Hey,

I didn't send an email last week because, well, the truth is, I was totally burned out by the end of the Acceler8 launch.

Between rewriting the sales page, writing sales-specific emails, making Instagram content, troubleshooting tech stuff, and staying on top of 1:1 check-ins, client programming, these weekly emails, and regular IG posts—Oh, and that whole parenting thing, it ended up being a bit more than I could handle.

It got so bad that my resting heart rate increased by 10 bpm in April.

I had planned to take the last week of April off. Read more. Get back to my regular training. I even drafted an email to my 1:1 clients letting them know I’d be skipping check-ins to recharge.

But I didn't do any of that.

Because the moment I decided I was going to take time off, I started feeling guilty for not being productive.

Actually, guilt wouldn't be an accurate description because it was a maelstrom of different emotions:

• Guilt – I should be doing something productive right now.
  ​
• Shame - If I can't handle a bit more work, maybe I'm not cut out for this.
  
• Fear - Skip check-ins? What if your clients cancel? What if your engagement on Instagram drops because you aren't consistently posting? You just spent a week sending sales emails, and now you're going to disappear? Everyone will hate you.

What if, what if...bleugh.

I knew none of these thoughts were rational. And usually, I'm pretty good at separating how I feel from what's real.

But this time was different. The launch hadn’t gone the way I’d hoped—even though I’d worked harder on it than any other.

So, you're taking a break from...failing? LOL, loser. (Meet my inner voice, everyone.)

That's what it felt like.

Usually, this is the part where the author has some tidy little epiphany, writes a cute listicle with trite aphorisms, and drops a link to their book or mindset course or whatever the fuck.

But this isn’t that kind of post. And I’m not that kind of guy.

I’m still figuring this shit out.

The reason I’m sharing this—even though I really, really didn't want to—is because no one talks about this part.

They share the wins. The bazillion-figure launches. The perfect morning routine. How they're hustling their faces off 24/7. The effortless 100-pound transformation. Etc, etc.

It's harder to be honest about the struggles because you might not come across as 'cool' as everyone thinks you are (to be clear, I'm under no illusion that people think I'm cool lol––I'm speaking generally, k?)

Here's the problem with that: If we only share the good stuff, all we do is reinforce the lie that struggle = weakness. That if you’re not thriving 24/7, you’re doing something wrong.

As if that's real life.

It wasn't all bad, though. One big thing I learned over the last month was that I have a much higher tolerance for pushing myself than I thought. There's something to be said for short periods where you really––as the Gen Z'ers would say––"lock in" and commit to something.

Anyway, do what you will with all that. It just felt good to write it out. Now, let's move on to the rest of the email.

Today, we're looking at the safety of creatine and a new study that directly investigated whether creatine causes hair loss.

Creatine works, but is it safe?
​(+ a new study looking at creatine and hair loss)

Creatine is one of the most studied and widely used supplements in the fitness world — and for good reason. There's a ton of research showing creatine supplementation can improve strength and body composition. [1, 2]

In fact, creatine has some of the strongest evidence for both performance and health benefits across any supplement on the market [3].

Yet, despite mountains of research showing creatine is safe and effective, there are still concerns about its safety, thanks to a handful of case studies and online anecdotes.

Recently, a group of researchers reviewed 739 studies on creatine to see whether it caused any side effects. [4]

Here's what they found:

• Across 685 creatine trials, 94 studies (13.7%) reported some kind of side effect.
  ​
• In the placebo group? 86 of 652 studies (13.2%) reported side effects.

The only side effects that showed a statistically significant increase in the creatine group were:

• GI distress: 4.9% (vs 4.3% placebo)
• Muscle cramping/pain: 2.9% (vs 0.9% placebo)

Everything else — headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, kidney-related stuff, sleep issues, etc. — showed no meaningful difference between creatine and placebo.

So, sure, creatine caused more GI issues and muscle cramping statistically. But is this practically relevant?

Let’s look at the numbers:

• The difference in GI issues between creatine and placebo was 0.6%.
• The difference in muscle cramping between creatine and placebo was 2%.

When you have 600+ studies and thousands of participants, even small blips become statistically significant. But that doesn’t mean they’re actually meaningful in real life.

The researchers also looked at large-scale epidemiological data: Out of 28.4 million reports of creatine use, only 203 adverse events were recorded. That’s a 0.0007% incident rate.

In short, creatine is safe and effective. The side effects are rare, usually mild, and often overblown. Whether you take creatine is up to you, but the evidence is clear: If you lift weights, you might make slightly better gains in muscle and strength supplementing with creatine than without. But as always: You can do whatever the fuck you want to do.

But doesn't creatine cause hair loss?

It's impossible to discuss creatine without someone asking me if it will cause hair loss.

This idea traces back to a 2009 study on college-aged rugby players, where levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) — a hormone associated with male pattern baldness — increased after a three-week creatine loading phase [5].

However, the researchers weren’t studying hair loss.

They were examining how creatine affected certain androgens — a group of hormones responsible for what we think of as ‘male’ traits. But the findings were enough to ignite a myth that just won't go away.

There are two key details worth pointing out about the 2009 study:

• DHT levels stayed within the normal clinical range.

At baseline, the creatine group’s average DHT level was 0.98 nmol/L. After seven days of loading, it rose to 1.53 and settled at 1.38 by day 21.

For context, the normal clinical range for DHT is 0.38 to 3.27 nmol/L — meaning their levels remained well within healthy limits throughout.

• The creatine group started with lower DHT to begin with.

That initial DHT value of 0.98 in the creatine group was notably lower than the placebo group’s 1.26. So when you see a "56% increase," remember: percentage changes from lower baselines can sound more dramatic than they actually are.

Still, the whole 'creatine will make your hair fall out' myth still lingers despite no actual evidence of hair loss in the study.

Well, we now have a study that directly investigated whether creatine causes hair loss. [6]

Researchers took 45 resistance-trained men, split them into a creatine group (5g/day) and a placebo group, and followed them for 12 weeks. They measured testosterone, DHT, and even hair thickness.

The result?

No difference between creatine and placebo. Not for testosterone. Not for DHT. And not for any hair-related metric.

As a final note, the biggest factor in whether or not you lose your hair is genetics. A 2017 study, for example, found over 250 genetic variables that can influence male pattern baldness. Considering this, I think blaming one single thing, like creatine, is a bit silly. [7]

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–Aa

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