Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Creatine Supplementation



Nutrition
Assessment Task 4

Creatine

Creatine is a group A supplement as shown in the AIS supplement program that is most commonly supplemented in the form of creatine monohydrate. It is most commonly used as an aid to the ATP PC system to perform increased maximum power and performance in high-intensity anaerobic work.

Creatine is used by loading the supplement, this can be done multiple ways such as a rapid loading phase which may be achieved within a week by taking repeated doses per day (such as 4 doses of 5g per day) or a slower loading phase over a longer period taking a smaller dose daily. Once loaded maintaining the dose will allow elevated levels to be sustained, when unloading the muscle creatine levels from saturated it will take at least 4 weeks to return to the normal resting levels. Creatine is best taken in doses with a considerable amount of carbohydrates as this will increase the uptake and storage into the muscles.

It is common to see a small weight gain when loading which may be water retention thus the person taking creating may find they feel slightly bloated. Aside from this there are no other real side effects, as a supplement it has been around for a long time with much research on the supplement suggesting it is safe and effective.

Because creatine shows a rather specialized performance increase it is easy to associate it with activities that will benefit. Any sport or activity that requires maximum power or high intensity anaerobic training would benefit from creatine supplementation, examples of this would be power lifting, rugby league or even any gym routine that focuses on strength work.




References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements

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