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I Take Creatine Every Day. Does It Do Anything Outside the Gym?
After 30 years of lifting and a decade of coaching, I checked the evidence on memory, aging, and people who don’t train.
Editorial note: AI tools assisted in preparing this article. I checked the key claims against the published sources listed below. The personal story, analysis, and final editorial decisions are my own. This article is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.
The pendulum
During my years as a personal trainer, creatine questions were almost always defensive. Would it damage your kidneys? Would it make you bloated and puffy? Was it some kind of steroid?
Those were the concerns I encountered. Today, the conversation around creatine reaches well beyond them. It is marketed and studied in connection with memory, brain health, healthy aging, and even longevity. A supplement people once worried would hurt them is now pitched as something that might protect them.
I’m 48, and I take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate every day. I take it partly for my training. I also take it partly because of that newer story: I’m interested in my brain and in aging well. That second reason is exactly why I wanted to test it.
