ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere doesn’t understate the importance of supplementation when it comes to maintaining a ripped physique. On February 5, 2025, he broke down key differences between creatine’s monohydrate and hydrochloride form, providing insights into which option is superior.
Jeff Cavaliere boasts years of experience helping individuals reach their fitness goals. He implements science-based methods for training and has even helped shape athletes in Major League Baseball, thanks to his contributions as an assistant strength and conditioning coach to the New York Mets.
Whether he’s breaking down the ‘Golden Six’ workout routine of the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger or providing insights into the intensity of Navy SEAL David Goggins’ training endeavors, Cavaliere makes it a point to include his fans anytime he’s analyzing exercise. Now, he’s taking a closer look at creatine, breaking down the details behind its monohydrate and hydrochloride forms.
Jeff Cavaliere Discusses Which Form of Creatine Is Most Superior
In a recent YouTube video, Jeff Cavaliere calls creatine hydrochloride the most universal option, as it doesn’t cause gut issues like monohydrate does for 10-15% of users.
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“Creatine hydrochloride I find is the most universal in that the 10-15% of people that have gut issues from monohydrate won’t have those issues generally when they take the hydrochloride version.”
He underlined that you likely won’t suffer from gut issues with hydrochloride due to its absorbability.
“That’s just based on absorbability and the byproducts of the breakdown of monohydrate versus hydrochloride that tends to cause some gut distention and bloat. If that’s you, you’re not going to have those issues likely with hydrochloride” he explained.
However, the biggest downside of hydrochloride is its sour taste, which makes adding it into drinks more difficult.
“The downside to hydrochloride is that it’s so sour. If you were to take it like you would monohydrate–you can throw monohydrate in anything.
You can throw it into a shake or you can throw it into water, anything. It doesn’t have a taste. But if you put hydrochloride in it’s going to taste horrible.”
He shares that you can mask the taste of creatine’s hydrochloride form by adding it to citrusy drinks.
“So usually, it gets masked in other citrusy type things. So in our case, we have our pre-workout, we have creatine hydrochloride in that, and you don’t really taste it because it’s already got that really citrusy taste.”
The biggest advantage to hydrochloride is that it requires a smaller dose than what’s needed from monohydrate for the same health benefits.
“The upside of hydrochloride is that you can also take a lower dose to reach the same benefits. So five grams for monohydrate, about two or three grams would do the same thing with hydrochloride.”
Jeff Cavaliere isn’t the only credentialed name in fitness offering his take on creatine. Former seven-time Mr. Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger has also tackled the topic. He believes the monohydrate form is best for muscle growth.
Jeff Cavaliere underlines that there are benefits to using creatine monohydrate or hydrochloride. While hydrochloride has a sour taste, it provides the same health benefits as monohydrate but in smaller amounts.
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