If you can stand the unpalpable taste of powdered creatine it is definitely better than creatine pills in every way. Pills take longer to digest and assimilate into the body as well as being more expensive than their powdered variant.
There you are in the gym locker room. you see some random buff guy taking his normal protein shake but then you see him add something a little bit different. You see him pull out a small case of some sort of white powder and the next thing he does is throw a few scoops of this white powder into his protein drink, mixes it up, and then chugs it down as normal and then he’s on his way. You wonder to yourself what the heck was that? He is a big guy who has a lot of muscle for sure, he must know what he’s doing and talking about. You have seen him around quite a bit always talking to people and giving people advice. So the next time you see him you ask him what that was that he put in his protein drink. He tells you very openly that it’s a supplement called creatine. Creatine? You feel like you may have heard it before. Certainly, may be a buzzword you can’t exactly recall what it is. He gives you a look like he knows that you’re questioning what he’s talking about. As if you were questioning if this certain supplement is maybe legal or if it’s something more than just a supplement. He reassures you by telling you that you can buy creatine anywhere from Walmart to GNC or Amazon. There are many different types of Brands and that there are several different forms of creatine can come in. This particular type of creatine is known as creatine monohydrate. This is the most popular form of creatine and it’s the best you can buy. It is rather inexpensive as well. With all your curiosity he actually offers you a sample of it.
He instructs you to take it by putting one small scoop of creatine in your mouth and then washing it down with water. You do so and you realize that this white powder is not quite as enjoyable as it looks. It in fact has the consistency and the texture of sand and is not very palpable. Mr buff guy laughs and gives you a pat on the back and says “Yeah it doesn’t taste great but it definitely has its benefits.” Following this workout, you think to yourself maybe I should try this creatine even though it tastes pretty bad. You start to wonder how much this creatine can actually help in your muscle gain and gym performance. You go home open up your computer or even your phone and start googling. You start researching the different types of creatine and if there are any types of creatine that are easier to ingest and not quite as gross. This is where I come into the process. before I go on I’d like to give a short introduction about myself and why I’m here answering this question. All of your questions I intend to answer for you but first a little information about myself. I would consider myself a gym-nut, nerd, or possibly even fanatic. I spent many years of my life studying and learning from personal and firsthand experiences in the gym and as well on many forums and several YouTube videos. I have taken creatine for many months at a time and seen its effects on my personal weight gain or rather water gain and the effect it gives you while you’re in the gym and the performance as well as muscle definition and even longevity.
The Pill and Powder forms of creatine
As I briefly mentioned earlier a question you might be wondering to yourself is, “Are there any different types of creatine?” Specifically are there different forms that creatine can come in that maybe doesn’t taste quite as bad? Well lucky enough for you that is exactly what this post today is about. Today my target is to answer that very question. Creatine can come in basically two forms. You have the standard powder and then you have the capsules. Both are practically the same thing in terms of their effects but in application they do differ quite heavily. Fundamentally both substances are the same being that what is inside of the capsules is just the powder that you would normally take. As mentioned before whenever you take the powder (not the capsules) the easiest way to do it is to grab one small scoop place it in your mouth carefully and then wash it down with water. This is the best way to do it considering that creatine is not very soluble and it tends to settle out over the course of a few minutes in any type of liquid. To avoid this hassle sometime ago people had the idea to put the powder inside of a normal medical capsule. Whenever you take these capsules it eliminates the taste being that you only have to swallow a capsule. One thing to keep in mind as well is whenever you take the powder you may have to take more than one scoop depending on the dosage that you were taking in that given time. So, this being the case sometimes it might be more of a hassle to take the powder but with the pills it is very easy to take. Now that we have the basic premise of the differences between the powder and the pill I will go ahead and give you the pros and cons of each.
The Pros and Cons of... Creatine Pills
- Main PRO of the pill is the convenience
- Second PRO is that pills dont clump together like powder does
- Biggest CON is the price. Pills are typically more expensive that powder
- Another CON is that the pills take longer to digest
The pros of taking the pill are obviously as I mentioned the convenience factor. This is predominantly the only way that it is more beneficial than powder. It has no more benefit to your body than taking the normal powder seeing that it fundamentally is the same compound.
One small thing that could be relevant depending on the person is having to worry about the creatine clumping together. If left exposed or in a humid environment the powder itself could congeal and get lumpy which means it’s even more difficult to ingest. This is not the case for the pills since they are already separated into their own little casings.
The main drawback to taking creatine pills over just the powder is the monetary value. Typically creatine pills do cost more per gram of the actual creatine compound compared to the powder. This does make sense however considering that the pills are packaged in their own little capsules.
The Pros and Cons of... Creatine Powder
- PRO #1 is that powdered creatine is much less expensive
- PRO #2 is that powdered creatine digests much quicker than the pilled variant
- The only CON to powdered creatine is the taste and inconvenience of taking it. It doesnt have a taste and it has a very similar texture to that of sand
The pros of taking the powder in comparison to the pills are fairly limited but there are a few. One of the such benefits would be creatine’s absorption into the body. Being that the creatine in pills is inside of a pill it takes longer for the body to digest and assimilate into the body. This is not the case with powder, however. Whenever a power is taken it is digested very quickly and distilled in the bloodstream quickly to then take action in the muscles. Does this make a huge difference? Not really as long as you have creatine stores consistently in your system. Another pro of taking powder over the pill as I mentioned earlier is the monetary value. The powder is typically cheaper and more inexpensive than the pill.
As mentioned above the main con to taking creatine in its powder form is the inconvenience and the taste. If you can get past the gritty nature and unfavorable taste of creatine there are no other cons taking it when in comparison with the pill variant.