CREATINE AND STRENGTH TRAINING

DOES CREATINE INCREASE ENERGY GENERATED DURING INTENSE EXERCISE

Controversy continues to swirl around the facts and assumptions about creatine. What is it? What part does it play in conditioning and strength training? Are some, any or all of the claims made on its behalf true, partly true, or altogether false?

A study by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), set out to research the issues surrounding creatine. "Issues about creatine have been surfacing lately, with high school and college athletes taking supplements," said lead researcher Richard Kreider, Ph.D., FACSM. "If it really does increase strength and endurance, what are the implications, for both athletes and the average exerciser?"

The important question of the medical safety of creatine supplementation for prolonged periods needed to be addressed; other than weight gain, no side effects had been reported, but no other research had been conducted. The team of researchers designed its study to examine the effects of creatine supplementation on body composition, maximal lifting volume, and sprint performance in well-trained athletes, at the same time evaluating the effects of the dietary supplementation on their blood chemistry. Using a 28-day double-blind randomized test on 28 NCAA football players, researchers assigned dietary creatine supplementation to 14 and a placebo to the other half. Neither the players nor the scientists knew what was provided to which group.

The football players were told to take no dietary supplements for eight weeks before the test, then to maintain their normal diets throughout the four weeks, adding a powdered form of either creatine monohydrate or a placebo. While taking the supplement, the subjects participated in resistance and agility training that included bench presses, shoulder presses, lateral pulldowns, seated cable rows, abdominal crunches, squats and many other exercises. Following the 28-day supplementation period, they were required to undergo several tests, including blood analysis, measurement of body weight and composition, maximal effort repetition tests and sprint tests.

The test participants who took the creatine gained significantly in their fat/bone-free mass, in isotonic lifting volume and sprint performance (they weighed more, found themselves able to move greater weight volume, and cycled faster for short periods of time). The researchers concluded that creatine supplementation may enhance physiological adaptation to resistance/agility training.