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...

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.

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.

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 those factors.

Taking creatine might help your muscles keep using sugar properly when you're not moving much, and help them rebuild faster when you start moving again.

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.