Creatine - anaerobic & aerobic performance

This will take 6 to 8 minutes of your time. I went overboard with this one but I promise you the information is BRILLIANT.

Creatine

Creatine is the King of ergogenic performance (well, legal ergogenic performance) and is by far the most studied supplement ever.

Skeletal muscle holds about 95% of all creatine stores with 1g  per day synthesised in the liver, kidneys and we think perhaps by the brain too (Joncquel-ChevalierCurt M, Voicu PM, Fontaine
M, et al. Creatine biosynthesis and transport inhealth and disease. Biochimie. Dec 2015;119:146-65.doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2015.10.022.) Another 1g comes from diet. Your body also excretes about 2g of creatine per day (Joncquel-Chevalier CurtM, Voicu PM, Fontaine
M, et al. Creatine biosynthesis and transport in healthand disease. Biochimie. Dec 2015;119:146- 65. doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2015.10.022).

Benefits of creatine beyond muscle building:

Creatine can aid in prevention of neurological disorders, sarcopenia, inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, improves cognitive processing and acts as an antidepressant. (Riesberg LA, Weed SA,McDonald TL, Eckerson JM, Drescher KM. Beyond muscles: The untapped potentialof creatine Int Immunopharmacol. Aug2016;37:31-42.doi:10.1016/jintimp.2015.12.034).

How much creatine should I have?

Hultman et al. (1996) found that after an initial “loading phase” of 20g/day for 6 days with 2g a day thereafter was enough to maintain high total creatine concentration for 35 days, whereas stopping creatine supplementation after 6 days caused a slow, gradual decline of creatine concentration in muscle. The recommendations I give clients are 5g a day every day for 30 days and then 5g a day every day after that. 9g a day for 14 days and then 5g a day everyday after that. 20g a day, split into 4 equal dosages, for 7 days and then 5g a day every day after that.

What benefits are there for anaerobic performance?

Creatine enhances exercise performance by suturing Phosphocreatine stores (which aid in rapid replenishment of ATP i.e. the body’s energy currency), increasing short-term/ anaerobic work capacity and buffering pH changes to muscle due to accumulation of lactate and hydrogen ions (basically, it’s the hydrogen ions which accumulate during exercise which cause the muscle to “burn” and also reduces glycolysis which is essentially reducing your body’s ability to use carbs for performance. Creatine inhibits this. It is not lactic acid which makes you fatigue, it is the hydrogen ions).  (Hultman et al. 1991;Karlsson and B.Saltin 1970).

Creatine is especially useful in any high-intensity explosive exercise that lasts anything between 30 to 150 seconds e.g. lifting and sprinting.(Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez

A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. Jul 2012;9(1):33.doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-33) If you want to go beyond your VO2 max, your phosphocreatine system (which creatine increases) becomes especially important.

Creatine increases intracellular hydration (hydration in your cells), which increases anabolic processes. Weight gain is inevitable due to an increase in lean body mass (muscle mass) especially alongside a calorie surplus. There could potentially be a 2% of total body weight increase in just the loading phase due to water moving into the cells. (Williams, Kreider, and Branch 1999).

Creatine can effect increases in satellite cells , myonuclei, myogenic gene transcription, muscle protein synthesis and decreases in muscle protein breakdown. GAINZ, GAINZ, GAINZ.

You could potentially have an increase in 1 to 2kg of lean body mass (muscle mass) in just 28 days!!! (PerskyAM, Brazeau GA. Clinical pharmacology of the dietary supplement creatinemonohydrate. Pharmacol Rev. Jun 2001;53(2):161-76.)

“There are no benefits of creatine for endurance”. YES THERE ARE:

This is an area of “yes it works” and “no it does not work”… First of all, I genuinely do not believe creatine will have a large direct increase in endurance performance because it will not largely help with your aerobic system, your ability to utilise oxygen, as that is the predominant energy system you are going to use during endurance exercise.

Does not work:

1.     Majority of an endurance athlete economy comes from weight, so an increase in weight is not favourable (but can be managed with a well-structured nutrition program with support of a sports nutritionist).

2.    Does not support absolute VO2 max (potentially down regulates it) but can support RELATIVE VO2 max. Relative VO2 max is, in my opinion, is more important anyway. This is what most meta-analysis you see will state.

3.    Most studies show creatine has not supported performance for endurance directly.

It does work:

1.    Helps increase muscle mass and therefore increases in bone mineral density, stronger joints and so on (reduced risk of energy).

2.    Increases phosphocreatine stores for rapid replenishment of energy (ATP) which can aid in muscle contraction.

3.    Where there are big changes in pace e.g. a sprint finish at the end of a marathon, where high intensity is absolutely required to finish.

(Creatine Supplementation and Endurance Performance Dr Scott Forbes - Research is under final stage of Review and was passed on by Dr. Scott Forbes, world expert on Creatine).

I would recommend creatine for endurance athletes but if you are not having it in-season, have it on off-season!

How long for creatine to come out my system?

Four to six weeks.

How safe is creatine?

Creatine is SAFE when taking the recommended intakes noted in this newsletter and is the MOST STUDIED SUPPLEMENT EVER.

I have been informed by a strength and conditioning coach, however, dosages of 1.5kg a day on rats have been linked with cancer but I have not read or found this study. Creatine does not cause kidney issues unless you have a history of kidney problems already.  (Persky AM, Brazeau GA. Clinical pharmacology of the dietary supplement creatine monohydrate. Pharmacol Rev. Jun 2001;53(2):161-76.).

Creatine does not cause hair loss. This derived from a study by van der Merwe and colleagues, who reported a significant increase in dihydrotesterone (DHT) in college-aged male rugby players who happened to supplement creatine. DHT is the main antigen associated with the development of male-pattern baldness. These results, as you are probably experiencing right now, have shocked and caused fear into all those who take / considered taking creatine at some point. However, the results have never been replicated and the DHT levels in the study were, importantly, still considered within normal levels. At least 12 further studies have failed to prove increases in free testosterone (a precursor for DHT).

From the evidence we currently have, the idea that creatine causes hair loss is just simply incorrect.

For myth busting on creatine, click this link

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w

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which I was sent by Dr. Scott Phorbes also known as Dr. Creatine or “Scott Creatine Forbes” on Instagram.

Creatine in your diet

The main sources of creatine are from fish and red meat. Vegetarians and Vegans have negligible concentrations of creatine so taking a supplement can benefit vegetarians and vegans more so.

The largest increase in creatine in muscle creatine concentration is observed in people with lowest initial concretions, whereas those who already have high creatine concentrations benefits only marginally (Harris, Soderkung, and Hultman 1992). THIS IS YOU, VEGANS! WINNER!!!

To finish:

I hope you found this useful! If you can take away anything from this topic, unless you have a case of kidney problems already (remember creatine doesn’t cause kidney problems), TAKE CREATINE!!! This is the only supplement on earth that we KNOW WORKS and ARE CONFIDENT ABOUT! Dosing as high as 30g a day for 5 years has shown no ill effects… (Kreider R8, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al.International Society ofSports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatinesupplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr.2017;14:18. doi:10.1186/S12970-017-0173-z).

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Thank you for your time,

Rich

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