My 60-Day Creatine Experiment: What I Learned + Why Most Supplements Aren’t As Important
At the beginning of the year, I decided to run a small personal experiment, and starting taking creatine (a supplement I had never tried before) every day for 60 days.
Not because it’s trendy.
Not because I think supplements are magic (they aren’t).
But because creatine is one of the most studied, well-supported supplements on the market and I wanted to see how it felt in my own training and recovery.
In the world of nutrition, supplements get a lot of (read as: too much) attention. Walk into any supplement store and you’ll see shelves full of powders, capsules, and drinks promising more energy, faster fat loss, better recovery, and effortless muscle gain.
But when we look at the evidence, most of those products fall into one of three categories:
Ineffective and unnecessary
Marginally helpful
Effective and actually supported by research
Creatine falls into the third category.
So let’s talk about what it is, why it matters, and why many other supplements don’t deserve the same level of attention.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that the body produces.
Your liver, kidneys, and pancreas make small amounts of it, and you also get creatine from foods like meat and fish.
Once creatine is in the body, it’s stored primarily in your muscles where it helps regenerate ATP, which is the body’s main energy currency.
ATP is what your muscles use for short bursts of powerful activity like:
lifting weights
sprinting
jumping
high-intensity intervals
The faster your body can regenerate ATP, the more energy your muscles have available during those efforts.
That’s why creatine is often described as supporting greater energy production for high-intensity exercise.
Why Creatine Is One of the Most Studied Supplements
Researchers have been studying creatine for decades, and supplementation has been shown to:
• increase strength
• improve power output
• allow for greater training volume
• improve muscle recovery
• produce modest increases in lean mass over time
Creatine has been shown to be safe for healthy individuals when taken at recommended doses (3–5 grams per day).
Why Creatine Can Be Especially Helpful As We Age
One of the reasons I became interested in creatine recently is because of how relevant it is for women in midlife and beyond.
As we age, we naturally experience loss of muscle mass, decreases in strength, and reduced bone density.
And while resistance training can help to slow or prevent those changes, creatine may help support the training adaptations that protect muscle and strength over time.
For women who are lifting regularly, creatine can be a small tool that supports the bigger picture.
What I Noticed During My 60-Day Experiment
Over the course of the last two months I noticed a few subtle things:
• my workouts felt stronger and I was able to progress most of my major lifts
• I was able to maintain intensity across sets a little better, and
• my recovery between training days felt solid
There was no overnight transformation.
Just small, supportive improvements in the things that matter for long-term training progress.
And honestly, that’s exactly what we should expect.
Because (effective and well-researched) supplements support good habits, not replace them.
Now Let’s Talk About Supplements That Get More Attention Than They Deserve…
The supplement industry is worth billions, and sadly, a lot of products are marketed in ways that exaggerate their benefits.
Here are a few that come up frequently in coaching conversations:
Collagen
Collagen is a structural protein found in connective tissues like skin, tendons, and ligaments. When you consume collagen, the body breaks it down into individual amino acids, just like any other protein source.
Current research suggests collagen may provide some modest support for connective tissue when paired with resistance training, but it’s not nutritionally unique in the way it’s often marketed.
For most people, prioritizing adequate total protein intake will matter far more.
BCAAs
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are often marketed for muscle growth and recovery.
The issue is that BCAAs only contain three amino acids, while muscle protein synthesis requires all essential amino acids.
If you’re already eating adequate protein throughout the day, BCAA supplements are redundant and unnecessary.
Chicken, eggs, yogurt, tofu, beans, and protein shakes already provide the full spectrum your body needs.
Pre-Workout
Pre-workout powders are marketed as performance enhancers, but most formulas rely heavily on caffeine and stimulants.
For some people that can increase alertness before a workout.
But nutritionally speaking, they rarely provide anything you couldn’t get from coffee, proper hydration, and adequate nutrition.
Greens Powders
These are often marketed as a way to “replace vegetables.”
The issue is that greens powders typically contain very small amounts of dried plant material, and they lack many of the benefits of whole fruits and vegetables such as fiber, water, and volume.
They can sometimes provide small amounts of micronutrients, but they don’t meaningfully replace eating vegetables.
The Bottom Line: Supplements Should Support Habits, Not Replace Them
If there’s one thing I wish more people understood about supplements, it’s this: mastering the basics matters more.
Before worrying about powders and capsules, the most impactful things you can focus on are:
eating enough protein
getting adequate fiber
including fruits and vegetables regularly
strength training consistently
getting enough sleep
managing stress
Once those foundations are in place, supplements like creatine can act as small supportive tools,
but they’ll never outperform the basics.
