26/02/2026
Lets talk Supplements
There are very few supplements I recommend across the board. Creatine is one of them.
For decades, creatine has been misunderstood as something only bodybuilders or elite male athletes use. That misconception has kept many women from one of the most well-researched, effective, and female-relevant supplements available.
Creatine supports strength, power, muscle mass, brain health, bone integrity, and training quality across the female lifespan, from menstruation through perimenopause and postmenopause. And no, it won’t make you bulky, it doesn’t cause fat gain, and when used properly, it rarely causes bloating.
Let’s break down why creatine matters for women, how it works in female physiology, and how to use it effectively.
There are very few supplements I recommend across the board. Creatine is one of them.
For decades, creatine has been misunderstood as something only bodybuilders or elite male athletes use. That misconception has kept many women from one of the most well-researched, effective, and female-relevant supplements available.
Creatine supports strength, power, muscle mass, brain health, bone integrity, and training quality across the female lifespan, from menstruation through perimenopause and postmenopause. And no, it won’t make you bulky, it doesn’t cause fat gain, and when used properly, it rarely causes bloating.
Let’s break down why creatine matters for women, how it works in female physiology, and how to use it effectively.
What Creatine Is—and Why It Matters for Women
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound stored primarily in skeletal muscle, where it plays a critical role in rapid energy production.
Inside muscle cells, creatine is stored as phosphocreatine (PCr). During short, intense efforts, like lifting heavy weights, sprinting, jumping, or repeated high-intensity intervals, PCr helps regenerate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the cell’s primary energy currency.
Put simply, creatine helps you produce force faster, repeat high-quality efforts, and recover better between bouts of intense work.
Why supplementation matters for women:
• About 95% of creatine is stored in skeletal muscle
• Women naturally have ~70–80% lower intramuscular creatine stores than men
• Many women typically consume less dietary creatine (it’s found mainly in red meat and seafood)
• Supplementation can increase muscle creatine stores by ~20%
• This makes creatine especially relevant for women who are plant-based, highly active, or entering perimenopause.
• I’d like to highlight the work of my friend and fellow academic Abbie Smith-Ryan, whose 2025 article on creatine in women’s health, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, was the journal’s most-read paper last year.
• Her work highlighted how creatine supplementation led to consistent benefits for women when it comes to muscle strength, performance, and body composition, particularly when combined with resistance training. Emerging evidence also suggests benefits for mood and cognitive function, with potential applications during pregnancy and postmenopause. We’ll cover all of these below…
Creatine for Strength, Power, and Performance
Creatine is most effective for:
• Resistance training
• Sprinting and HIIT
• Plyometrics
• Repeated high-intensity efforts with short rest
Beyond supporting ATP production, phosphocreatine helps buffer hydrogen ions that accumulate during intense exercise. This can help to delay fatigue and allow you to sustain higher training quality.
Do women benefit as much as men? Yes—and sometimes women experience equal or greater relative improvements, likely because our baseline creatine stores are lower. Research consistently shows improvements in:
• Maximal strength
• Power output
• Sprint performance
• Training volume tolerance
None of this will lead to creatine making you bulky, but it will allow you to train harder and recover better. How your body adapts from there depends on your training, nutrition, recovery, and hormones.
