Creatine Creates Muscle Strength

Creatine is a combination of three amino acids ­arginine, glycine, and methionine and is an essential ingredient in the process that provides muscle cells with the energy they need to perform their primary job - contraction. Scientific studies have demonstrated that people who take creatine supplements benefit in several ways:

• Increased peak torque. Your muscles stay stronger longer, allowing you to generate greater force.
• Greater work and power output. Your muscles can work harder. This means that athletes like cyclists and sprinters who take creatine supplements are able to run or cycle faster for longer periods of time. In one study, during which cyclists' performance was measured during ten six second bouts of high-intensity cycling, creatine significantly increased their work output (energy/strength).
• Bigger, stronger muscles. Creatine permits your muscles to lift heavier weights more frequently without quitting from fatigue. Because you can perform more lifting, muscle growth is stimulated.
• Reduced lactic acid concentrations. Lactic acid, a by-product which forms in muscles during exercise, is one of the primary reasons that muscle fatigue sets in. In athletes who take creatine, muscle lactic acid levels drop by 41%.

Safe and legal. And best of all, creatine is a natural substance made in the body - although in insufficient amounts for optimal function - so it is safe, legal, and available for anyone - not just athletes - who wants to build up or maintain their muscle strength at a low cost.

If creatine was likened to a petrol additive it would give you more kilometers per liter.

How Does Creatine Work?

Creatine was first identified in muscle tissue in the early 1800's. One observant scientist at that time noted that creatine seemed to accumulate the most in those muscles that were used the most. By the beginning of the 20th century, scientists had discovered that by ingesting creatine, you could increase the level of creatine in your muscles. Then a salt of creatine (creatine phosphate) was identified as a major ingredient in the physiology that makes muscle cells contract. Creatine phosphate (the active form of creatine in muscle cells) works its magic by helping to regenerate the essential muscular fuel (energy), adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is an energy carrier molecule. It helps to transform and deliver the energy stored in molecules such as glucose to muscle cells where it is neeeded. ATP consists of a molecule of adenosine coupled with three phosphate molecules and a molecule of ribose (a specific sugar). The three phosphate molecules are linked to together by high-energy bonds known as pyrophosphate bonds.

In muscle cells, as soon as one of these bonds is severed by a process known as hydrolysis, peeling off one of the phosphate molecules, the energy that had been holding the linkage together is released. Having lost one of its phosphate groups, adenosine phosphate is transformed into adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Creatine, contained in the enzyme creatine kinase, helps to accelerate the release of energy by facilitating this reaction. This mini-spurt of energy is immediately utilised by enzymes in the muscle cell via a process named phosphorylation (sorry about the chemistry here), and is then used to fuel the next series of muscular contractions. If there was an endless supply of ATP, muscle cells could go on pumping all day. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and one reason is that the body normally keeps only a limited supply of ATP on hand - perhaps enough to fire muscles at maximal energy for only about ten seconds.

If the original reserves of ATP were the only source available, severe fatigue would quickly set in. However, you are able to exert your muscles for more than ten seconds because nature has invented an efficient method of recycling used ATP. All that's needed is creatine phosphate (CP). When a CP molecule meets an ADP molecule, it donates its phosphate group back to the ADP, forming ATP again and releasing a molecule of creatine back into the wild. A portion of this free creatine is converted to creatinine which is excreted through the kidneys. Regeneration of ATP from ADP keeps you going even longer, but you can guess what happens when your creatine stores run dry. With no creatine kinase to speed the release of energy from ATP and no creatine phosphate to recycle ADP into ATP, your engines grind to a halt, until your body can "refill" its creatine tank. The body uses the energy produced by this ATP-CP reaction for movements that require rapid and immediate energy for maximal performance. Athletes who rely on this source of energy include weight lifters, power lifters, sprinters, and martial artists.

Creatine Reduces Lactic Acid

Lactic acid is a by-product of another energy-producing process in muscles known as glycolysis, which kicks in when the ATP-CP system begins to run out of gas. Elevated lactic acid is recognized as a major cause of fatigue. As lactic acid levels rise with continued muscular effort, the increasing acidity inactivates the enzymes used in glycolysis, thus limiting the energy available to muscles. Fatigue soon sets in and remains until the system can restore a balance that is more favourable to exercise. By helping to neutralise excess lactic acid, CP reduces the consequences of lactic acidosis, and thus, makes muscles more resistant to fatigue. In one study creatine supplementation resulted in a 41% drop in lactic acid concentrations in muscle tissue. In another part of the same study, creatine supplementation increased the amount of work performed by 5% while lowering muscle lactate levels by 18%.

How Creatine Helps Build Muscles

The best way to build up your muscles, as any serious athlete or weight lifter knows, is to push them to their limit. As creatine lets your muscles perform more work for a longer period of time, you're going to be able to stimulate even more muscle growth than you would without creatine. Creatine's muscle building powers seem to lie in its ability to enhance the body's ability to create two key muscle proteins myosin and actin. Muscle cells must have adequate amounts of these proteins for continued contraction.

Where Does Creatine Come From?

The body gets most of the creatine it needs from dietary sources. Not surprisingly, the foods that contain large amounts of creatine are those derived from skeletal muscle, ie, beef, pork, and fish such as salmon, cod, tuna, and herring. It is unknown whether poultry also contains significant amounts of creatine. While eating these foods can certainly provide you with creatine, there are good reasons why they may not be the best sources. First, cooking destroys some of the creatine in meats. Second, in addition to creatine, meats (especially red meats) tend to contain some fatty acids that are undesirable in excess quantities.

The best way to get your creatine is via creatine monohydrate supplements. As Dr. Paul Greenhaff, the “father of creatine research” recently wrote in a review of creatine: “Creatine should not be viewed as another gimmick supplement; its ingestion is a means of providing immediate, significant performance improvements to athletes involved in explosive sports. In the long run, creatine may allow athletes to train without fatigue at an intensity higher than that to which they are accustomed. For these reasons alone, creatine supplementation could be viewed as a significant development in sports nutrition.”