Creatine May Not Help Male Athletes Build Muscle

Creatine has long been a staple supplement for athletes seeking to enhance muscle growth and performance, but new research challenges its effectiveness.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), published in Nutrients, found that men taking creatine saw no additional muscle gains compared to those who trained without it over a period of 12 weeks.

The creatine hype in professional sports

Creatine is one of the most popular and well-researched sports supplements, embraced by both professional and amateur athletes aiming to enhance their physical performance. Its widespread use stems from its reputation for boosting muscle growth, increasing strength and improving overall athletic capabilities. Numerous studies have supported these claims, suggesting that creatine supplementation – when combined with resistance training – can lead to gains in muscle mass and strength.

The marketing of creatine has further solidified its status as an essential aid for muscle development. Endorsements from sports professionals and fitness influencers have played a pivotal role in promoting creatine as a must-have supplement for those looking to maximize their training outcomes.

Despite its longstanding reputation and widespread acceptance, recent research suggests that creatine may not be as effective as once thought – at least for men.

“The benefits of creatine may have been overestimated in the past, due to methodological problems with previous studies,” said corresponding author Dr. Mandy Hagstrom, a post-doctoral researcher working in the School of Health Science at UNSW.

Many previous studies failed to separate the effects of creatine from those of resistance training, making it difficult to determine whether muscle gains were due to supplementation or simply the result of structured exercise programs.

No significant muscle gains for male athletes

Hagstrom and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial following 54 participants through a 12-week resistance training program. One group was supplemented with five grams of creatine daily, while the other trained without supplementation.

To counteract the methodological issues in previous studies, the researchers introduced an additional one-week “wash-in phase”, allowing half of the participants to take creatine before starting resistance training. This approach aimed to separate the supplement's effects from those of exercise.

“Half of the participants started taking the supplement, without changing anything else in their daily life, to give their body a chance to stabilize in terms of its response to the supplement,” said Hagstrom.

Lean body mass was measured at multiple stages using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, a non-invasive imaging technique that provides precise assessments of body composition.

Although both groups gained an average of two kilograms of lean body mass over the program, the team found there was no significant difference in muscle gains between the two groups.

“We’ve shown that taking five grams of creatine supplement per day does not make any difference to the amount of lean muscle mass people put on while resistance training,” said Hagstrom.

However, there were some initial differences in lean body mass seen in the female participants, but “this benefit in lean body mass was only observed in the wash-in phase,” Hagstrom told Technology Networks.

The women in the creatine group gained an average of 0.5 kg more than the control group before the exercise period began, however, the team proposes the increase in lean body mass may be due to creatine influencing water retention – rather than actual muscle growth.

“Once they started exercising, they saw no additional benefit from creatine which suggests that five grams per day is not enough if you’re taking it for the purposes of building muscle,” she added.

“In theory then you would have expected our creatine group to put on 3 kg of muscle over the 12-week program, but they didn’t,” said first author Dr. Imtiaz Desai, a research fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia.

What this means for male athletes

Despite the study’s findings, creatine still has several well-documented benefits.

“While our study did not show any improvements in lean body mass following strength training, it doesn’t discount the other benefits of taking creatine,” said Hagstrom.

The supplement has been shown to support cognitive function, improve recovery and enhance performance in short bursts of high-intensity exercise, all of which may still make it valuable for athletes.

However, the results raise important questions about the role of creatine in professional sports, and further studies are needed.

“We specifically used this study design to examine a ‘wash in phase’, which hasn’t been utilized when examining lean body mass before. This likely was why we did not observe changes in lean body mass,” explained Hagstrom, to Technology Networks. “We are unsure if a larger dose would lead to greater gains in lean body mass. Testing that would be a logical next step.”

“It would be really interesting to see if creatine has more of a long-term benefit. When you start weight training, you have those beginner gains in strength and those start tapering off around the 12-week mark and become slower, so it’s possible the support from creatine might come at a later stage,” added Desai. 

Reference: Desai I, Pandit A, Smith-Ryan AE, et al. The effect of creatine supplementation on lean body mass with and without resistance training. Nutrients. 2025;17(6):1081. doi: 10.3390/nu17061081

 

About the interviewee:

Dr. Mandy Hagstrom is a research and teaching academic at the University of New South Wales. She obtained a PhD from the University of Western Sydney in 2015 and her current work focuses broadly on the effects of resistance training. In 2023, Hagstrom was awarded the Australian Exercise Scientist of the Year award by Exercise and Sports Science Australia.