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Creatine supplementation and resistance training: a comparison between novice and experienced lifters - a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis

Damoon Ashtary-Larky, Shooka Mohammadi, Leila Hajizadeh, Seyed Amir Hossein Mousavi, Scott C Forbes, Darren G Candow, Jose Antonio

J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2025 22(Suppl 1):2586523

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 41433021
PubMed Central: PMC12777911
DOI: 10.1080/15502783.2025.2586523
Funding: The authors reported no funding associated with the work.
Competing interests: Damoon Ashtary-Larky reported professional involvement in the health and nutrition industry; Scott C. Forbes reported creatine-company advisory and donation relationships; Jose Antonio reported ISSN leadership and supplement-company sponsorship relationships; Darren G. Candow reported industry-sponsored research, creatine donations, travel support, advisory-board roles and expert-witness/consulting work. Other authors declared no conflicts.

Study snapshot

Design	Systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of controlled trials
Model	Human evidence synthesis or trial
Sample	61 trials
Intervention	Creatine supplementation combined with resistance training versus control/placebo, stratified by trained versus untrained status
Duration	Varied by included trial
Endpoints	Fat-free mass; Body mass; Fat mass; Body-fat percentage; BMI; Training-status moderation; Dose-response

What the study showed, in plain terms

2025 meta-analysis examining whether previous resistance-training experience changes body-composition responses to creatine.

Key findings

Creatine plus resistance training increased fat-free mass and body mass overall. Experienced lifters had numerically greater fat-free-mass gains than novices, but the between-group difference was not statistically significant.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Included trials varied in population, dose, duration and measurement methods; many underlying trials had industry support, and the apparent trained-versus-novice difference was not statistically significant.

Citation network

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Biohack Blueprint analyses that reference this study in their evidence base.

Oct 2, 2026 Creatine for Muscle Growth: Lean Mass, Hypertrophy and Resistance Training EvidenceCreatine for muscle growth: what meta-analyses show about lean mass, strength, water weight, training volume and whether creatine builds muscle without lifting.Read analysis

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