate is short of the mineral. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: the best supplement to pair with creatine is one that works on a different mechanism, because creatine's single mechanism is full once the store is saturated and ribose, oral ATP, the other creatine forms and the energy blends add nothing to it. Protein pairs on the material, and is the best pair for most lifters because most are short of it; caffeine pairs on effort for the session that matters; carbohydrate pairs on fuel for a long session and on uptake at every meal; and the training supplies the signal that makes any of them worth pairing.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What is the best thing to take with creatine?

A product that acts on a different mechanism, because creatine's single mechanism, the regeneration of the muscle's immediate energy in the first seconds of an effort, is full once the store is saturated: protein at around 1.6g per kilogram pairs on the material the extra work is built from and is the best pair for most lifters because most are short of it; caffeine pairs on the perception of effort for the sessions that matter; carbohydrate pairs on fuel for long sessions and on the uptake of the creatine itself as the meal the dose is taken with; and ribose, oral ATP and the other creatine forms, which share the mechanism, add nothing.

Do ribose or ATP supplements boost creatine?

No; ribose, a sugar that forms part of the energy molecule, was sold as replenishing what creatine regenerates and the randomised trials in trained adults found no effect on strength, power or repeated sprint performance, while oral ATP is broken down in the gut before it reaches a muscle and its performance trials are small and inconsistent; both act on the same mechanism as creatine, and a product that acts on the same store as a saturated store has nowhere to act, which is why the energy blends that put them beside creatine pair a full store with itself.

Is protein or caffeine the better pair with creatine?

Protein for most lifters and caffeine for some: protein pairs on the material the extra work is built from, the training trials that gave both against either alone find the two together produce the gains, and most lifters are below the target of about 1.6g per kilogram, which makes it the mechanism most are short of; caffeine pairs on the perception of effort and improved performance beyond either alone in several trials, and is the better pair for a lifter already at the protein target with a heavy session ahead, taken a few hours from the creatine dose and kept for the sessions that matter.

Should I take creatine with a different form of creatine?

No; the buffered creatine, the hydrochloride, the nitrate, the ethyl ester and the blends are the same molecule in a dearer form, each with fewer trials than the monohydrate and none with a demonstrated advantage, and pairing a monohydrate with another form is pairing a full store with itself, since once the phosphocreatine store is saturated more creatine of any kind does nothing; plain monohydrate at 3 to 5g a day with a meal is the whole of the creatine purchase, and the money saved on the second form buys the protein that actually pairs.

Does magnesium pair with creatine?

It works in the same muscle on a different pathway and makes no pair claim: magnesium has authorised claims for normal muscle function, normal protein synthesis and electrolyte balance, which describe the mineral's role in the contracting muscle and the building of protein, and there is no trial of the pair, which this page does not invent; the worked example is 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in two capsules with the evening meal for 22p a day, batch tested for four metals and UK made, taken beside creatine as a separate purchase by a lifter whose plate is short of the mineral.

Sources

1. Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2017;14:18. PubMed record
2. The ribose and oral ATP trials: ribose supplementation did not improve strength, power or repeated sprint performance in trained adults in the randomised trials, and oral ATP is broken down in the gut before it reaches the muscle, with the performance trials small and inconsistent; products sold as adding to creatine's energy mechanism share its mechanism without its evidence. PubMed record
3. Morton RW, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2018;52(6):376-384: protein supplementation added around 0.3kg of fat-free mass, with the benefit plateauing at total intakes around 1.6g per kilogram a day. PubMed record
4. The caffeine and strength literature: meta-analyses report small but consistent improvements in maximal strength and power after caffeine doses in the range studied, typically 3 to 6mg per kilogram, with individual response varying. PubMed record

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