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Foreword
I personally believe that diet and training are far more important than any combination of supplements. However there are a few supplements that work, creatine being the most notable of all of them. In fact, Creatine is the best selling supplement ever!.
How does Creatine help?
Creatine supplementation can help out athletes in a lot of ways, including:
- Increased pumps or 'strength' when lifting weights
- Muscle size enhancements
- More energy for your workouts
What is Creatine?
Creatine is nothing but an amino acid, produced in the body from arginine, glycine and methionine. It plays a key role in producing energy in cells as creatine phosphate in regenerating ATP - Adenosine Triphosphate in the skeletal muscle. Oral administration of creatine increases muscle stores and may increase muscle strength and improve highly improved performance in exercising.
Where is Creatine found?
In foods, creatine is found in meat and fish, but there's a catch - cooking destroys most of it! This makes Creatine supplementation very important. Vegetarians, especially can see very good results with Creatine supplementation.
How safe is it?
Since creatine has only been recently introduced to the market it is difficult to determine whether or not there will be long term health effects from it's use. However it must be noted that to date there is NONE. Not even one reputable study that shows creatine has any dangerous side-effects. After eight years with no severe side effects I believe that one can begin to assume that creatine is relatively safe.
Where is Creatine produced and stored in the body?[
About half of the supply of creatine needed by the human body is manufactured in the liver and kidneys. On average, your muscles need about 2 grams of creatine a day (more for muscular people, less for skinny folks), but it depends on your activity level as well as the degree of muscle mass your body has.
Creatine is stored in muscle cells as phosphocreatine and is used to help generate cellular energy for muscle contractions. It also may increase the amount of water that each muscle cell holds - thus increasing the size of the muscle. Creatine is used in the body to produce creatine phosphate (CP), which can be thought of as a storage form of quick energy. The function of CP is to re-generate the primary supply of energy in cells, which comes from adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP supplies energy for all cells in your body. Upon giving up some of its energy, ATP becomes ADP (diphosphate) and needs to be regenerated back to ATP to do it all over again. CP performs this crucial ATP re-generation step by donating a phosphate group to ADP.
When you are working out at high intensity, a higher concentration of CP in muscles serves as an 'energy reservoir' for your workouts. Though it has not been studied extensively, there may also be a role for creatine in maintaining muscle mass and preventing the muscle 'wasting' that occurs due to (old) age and in chronic conditions such as heart conditions.
The Science Behind Creatine Supplementation:
Creatine is a supplement that has a lot of studies done on it - so this makes it a far more safe and trusted supplement compared to the other supplements.There are many articles emphasizing the efficacy of creatine supplements in improving performance in high intensity activities. Creatine does not appear to enhance physical performance in low intensity exercises like jogging or cycling. Creatine benefits are limited to anaerobic sports such as like weight training, high intensity cardio like running/sprinting etc.
The benefits of creatine are likely to be due to an increased ability to train harder - thus increasing strength. This might be good news to athletes who are training intensely, but it means that creatine alone would probably have very little effect on the muscle mass of sedentary individuals.
Dosage
A significant gain in physical performance in high-intensity exercise has been shown with creatine doses of 20 grams to 30 grams a day, but more recent research is indicating that similar performance benefits are possible with much lower doses in the range of 2 gm - 5 gm a day. it may take time, however for lower creatine doses to be effective.
Some patients who were severely medically ill, who have been given extremely large doses of creatine have increased strength by about 10-15 %. This could be great for someone, for example who can now move his hands and legs freely. 10-15 grams of creatine per day for 5-10 days followed by 5 grams per day for a week or two have produced increases in muscle strength in the appendages of patients with muscular dystrophy. These patients have lower creatine levels than other healthy people, so boosting muscle stores may help augment cellular energy production and support muscular contraction.
What is the Best Time to Take Creatine?
I believe taking creatine post workout is the most beneficial time. Why - Read this - Insulin helps push more creatine into your body's muscle cells, if you are a smart athelete then in your post workout meal you should be eating foods that help spike your insulin, if this is the case, then taking creatine with this meal will help it's uptake into muscle cells. The body absorbs many nutrients much better after a workout. Creatine will help refuel your body's low creatine phosphate stores.
Side Effects
No serious side effects have been scientifically verified in subjects who have supplemented Creatine for about four weeks or less. There are anecdotal reports of muscle cramping a** **** with the creatine supplements for extremely long times and huge doses. Some athletes have reported muscle tears & cramps, even dehydration. Since creatine causes water retention, its advisable to drink lots of water during Creatine supplementation.
The Monetary Factor
Consumers spent well over $100 million - $200 million on creatine supplements in 2005. Creatine has become one of the hottest sports supplements for one major reason - it works. Creatine appears to be effective in specific situations - those activities which are high-intensity and require short bouts of repeated activity (e.g. weight training, high intensity sports like soccer, etc).
Dosage
There are two parts involved in Creatine Supplementation:
1 - The Loading Phase: The most common regimen for creatine supplementation follows a two-phase cycle with a 5-10 day loading phase (20-25 g/day)
2 - The Maintenance phase (2-5 grams a day) for 6 weeks - which maintains muscle saturation.
Some people cycle creatine after 6 weeks, some don't. Its up to you to see what works best for you. Its not necessary to do so but it can help. Your body has an internal equilibrium which you can swing in your favor for a limited time, but over time that equilibrium will eventually swing back.
It is still unclear and debatable whether the loading phase is actually needed to achieve the same end result. Creatine absorption appears to be enhanced when the supplement is taken with a high-carbohydrate drink such as grape juice.
Other Considerations
Creatine causes weight gain in the form of water. Creatine supplementation increases water retention in the muscles. People with regular kidney problems should refrain from using Creatine supplementation.
References:
1. Aaserud R, Gramvik P, Olsen SR, Jensen J. Creatine supplementation delays onset of fatigue during repeated bouts of sprint running. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 1998 Oct;8(5 Pt 1):247-51.
2. Archer MC. Use of oral creatine to enhance athletic performance and its potential side effects. Clin J Sport Med. 1999 Apr;9(2):119.
3. Becque MD, Lochmann JD, Melrose DR. Effects of oral creatine supplementation on muscular strength and body composition. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Mar;32(3):654-8.
4. Benzi G. Is there a rationale for the use of creatine either as nutritional supplementation or drug administration in humans participating in a sport? Pharmacol Res. 2000 Mar;41(3):255-64.
5. Bermon S, Venembre P, Sachet C, Valour S, Dolisi C. Effects of creatine monohydrate ingestion in sedentary and weight-trained older adults. Acta Physiol Scand. 1998 Oct;164(2):147-55.
1. Stoll B, Gerok W, Lang F., Haussings. Liver Cell Damage and Protein Synthesis.
Biochemical Journal 287 (Pt 1) 217-222, 1992.
2. Kreider et. al. Perceived Fatigue a** **** With Creatine Supplementation During the
Fall Collegiate Baseball Series of Division I Players. Journal of Athletic Training.
April-June 2001 v31 i2 pS 83.
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Cutting cycle started on July 2010...
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