Look at peak performances creatine special. Gives all relevant info on what you need.

I wouldn't suggest creatine to you as you are only toning and not competing. Speak to a fitness professional and they can point you in the right direction.

Creatine is more of a bulking supliment, you want to buy some stuff like hydroxycut (but use carefully!).

Phosphocreatine (the phosphorylated form of Creatine) provides the means of regenerating small quantities of ATP extremely rapidly, so boosting short duration activities. Muscles are much less prone to fatigue and the capacity to undertake strenuous exercise is increased. Activities such as repetition weight training, short sprints, repeated bounding and jumping are all enhanced and therefore the quality of training increases which feeds into higher competitive performances. Studies made with middle distance athletes also seem to point to improvement.

Creatine is both made by the body (from amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine) and gained from the diet. It occurs naturally in meats and fish.

Athletes in the explosive events (sprints, jumps, throws) are likely to experience the most improvement but in the middle distance events in which phosphocreatine plays a small but important role the benefit of creatine supplementation has yet to be finally established. Latest research points to the body being unable to absorb large amounts of creatine into the muscle and it appears that five gram intakes will largely find their way into the urine rather than into the muscle.

Investigations at the University of Nottingham show that five days of creatine supplementation can boost muscle power and performance during intense strength training ("Creatine Ingestion and Exercise Performance", International Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 14, p. 297, 1993). In the Nottingham study, 12 athletes carried out five bouts of 30 maximal contractions of the quadriceps muscles before and after five days of placebo or creatine ingestion. The creatine was consumed in five-gram doses, four times per day (20 grams total per day). After the five days, the placebo-group athletes achieved no gains in muscle power, but creatine ingesters boosted muscle strength considerably during all five bouts of exercise.

I have received feedback from a number of athletes who have experienced negative side effects whilst taking creatine. They have experienced:

- a significant increase in muscle swelling due to the storage of more water around the muscles - this has the potential to increase the chances of injury, especially between muscle and tendon connections
- leg tendons (calf) have tightened up considerably and with reduced circulation, restricted by the swelling in the calf muscle, has led to numb feet
- Nausea
- Cramp possibly due to water retention
- Dizziness if excessive quantities taken
- Diarrhoea

Hope this helps

Brian