In today's society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how you look.
Almost everybody wants that perfect body. But with all the things
people have to do, not many are willing to put in the time to get it.
So there must be an easy way to get it. Right? Not too long ago people
were experimenting with anabolic
steroids. They injected horse testosterone into their veins to increase
the amount of muscle mass produced from lifting. But after a while, some
professional athletes and high profile people started showing the
side effects that are associated with them. For example, Lyle Alzado, a
popular star in the NFL, developed a brain tumor and died. This scared
a lot of people and the recreational uses of steroids decreased. With
the dangers of steroids well known people started looking for other
substances to give them an edge. Bee pollen, carnitine and chromium
picolinate, were among the things people tried. Of course none of these
worked. But now there is a product on the market that has been proven to
significantly enhance athletic performance in the areas of power, strength,
and muscle mass. This substance is Creatine Phosphate.
ABOUT CREATINE
When you exercise you obviously burn energy. There are many things
involved in this process. The energy that you burn is called Adenosine
Triphosphate, ATP. This molecule has very high energy bonds between the
phosphates and the rest of the molecule. Your body breaks these bonds
releasing the energy for use and changing the molecule to ADP
(di-phosphate). Since the body has a relatively low supply of ATP,
it needs to convert the ADP back into ATP. Creatine helps to speed this
process along. Creatine is an amino acid made in your liver and stored in
your muscles.
In the diet it is found in milk, steak, and some fish. Although
scientists have known about it for about 160 years, studies on it have
have just started to be done.
CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION
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After the publication of test results in 1990, the area of creatine
supplementation has exploded. Now almost everyone knows what it is and
someone who is using it. As was stated earlier, creatine helps speed up
the process of converting ADP back into ATP. So it is logical that if
you increase the amount of creatine you should increase the conversion
rate. The daily requirement of creatine is about two grams. Most of the
creatine supplement products recommend taking ten times that amount for
the first week or so to saturate your muscles, and five grams a day to
maintain it. In most published studies the logic is correct; if you
increase dietary creatine you increase stored creatine.
DOES IT WORK?
With the increase of stored creatine there should be an increase in
conversion time. In most of the studies that I have seen this is true.
There is also a relationship between the amount of hydration in a muscle
cell and the amount of work it can do. Creatine makes the cell retain
water and therefore should increase the amount of work individual cells
can do. But this is not all that it does. In many studies, along
with increased recovery time, creatine showed to increase muscle mass,
explosive power and strength. In one study groups of athletes put on five
to seven pounds of lean muscle mass in a month. These results were far
better than athletes receiving a placebo in the same study. Some critics
state that the increase in muscle mass is mostly water, but there are
studies that say there is an increase in the size of Type II muscle fibers.
With the increase in mass there should be an increase in power. In the
same study the athletes saw a thirty percent increase in bench-press.
With an increase in strength and recovery time there is an increase in
overall explosive power.
IS IT FOR ME?
Although creatine supplementation has shown results in particular areas,
it doesn't help everyone. The supplements are pretty expensive and
with the recommended dosage, they go pretty fast. If you are not
serious about training or are a weekend warrior you may see results
but you will pay for them. But if you are seriously into
bodybuilding, creatine will help you see gains. Also, athletes that
perform short burst sprints with little recovery time will benefit
from creatine. Basketball and football players in particular. But if
you are an endurance athlete such as a marathoner or a sprinter
there are studies that show that creatine supplementation may slow you
down. Some think it is from the weight gained. There are also people
who are immune to its effects. They are officially called
nonresponders. These people are studied little and it is not known
why they are immune or who these people are.
IS IT SAFE?
Since studies on creatine loading have only been going on for less than a
decade, it is still unknown what long term effects the extra creatine
will have. Some researchers fear that, with the amount of extra creatine
contrived through the diet, the body might stop producing it. The only
way we will find out the negative effects of long term use is time. The
sales of creatine supplements are very strong, so a lot of people are
using it. After a decade goes by we might find out the hard way that it
is dangerous.
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