Creatine without working out after 45 — 2.4 pounds of lean tissue in 12 weeks, in a group of 13

2,400 Americans a month ask a search engine whether you can take creatine without working out. In August 2026 a randomized trial answered it for the people who ask most often: sedentary adults between 45 and 65.

What did the trial find?

64 adults finished 12 weeks on either 10 grams of creatine monohydrate a day or a placebo, double-blind, with body composition measured by DXA.

• Without exercise, the creatine group gained 1.1 kg of lean tissue, about 2.4 pounds. The placebo group lost 0.16 kg.
• With exercise and diet, creatine gained 1.27 kg and placebo 0.14 kg.

The catch is the size of that first group: 13 people. Not exercising was each participant's own choice, and the company that makes the creatine supplied it.

The short version, as a video:

We put the full breakdown — every study, every number, with the PMIDs — on our own site.

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Originally published at super-achiever.com. We check viral supplement claims against the primary research and publish the results — including the ones that go against us.