Should a 16 year old take Creatine?

I was speaking to a mum a few weeks ago. She was asking me if it is OK for her 16 year old to take Creatine. My answer was that it is OK but if I had a 16 year old, I wouldn’t give them Creatine just yet.

They can get good gains from food, normal training, good sleep, carbs etc without Creatine.

Fast forward to today and the conversation got more interesting. Today her question had more detail! The fact is that her 16 year old’s friends are ALL taking Creatine on the rugby team and he is the only one left out.

Now, this is more interesting because in life one has to weigh decisions against lots of other factors. So it is no longer, can my 16 year old take Creatine?

The question is really, can my 16 year old not take Creatine, when all his friends are taking it, getting bigger, getting stronger and he is not. He is at a disadvantage, is feeling down and he may resort to taking it anyway behind my back, where I will have no control over what brand he takes and he may even resort to other things because he knows I am against him taking any supplements. He may now want to catch up and get bigger at any cost.

You see, the dynamics change when you bring in other factors. Now the 16 year old’s mental health, place in the world, feelings about himself and where he is in his team/friendship circle etc can all rest on him taking or not taking Creatine. This is no longer a simple yes or no. 16 year olds have a lot of complications and not being big or strong enough may not mean much to a parent or seem silly but they can be a REAL problem for the child.

We often simplify decisions in life but as the above example demonstrates, certain decisions are not that simple.

Today my answer was that he probably should at least “try” Creatine and obviously I would recommend LA Muscle’s Creatine to her because I know exactly what has gone into it and how high quality it is in comparison to the cheaper and much less pure competitors.

He should start and see how it goes and should 100% cycle it. Too many brands tell people to take Creatine all year round and this is wrong. Creatine needs to be cycled to keep working and for your body to stay healthy. 1 month on, 1 month off is a good start for a 16 year old. Obviously LA Muscle’s Explosive Creatine and Nuclear Creatine are the recommended ones as they contain pretty strong uptake agents which ensure the Creatine goes to work fast. So you don’t need to take as much.