Creatine vs Pre-Workout: What's Best for Your Fitness Goals?

Creatine vs. pre-workout: What's the difference? Both are popular sports supplements among fitness enthusiasts, but they aren't the same.

Creatine is a common ingredient found in many pre-workout formulas, known for its ability to enhance high-intensity exercise capacity and promote gains in lean body mass through exercise. While typically included in pre-workout supplements, creatine can also be taken independently.

In this guide, we will explore the key distinctions between creatine and pre-workout supplements, their benefits, and how to use them together for optimal results.

Article Highlights

• Creatine and pre-workout supplements are not (necessarily) the same; many pre-workout formulas contain a small amount of creatine, but it's probably best to take a separate creatine supplement, like Transparent Labs Creatine HMB, after your workouts.

• Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that helps improve athletic performance and supports muscle growth over time. It does not produce significant ergogenic benefits acutely like typical pre-workout supplement ingredients.

• Taking creatine post-workout and using a creatine-free pre-workout supplement is generally ideal for maximizing efficacy. 

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring, amino acid-like molecule made up of three amino acids: arginine, methionine, and glycine. It plays a vital role in providing energy for high-intensity exercise (e.g. heavy resistance training) and supports muscle growth [1].

Here are some key points about creatine supplements:

• It is popular among athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness enthusiasts looking to improve athletic performance and build lean muscle mass.

• Creatine monohydrate remains the most time-tested form of creatine supplement.

• Creatine is often a component of pre-workout supplements, albeit not a significant one.

While creatine is beneficial for augmenting exercise performance over the course of weeks or months of use, it’s not a compelling standalone pre-workout supplement. Creatine doesn't "pep you up" like the stimulating ingredients in most pre-workouts.

Creatine monohydrate takes time to fully "kick in" because it works by saturating muscle creatine stores, a process that doesn't happen overnight. (You can learn more about why this is in our Creatine Loading article.)

Pre-workout formulas, on the other hand, are designed to produce acute benefits by amplifying your energy, focus, and endurance for a few hours.

How Does Creatine Work?

Creatine is a ubiquitous molecule primarily found in skeletal muscle tissue. It works by bolstering the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)—chemical energy—in the body. ATP is exhausted rapidly during short, high-intensity activities like weightlifting or sprinting. Hence, by boosting ATP production, creatine sustains energy for these intense bursts of activity, resulting in improved anaerobic (and potentially aerobic) performance and reduced muscle fatigue [2].

The catch, as mentioned above, is that creatine supplements need to be taken daily over an extended time—several weeks, if not months—to produce noticeable benefits. A daily dose of around 3-5 grams of creatine monohydrate powder is recommended.

It's important to clarify that creatine is a natural compound with an exceptional safety profile [3]. Some people may experience transient gastrointestinal discomfort, bloating, or cramping when using creatine powder, but these side effects are benign and tend to resolve quickly.

However, consulting a healthcare professional is vital for people who have had kidney issues or a history of renal issues. This is especially true before consuming creatine supplements.don't be fooled by the myriad myths attached to creatine (monohydrate) supplementation.

Benefits of Creatine Supplementation

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts who supplement with creatine (monohydrate) daily often see notable enhancements in their performance within a few weeks. Creatine is a valuable, if not prudent, addition to any training program, especially for those focused on high-intensity activities like resistance training.

Here are the primary benefits of taking creatine supplements [4, 5, 6]:

• Amplified power and strength

• Enhanced stamina

• Increase in lean muscle mass (data is incomplete [7] but generally favorable on this topic)

• Quicker recovery after workouts

• Improved athletic performance

• Neuroprotective benefits

What Are Pre-Workout Supplements?

Intuitively, pre-workout supplements are specifically designed to boost energy, focus, and endurance during exercise. They typically contain a medley of ergogenic ingredients, such as caffeine, beta-alanine, and amino acids, that work together to provide a mental and physical boost before and during your workouts.

Pre-workout supplements can undoubtedly benefit your training and fitness results, but it’s crucial to recognize that there's immense heterogeneity within these formulas. While many pre workout supplements contain the same "base" foundation of ingredients, the doses and quality can vary significantly, leading to unpredictable outcomes.

Some pre-workout supplements also contain creatine to enhance the performance-boosting effects. However, pre-workout supplements rarely contain as much creatine as standalone creatine supplements.

Is Pre-Workout Creatine?

As aforementioned vis-à-vis creatine vs. pre-workout supplements, these products are not the same. Creatine (monohydrate) is a single-ingredient supplement that can promote athletic performance and recovery when taken consistently over time, while a pre-workout powder is a blend of ingredients designed to enhance energy, focus, blood flow, and hydration on a shorter timescale.

In other words, creatine is simply a nutrient, like a dietary amino acid.

As such, creatine may be an ingredient in a pre-workout supplement, but you won't find the usual ensemble of pre-workout ingredients (e.g. stimulants and nootropics) in a creatine supplement.

For example, some common ingredients found in pre-workout supplements include:

• Caffeine: Improves mental focus, reduces fatigue, and decreases rate of perceived exertion for better performance

• Beta-Alanine: Helps reduce muscle fatigue and improve endurance by increasing muscle carnosine levels

• L-Citrulline (Malate): Increases nitric oxide production to facilitate blood flow and muscle pumps

The combination of these ingredients in pre-workout supplements can provide acute benefits for strength, power, and endurance during workouts.

The addition of creatine to pre-workout supplements may seem sensible for improving exercise performance, but there's still controversy over whether taking caffeine—almost always a key ingredient in pre-workouts—and creatine together causes bioavailability issues with the latter [8]. Some evidence also intimates that creatine is best absorbed and utilized when taken shortly after workouts [9].

Benefits of Combining Creatine and Pre-Workout

Despite possible interactions with caffeine, pre-workouts with creatine (monohydrate) might offer advantages over either supplement alone. Unfortunately, there isn't much research comparing the use of creatine vs. pre-workout supplements and how they compare to taking both creatine and pre-workout before hitting the gym.

Nonetheless, combining creatine and pre-workout supplements may confer synergistic benefits for muscle recovery and overall performance, especially if you take a standalone creatine powder after training to ensure your muscle creatine stores are saturated.

Taking Creatine Pre-Workout: Does Timing Matter?

While creatine can be taken pre-workout, its timing is less crucial than that of pre-workout supplements. The benefits of creatine supplementation are not solely dependent on dose timing; in fact, you could take your daily dose of creatine upon waking or before bed and theoretically achieve the same outcome as someone who takes creatine pre-workout.

That being said, creatine seems to be best absorbed shortly after working out, and separating creatine use a few hours from taking a pre-workout supplement also avoids the potential diminuitions in absorption from caffeine co-ingestion.

How to Use Creatine and Pre-Workout Together

If you're (still) adamant about using both creatine and pre-workout concomitantly, it's pretty straightforward on how to do so: simply combine a single dose of each supplement in a shaker cup, add water, mix, and drink it about 20-30 minutes before you head to the gym. Even when using a pre-workout formula that contains creatine, it behooves you to use a standalone creatine supplement after training.

Alternatives to Pre-Workout Creatine

If you prefer not to include creatine in your pre-workout regimen, don't fret; there's a practical alternative since taking creatine post-workout is likely ideal for muscle growth and recovery [10]. Supplementing with creatine after your workout ensures optimal absorption so you can reap the full benefits while avoiding potential side effects related to pre-workout creatine use.

And fortunately, for those who prefer a creatine-free pre-workout, there are numerous creatine-free pre-workout supplements on the market. Popular creatine-free pre-workout options include all of the Transparent Labs PreSeries formulas. which can be readily stacked with Transparent Labs Creatine HMB for a comprehensive pre- and post-workout stack.

Takeaway on Creatine vs. Pre-Workout

Creatine and pre-workout supplements are not the same but can be used together to provide robust benefits for strength, power, and endurance during workouts. By understanding the differences between these two supplements and how to use them effectively, you can maximize your workout performance and achieve your fitness goals.