Best Types of Creatine for Every Goal: Which One Should You Choose?

Well over 100 years ago, U.S. automaker Henry Ford was famously quoted as saying “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” The quote was offered as a humorous way of explaining the price-based costing model of Ford Motor Company, which necessitated that the company build its theory of manufacturing around what average consumers could afford to pay for cars. However, it also speaks to the realities imposed by situations when there is only one version of a product available, and this was once the case with creatine.

For a long time, the sole source of creatine available on the market was creatine monohydrate, and the specific training and fitness goals of the consumer were irrelevant in light of the reality that there was only one source of creatine available for purchase. Now, things are different, and new forms of creatine have emerged that propose to tailor their benefits for consumers who may have different objectives in mind when they make a creatine purchase.

So with that being said, what type of creatine should you be taking in order to have your goals realized in the most efficient way possible?

What are the different types of creatine?

To be clear, the standard form of creatine is creatine monohydrate — a compound formed from three amino acids that has been bonded to a molecule of water. Once ingested, creatine enters your skeletal muscle and organs, boosting the energy reservoir and potential of everything it engages with. The result is physiological improvements across the board, most commonly in the form of enhanced strength and muscle growth, but also extending to your cognitive processes.

The different “types” of creatine are the results of modifications made directly to creatine, where the creatine has been bonded to something other than water. In all cases, these additions and modifications are designed to either improve the efficiency, functionality, or digestibility of creatine, or to act alongside it to provide a concurrent solution to an identical problem.

Creatine Monohydrate

As previously stated, creatine monohydrate was the first type of creatine to reach the marketplace, and was therefore what people envisioned for years whenever they discussed creatine, as it was the only type of creatine in existence. It is the most tested supplement in history, and is available on its own, or as the core ingredient in other supplemental formulations.

In fact, the use of creatine monohydrate extends well beyond creatine-themes supplements, as it has been included in far more complicated supplemental mixtures like pre-workouts and energy drinks for the sake of enhancing their viability at boosting workouts.

Micronized Creatine

Like its name suggests, micronized creatine is a smaller form of creatine monohydrate that was developed with one primary purpose in mind. One of the earliest and most frequent complaints about creatine monohydrate has been its grittiness and graininess. When combined with its poor solubility in liquids, it was prone to making the actual act of creatine consumption rather unpleasant. 

Micronized creatine was specifically engineered with a smaller creatine molecule to mix more thoroughly and seamlessly with liquids so that the creatine could be more easily consumed. In short, it’s the same creatine in terms of effectiveness, but it’s noticeably easier to swallow.

Creatine HMB

Commonly known as hydroxymethylbutyrate, HMB is an acid that stimulates the production of muscle protein, and that is commonly prescribed in medical settings in order to accelerate the healing of wounds, or to prevent the wasting of muscle tissue that frequently accompanies certain illnesses. 

When combined with creatine, HMB takes an alternate approach to the production of muscle, while preventing the deterioration of muscle tissue, especially in cases of sarcopenia, or muscle loss due to aging. With creatine and HMB tackling the same issues from two different angles, muscle growth and power production are enhanced, with HMB paying special attention to muscle preservation.

One of the most interesting details about HMB is that there was a time when it might have competed directly with creatine in terms of muscle building popularity prior to the Major League Baseball boom that benefitted creatine’s marketing in 1997. 

In April of 1996, the Associated Press reported how “HMB had been researched at Vanderbilt and Iowa State universities as a way to put meat on livestock and muscle on athletes.” In its initial tests, the group of test subjects supplementing with HMB gained 50 percent more strength and muscle mass, and lost nearly three times the body fat of the placebo group.

In May of the same year, head HMB researcher Steve Nissen told The Des Moines Register that he had been working on HMB for a decade, and said he was not expecting bodybuilders to gravitate toward the product, noting that he had begun researching it “as a feed additive for livestock” until human trials showed its effectiveness as a human tissue builder.

Creatine HCL and Creatine Ethyl Ester

Creatine hydrochloride, which usually has its name shortened to creatine HCL, is a version of creatine that has been combined with hydrochloride for improved absorption into the bloodstream and uptake into muscle cells. Hydrochloride is a salt that is commonly taken in conjunction with medicines to accelerate the speed with which they work. This enhanced absorption should theoretically lead to fewer gastrointestinal problems, and more rapid saturation of muscle tissues with creatine. As such, it is one of several creatine varieties that is designed to accelerate the speed and efficiency with which creatine works.

In a similar vein, creatine ethyl ester is another version of creatine that has been combined with ethyl ester instead of water for improved absorption into the bloodstream and uptake into muscle cells. The process of binding creatine to ethyl ester is said to decrease its “hydrophilicity,” thereby allowing it to pass through cell membranes more easily. Again, this is said to aid creatine’s digestibility, reducing the risk of gastrointestinal issues. 

The similar designs and intentions of the two products is no accident. It was reported in 2003 by The Independent of Grand Island, Nebraska that creatine HCL and creatine ethyl ester were both developed by Biovance Technologies, with both products being the result of several years of research by the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Pharmacy. 

The stated objective for the creation of both of these forms of creatine was to benefit “post-surgery patients during the recovery and rehabilitation phase for individuals who suffer from muscle-related diseases, and for healthy aging adults.” It was further proposed that they could benefit agricultural producers “who want to safely add muscle bulk to livestock.”

Creatine Magnesium Chelate

Magnesium creatine chelate is a form of creatine monohydrate that has been combined with magnesium, which is one of the most valuable nutrients with respect to energy production and muscle function. Because magnesium is an electrolyte that enters cells rapidly, it plays the dual role of boosting the energy efficiency of your muscles while escorting creatine into your cells alongside it.

It’s important to be mindful of the way the word chelate is used, because it can have multiple meanings. In general, chelated magnesium refers to magnesium that has been bound to another molecule. So if you see magnesium chelate or chelated magnesium sold, you should check the formulation, as it may refer to magnesium oxide, magnesium glycinate, a magnesium-amino-acid combination, or some mixture of any two or three of these things. 

Each of these magnesium forms may play a different specialty role in your body, with magnesium oxide commonly used to solve digestive issues caused by acid indigestion, and magnesium glycinate promoting relaxation for deeper sleep. 

In this case, the chelation refers to the process of binding of magnesium with creatine, which is itself an amino acid compound. Generally speaking, magnesium is one of the most under-consumed of all of the essential nutrients. Therefore, creatine magnesium chelate has the added benefit of offering people an easy way to consume an essential nutrient that is otherwise difficult to naturally consume in high quantities, while taking a separate supplement that can improve their lives.

Although chelated magnesium first appeared in the 1950s, creatine magnesium chelate didn’t materialize on the market until the early 2010s.

Athletic Performance

There is evidence that taking supplemental creatine prior to exercise — or the instant exercise begins — results in the greatest number of direct improvements to exercise performance due to the overlap of exercise hyperaemia, increased sodium-potassium pump activity, and elevated activity from the creatine transport mechanism. (1) 

In essence, this leads to the optimal transfer and uptake of creatine, coupled with the peak activity of a separate physiological mechanism that is responsible for transferring energy, along with elevated blood flow to skeletal muscles. 

This scenario yields the rapid transport and absorption of creatine, which means that the ideal type of creatine for you in this scenario will be the creatine form that can complete its migration into your muscles the fastest. Ideally, the selected creatine would also leave you at minimal risk for feelings of bloat or intestinal discomfort, which can diminish your physical readiness to train, and otherwise leave you distracted and unfocused.

Several forms of creatine have been advertised to accomplish this, including creatine ethyl ester, creatine HCL, and creatine magnesium chelate. Of these, creatine ethyl ester was shown in trials to be less effective than ordinary creatine at improving muscle strength and power, which would be the primary intent of ingesting it immediately prior to a workout. (2) 

In another study, creatine HCL appeared to be equally beneficial to the body as creatine monohydrate, at least suggesting that it is of equivalent value in terms of the essential physical outcomes, while potentially also delivering on its proposed effects of accelerated uptake and fewer digestive complications. (3)

The most compelling study involving creatine magnesium chelate involved supplementation by elite soccer players who took single doses of the supplement immediately after their practice sessions ended. (4) The results indicated that the test subjects experienced improvements across all measures of sprinting ability and power.

While none of these studies tested for the specific results yielded by alternative forms of creatine when consumed prior to or during exercise, the fact that creatine HCL performed equivalently to creatine monohydrate in a direct comparison makes it the safest bet for sampling a creatine form that at least makes an effort to be absorbed more easily prior to a workout.

Gaining Muscle and Strength

Creatine monohydrate is the most tested supplement in history, and its ability to accelerate muscle recovery and contribute to greater muscle gains over time is unquestioned. There are dozens of studies proving creatine’s ability to increase the muscle mass of people who take it, while also supplying those same people with simultaneous increases in strength.

There’s only one question remaining to be asked: Is there something creatine could be combined with that would accelerate these specific functions even further? The answer is a resounding yes. Because creatine HMB blends creatine with the medical-grade amino acid compound hydroxymethylbutyrate, the pair of amino acid formulations work synergistically to increase lean muscle mass, reduce muscle tissue damage owed to exercise, and accelerate strength gains.

The combined benefits of both have been displayed during tests that show that creatine and HMB seeme to operate through different physiological mechanisms within the body, suggesting that multiple pathways to greater muscle growth are optimized through the dual supplementation method. (5)

Boosting Cognitive Performance or Alleviating Depression

The fact that creatine was discovered to conclusively improve cognitive performance and alleviate symptoms of depression alongside the enhancements it makes to physical abilities was a bombshell in the world of medicine, and also caused a lot of creatine’s most vehement detractors to eat a lot of crow.

Following an era in which creatine was first dismissed as a worthless supplement that meatheads used to look superficially larger due to water retention, and which overlapped with an era when creatine users were castigated for “cheating” with a “natural steroid,” the notion that creatine had profound psychological benefits for people of all ages led to it being rapidly recharacterized as a true wonder of food science. 

These advantages of creatine are theoretically available no matter which variety you use, but the sort of people taking creatine to stave off symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease probably aren’t as interested in exercise performance or muscle recovery.

With this in mind, ordinary creatine monohydrate and micronized creatine are likely to be preferred by this demographic due to the simplicity of their formulation, and their very low price.

A Creatine for Every Concern

First, let’s take a moment to acknowledge what a remarkable age we live in, when formulations of creatine can be tailored to accommodate whatever the specific goals are that you’re looking to accomplish. With that being said, all of the suggestions offered here are all subject to your own personal needs and tolerances.

Certainly, if you are a serious strength athlete or bodybuilder, or someone who is simply in a hurry to maximize the growth of your muscles, then we would be remiss if we did not throw our full-throated endorsement behind creatine HMB. However, the positive effects of creatine can be unlocked to varying degrees no matter which variety you choose to take. Therefore, you should use this information to make your decision, and you should do so with the peace of mind that in this instance there’s really no such thing as a bad choice.

Sources

1. Ribeiro F, Longobardi I, Perim P, Duarte B, Ferreira P, Gualano B, Roschel H, Saunders B. Timing of Creatine Supplementation around Exercise: A Real Concern? Nutrients. 2021 Aug 19;13(8):2844. doi: 10.3390/nu13082844. PMID: 34445003; PMCID: PMC8401986.

2. Spillane, M., Schoch, R., Cooke, M. et al. The effects of creatine ethyl ester supplementation combined with heavy resistance training on body composition, muscle performance, and serum and muscle creatine levels. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 6, 6 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-6-6

3. Eghbali E, Arazi H, Suzuki K. Supplementing With Which Form of Creatine (Hydrochloride or Monohydrate) Alongside Resistance Training Can Have More Impacts on Anabolic/Catabolic Hormones, Strength and Body Composition? Physiol Res. 2024 Nov 15;73(5):739-753. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.935323. PMID: 39545789; PMCID: PMC11629957.

4. Zajac A, Golas A, Chycki J, Halz M, Michalczyk MM. The Effects of Long-Term Magnesium Creatine Chelate Supplementation on Repeated Sprint Ability (RAST) in Elite Soccer Players. Nutrients. 2020 Sep 28;12(10):2961. doi: 10.3390/nu12102961. PMID: 32998206; PMCID: PMC7600931.

5. Jówko E, Ostaszewski P, Jank M, Sacharuk J, Zieniewicz A, Wilczak J, Nissen S. Creatine and beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) additively increase lean body mass and muscle strength during a weight-training program. Nutrition. 2001 Jul-Aug;17(7-8):558-66. doi: 10.1016/s0899-9007(01)00540-8. PMID: 11448573.