Creatine Store - Sports Nutrition and Fitness Products

When was Creatine Discovered?

Creatine was first discovered in 1832 when French scientist Chevreul discovered a new ingredient of meat to which he named Creatine. The name creatine is taken from the source from which it was extracted (Kreas is the Greek word for flesh).

Later German physian Justus von Liebig confirmed that Creatine is a regular constituent of flesh. Creatine levels in wild animals were found to be 10 times higher compared to captive animals which suggested that physical activity might have an influence on the amount of Creatine present in the body. Early creatine supplemtation consisted of a meat extract called Liebigs Fleischextrakt which was the only source for Creatine supplementation for the next 100 years.

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Who Uses Creatine?

Many celebrated professional sports persons and Olympic athletes use Creatine. In fact and estimated 80% of the athletes at the 2004 Olympics in Athens were reported to have used Creatine. Mark McGwire, one of baseball's greatest ever players, used Creatine during the 1998 season when he set the single season home run record, making Creatine the most popular sports nutrition supplemtnt in the US. Creatine supplementation has become a common practice among professional, elite and amateur athletes and bodybuilders to help enhance exercise performance.

As far back as 1992 Olympic champions Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell reportedly used Creatine, as did the Cambridge University rowing team in training for three months before defeating the strong favourites Oxford. Nearly all premiership football teams also use this supplement during the season

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What is Creatine?

Creatine occurs naturally in the human body and plays a major role in energy production. The total Creatine store in humans is approximately 120 g for the averageadult (70 kg) and the daily turnover rate of Creatine is estimated to be about 1.6% of the total Creatine pool (2-3 g per day).

Creatine in the body comes from three different amino acids (Arginine, Glycine and Metheonine) mostly in the liver and kidney. Creatine is transported in the bloodstream to various body tissues, including the heart, brain and testes; however the vast majority (roughly 95%) is found in the skeletal muscle. Creatine is taken up from the blood against a large concentration gradient by a sodium dependent Creatine transporter (CreaT) that spans the plasma membrane.

Extracellular Creatine enters the cytosol, where rapid phosphorylation by the enzyme Creatine Kinase takes place. About 60-70% of the muscle total Creatine content is stored in the form of the high-energy molecule Phosphocreatine that is unable to pass trough membranes, thus trapping Creatine in the muscle cell.

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How is Creatine utilised in the body?

During exercise your muscles use a number of 'fuels' from within or outside the muscle structure to create a substance known as ATP which is broken down to produce the energy for muscle contractions to take place. When used for energy production the ATP loses a Phosphate Group and becomes ADP. Phosphates need to be produced to resynthesise ATP for continuous energy production. The 'fuels' that do this include Phosphoc-reatine, Glycogen, Glucose plus Lactate and Free Fatty Acids or intramuscular stores of triacylglycerides.

For short duration, high-intensity exercise, such as weight lifting or sprinting for example, Phospho-creatine along with the non-oxidative breakdown of Glycogen to Lactate provides the necessary ATP. However Phospho-creatine stores themselves are extremely limited and need to be replenished. It is this requirement for Phospho-creatine which has resulted in athletes utilising Creatine as a supplement for their training. Research has shown Creatine supplementation can result in greater levels of Phospho-creatine in the muscle stores resulting in it's growth to become one of the most common sports training supplements today.

The Basics All the above Physiology means that Creatine is a naturally occurring product in the human body. In the muscle creatine is used to produce the fuel, Phospho-creatine, which helps resynthesis ATP for energy production.

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How does Supplementing with Creatine Help?

By using Creatine as a supplement it is thought to result in greater muscle fibre hypertrophy (increase in cross sectional area of the muscle) when undertaking resistance exercise, compared to when the exercise is performed without creatine supplementation. Natural Creatine levels are similar for both males and females but it has been suggested that there are 'responders' and 'non-responders' with individuals who have the lower initial total Creatine showing the greater uptake (2).

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What is the Daily Usage of Creatine and how much should I supplement?

Creatine turnover in a 70kg man is around 2g per day which is supplemented by food intake and internal synthesis. For those who are in training, such as strength or sprint training, they should require no more than 5-6g of creatine per day.

Creatine dosage instructions often describe a loading phase where the user should have an intake of around 20g of creatine per day for the initial week after which a reduced amount of around 5-10g creatine per day is thought to be sufficient. Whether this has any extra benefit could be of doubt as work has shown that a dosage of around 3g per day can eaily create the desired Phospho-creatine increase although over a slightly longer time span (2). Most suggest that a maintenance dose of 5g creatine per day is sufficient following the loading period. Studies using low dose levels of around 8g creatine per day have shown that when performing high-intensity exercise, Creatine supplementation resulted in increases in total work to fatigue, peak force and peak power production, with the ability to maintain a mean peak force for a greater duration (4).

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I've only been taking Creatine for a few days yet appear bigger already, have I really put on that much muscle so quickly?

You will not have put on a huge amount of muscle immediately. What you will find is that Creatine Supplementation will initially help hydrate the muscle fibres giving a bigger appearance. It is important to maintain hydrated when taking Creatine as part of your diet and training programme. The increased Phospho-creatine stores will eventually allow you to lift heavier weights for more reps and therefore the extra training capability will result in extra benefits.

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Does Creatine only benefit those lifting heavy weights?

Creatine is utilised by a variety of sporting people, whether they be heavy weight trainers, athletes, footballers, rugby players, and also endurance athletes. If you are interested in improving your performance, strength or speed, then Creatine could be for you.

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Is there any Research and Scientific evidence of the effects of Creatine Supplementation on performance?

Creatine is one of the best-studied supplements in the field of sports nutrition and it is proven as an ergogenic substance an this has been reviewed and accepted by numerous authorities

A report in the summer of 2000 (6) showed that a 12 week resistance training program, comparing Creatine use to non- Creatine use, produced positive results in the test population (all male). Creatine users were found to have a greater body mass and fat free mass, after, than those simply performing the training without creatine , with no change in overall body fat percentage. As for the side effects of Creatine, the study reported no significant effects on dietary energy or macronutrient distribution.

Similar positive results have been shown in other scientific tests on creatine. Another 12 week study with a loading phase of 25g of creatine per day in week one reduced to 5g per day of creatine for the final eleven weeks showed an increase in maximal strength for a range of exercises compared against non- creatine use. Creatine users also were found to have a greater increase in cross-sectional area of Type I, Type IIa and Type IIab muscle fibres, showing a general greater increase in overall muscle size (7).

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Are the effects similar for both Males and Females?

Similar results have been found in test on women. A recent study showed that a loading phase, followed by a regular low dosage increased muscle Phosphocreatine by 6%. Maximal strength and fat free mass was significantly higher following the Creatine supplementation and even during a 10 week detraining period, with continuation of low dosages of Creatine, these levels remained higher than the non-supplementing group. After 4 weeks of non-intake the subjects muscle Phosphocreatine returned to normal (8).

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Does the evidence suggest we should use Creatine as part of our Training?

Evidence shows that Creatine supplementation does benefit those who are involved in high-intensity exercise, whether male or female, allowing for increased strength and duration of exercise, with facilitated resynthesis, and therefore recovery, between exercise bouts.

We should point out that the majority of scientific evidence assessing the benefits of Creatine has been performed using fit, healthy individuals and also the sedentary, but little has been performed with higher level and elite athletes.

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Recommended Creatine Supplements

• Reflex Creapure Creatine
• Maximuscle Creatamax Extreme
• NO-Xplode

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