In young, healthy guys recovering from intense workouts, taking creatine doesn’t seem to change muscle swelling or stress signals — which means the boost in muscle fuel recovery probably isn’t due to...

If young, healthy guys take 20 grams of creatine every day while eating a super high-carb diet after intense exercise, they rebuild their muscle fuel 82% faster in the first day compared to just eating high carbs alone.

In young, healthy guys, creatine helps refill muscle energy after intense exercise, but it doesn’t work by making muscles more sensitive to insulin — that part hasn’t changed, according to tests and gene activity.

Creatine might help your muscles store more glycogen, but only if you first do a workout that drains your energy stores — otherwise, it doesn’t do much for glycogen.

Creatine helps muscles refill their energy stores quickly after a tough workout, but this boost only lasts the first day — even if you keep taking creatine, it doesn’t keep speeding things up after that.

Taking creatine supplements may help your muscles store more glycogen, which is like a sugar reservoir, and since glycogen holds onto water, your muscles end up holding more water too.