Creatine vs Protein for teenagers who want to bulk up

If I had a most Frequently Asked Questions section, creatine and protein for teenagers would be right at the top. It would most likely be asked by a teenage boy who was trying to bulk up for basketball, football or just for the beach. Or it might be their mum, dad or coach asking. The desire (or pressure) to gain muscle for young active males is increasingly prevalent. Whether it be for performance, aesthetics or a bit of both, the strategies introduced via food and supplements can literally make or break a young person. But how much protein is necessary for teenagers and is creatine really worth the hype?

Why do kids want to put on weight?

Concerns about body image and appearance are inextricably linked to the teenage years. The rise of social media and things like the new Looksmaxxers trend don’t help, and while traditionally the appearance focus for boys has been lean and toned, there is currently an increased focus on bulking up - fast. Aesthetics is one thing, but the type of teenagers I see in clinic who want to gain muscle are usually also interested in performance benefits. It may be that a teenager is feeling too light to compete - they are looking for a performance advantage over their peers or just want to keep up with the average. This is a particular problem for adolescent boys - they all grow at different rates and body shape and comparison of size and strength within an age group is a futile activity. Those who hit puberty earlier are going to be bigger and stronger - it’s just facts. But this gap creates urgency for young kids playing sport and rather than allowing natural development, the race begins to attempt to force muscle growth.

The Quick Fix

How can I get big fast? The natural tendency is to look for a magic solution. Some do want to work on their training and diet, but the allure of legal enhancement via supplements is increasingly appealing. There’s also the illegal enhancement options, however we’ll park that one straight away in discussions around adolescents (while acknowledging this is an option that some individuals look to pursue). Nutrition can be the next step, but I am pretty sure many teenagers miss the ‘eat well’ part and head straight to the protein powders and creatine without getting food right first. A suggested order of introduction for teenagers wanting to fuel and perform well and support muscle development:

Eat well - start with that.

Protein powder - rarely required.

Creatine - no, absolutely not.

Start with food

If a child or teenager is truly eating well to support growth, training and general energy expenditure the benefits are significant. With some tailored planning, most kids can meet their daily protein needs. The part that can be more challenging is the calories. Active teenagers can find it difficult to find enough time and appetite to eat and drink enough to meet their elevated needs, and often kids have no interest in scheduling their life around snacks! It’s usually not extra protein they need (although some do need strategies to assist) - it’s extra energy. Yes, meet base protein needs via food and drinks, and bolster these with additional calories. Protein powder not required. Instead of the protein shake, make a fruit smoothie with the lot that provides the protein along with all the extra nutrients and energy.

Protein powder

There aren’t too many situations where a teenager needs a protein shake. Saying that, occasionally for convenience or for vegetarians there could be a place to add it to dietary intake, but usually there’s no need for expensive powders as a daily supplement. There are plenty of foods that contain protein and that are also rich in other important nutrients for kids (see link to my article at the end for more on protein). Many typical protein powders are just protein with no other nutritional value.

Creatine

It’s quite staggering how popular creatine has become and somehow it seems to be sneaking into the lives of an increasing number of teenagers. Creatine is a well-researched supplement, however it’s not well-researched in bodies that are still growing. When kids can achieve amazing progress with their development when supported by age-appropriate training and nutrition, there’s no need to mess with that process. There are risks of trying to force weight gain, especially in a growing adolescent who is also training hard, and without proper research we don’t really know the entirety of risks we may be exposing kids to.

When the creatine gummies become more of a priority than eating breakfast and snacks with protein, we have an even bigger problem. Creatine is not going to work without the baseline nutrition and training in place - a complete waste of time and money and not without potential risks.

What works?

If teenagers really want to build some muscle then they have to get serious about their nutrition. The amount and timing of protein is important but perhaps not as important as total energy (calorie) intake. It’s a myth that elite athletes all take supplements like protein powder and creatine. If some of the best athletes in the world focus on the fundamentals of nutrition, training and sleep to support performance, why would we experiment with kids who are still growing? Muscle growth and development in teenagers are often related to stage of puberty, so it’s critical to stop comparing and focus on the things that will help you reach your potential, safely, and at a developmentally appropriate pace.

Interested in this topic? More articles on my website below:

Back to basics protein - foods that contain the most and best protein for recovery and training

Why junior athletes are not small adults when it comes to body composition

Recovery smoothie recipe

I also have my book Super Food for Performance in Work, Sport and Life in printed and ebook format on sale here.

Fluids for junior basketball – why, what, when and how much?

Anyone else’s kids get home at the end of the school day with a water bottle that has barely left the school bag?  The same child who then only has about an hour at home before heading off to training?  Starting training or games dehydrated puts you well behind before you even step on the court.  On the other hand, starting hydrated provides an advantage that many other kids in junior sport won’t have.  

Here’s why it pays to get through the drink bottle (with maybe even a top up from the tap!) during the school day:

Why hydration helps?

Starting training hydrated means setting yourself up for: 

- better passing and shooting accuracy

- improved concentration and judgement

- improve co-ordination and speed

- ability to keep running hard, right up until the last minute of the last quarter

- makes training feel easier, so you feel better and can work harder

You are always going to sweat and become more dehydrated once exercise starts, so arriving  hydrated and continuing to drink while training are going to help you perform at your best – and win games. 

Best fluids for training

For most junior sports, including basketball, water is the drink of choice and totally adequate.  For a typical junior game, kids don’t need sports drinks or electrolytes.  The only time I’d say you might potentially need a sports drink is during prolonged training beyond 2 hours, or in hot and humid conditions and maybe during tournaments.  These are times where carbohydrate as fuel and electrolytes for hydration can be useful and a sports drink provides an easily consumed form. There’s also the question of whether sports drinks or electrolytes are more important – you can find more info on this here Hydration is important but what is the role of sports drinks and electrolytes and who needs them?

The marketing and accessibility has us fooled - most of the time sports drinks are a waste of money for juniors.  The sugar combined with acidity is also not great for kids’ teeth.

Even during the day at school, water should be the main drink.   Milk-based options are also a terrific option for children, and research shows that as children and teenagers get older, milk intake drops.  Plain milk or milk-based fruit smoothies are perhaps the best options for a nutrient-dense, calcium-rich option.  The chocolate milk thing is still doing the rounds as a recovery option, however a smoothie type drink would actually be much better - providing good quality protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals from the milk but also added anti-inflammatory and recovery nutrients from the fruit.

How much do I need to drink?

You have probably heard that you need ~2 litres of water per day to stay hydrated. This may be a reasonable estimate of total fluid needs for the average adult, however kids’ needs can vary significantly. This relates mostly to growth and development.  Younger children don’t sweat as much, and due to their smaller body size won’t need as much fluid as a larger teenager who is well-progressed through puberty.  This however also makes young children more susceptible to heat illness – sweating is a cooling mechanism, so great care should be taken with kids training and competing in the heat and appropriate policies and cooling strategies applied.

Other factors in addition to growth, development and body size that will impact fluid needs include weather (temperature, humidity) and the amount of training on any given day.  Sweat rates differ between individuals also.

Often we talk about using thirst as a guide to needs, however kids and teenagers often need some planning and prompting to ensure they drink enough.

How do you know if you are drinking enough?

Try the pee test. Pale yellow to clear is a good indicator that you are hydrated.  No need for it to be crystal clear but you don’t want it to look orange either. (the urine colour test doesn’t work if you take vitamin/mineral supplements because these often cause urine to be darker in colour).  Look out for other symptoms of dehydration also, such as fatigue, headache, light-headedness, and  infrequent toilet stops.

In professional sport we have equipment that can measure the concentration of urine to determine hydration, however the pee test is still a pretty good indicator! Professional athletes may also check fluid loss by measuring weight before and after training or games, however this is usually not necessary for junior athletes participating in a single training session or game (and unless under the guidance of an accredited sports dietitian as junior athletes should not be subjected to weight measurement in their sporting setting for any reason).

Individual fluid needs vary significantly due to a number of factors.  Work out how much you need and the best fluids for you for different scenarios, and ask an accredited sports dietitian if you need some help working it all out. The average body is made up of over 60% water and your body doesn’t function at its best without it.

Lisa has worked with NBL teams Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix over 10 years and currently works with Basketball Victoria junior high performance programs. She also has two very active children who play a lot of sport, including basketball.