Conditioning Research

Forget the creatine and caffeine the lesson I take from this is that sleep deprivation erodes your skills....so don't lose sleep. Skill execution and sleep deprivation: effects of acute caffeine or creatine supplementation - a randomized placebo-controlled trial full pdf available.

That post the other day on creatine got me thinking about it again. I had not taken it for about a year or so. It usually makes me gain a bit of weight but also gives me cramps. The research seems to indicate that it is safe and effective with lots of benefits apart from those related to sports performance. I found some of the comments on the Heart Scan Blog post about creatine to be interesting - lost of positive testimony. The comment to this blog about the benefit in terms of muscle soreness was timely too. I've been very sore after a Krav Maga session this week! Anyway I am taking creatine again (despite what I wrote here ) for a while to see how it goes. (Update, Mike points out other recent research )

Creatine seems to be about the only muscle building supplement that actually works. There has been quite a lot of research into it. Here is a new one. Full study pdf currently available here . Interesting conclusion - creatine protects from the effects of oxidative stress Creatine-induced activation of antioxidative defence in myotube cultures revealed by explorative NMR-based metabonomics and proteomics Background Creatine is a key intermediate in the energy metabolism and supplementation of creatine has been used for increasing muscle mass, strength and endurance. Creatine supplementation has also been reported to trigger the expression of insulin like growth factor I, to increase the fat-free mass and improve cognition in elderly, and more explorative approaches like transcriptomics has revealed additional information. The aim of the present study was to reveal additional insight into biochemical effects of creatine supplementation on the protein and metabolite level by integrati...

This is what the scientists say: (the full article is available ) The position of the Society regarding nutrient timing and the intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in reference to healthy, exercising individuals is summarized by the following eight points: Maximal endogenous glycogen stores are best promoted by following a high-glycemic, high-carbohydrate (CHO) diet (600 - 1000 grams CHO or ~ 8 - 10 g CHO/kg/d), and ingestion of free amino acids and protein (PRO) alone or in combination with CHO before resistance exercise can maximally stimulate protein synthesis. During exercise, CHO should be consumed at a rate of 30 - 60 grams of CHO/hour in a 6 - 8 % CHO solution (8 - 16 fluid ounces) every 10 - 15 minutes. Adding PRO to create a CHO:PRO ratio of 3 - 4:1 may increase endurance performance and maximally promotes glycogen re-synthesis during acute and subsequent bouts of endurance exercise. Ingesting CHO alone or in combination with PRO during resistance exercise increases ...

Way back, well at least 12 years ago or so, there was no internet for me. That meant there were fewer distractions. Today every day there are new articles, new books, new routines, new ideas to absorb my attention. Back then I would read Hardgainer magazine, or Ironman or books. That was when I first heard about Creatine in a book by Clarence Bass . It sounded fantastic - a supplement that gave what we all wanted: more strength, more size and no side effects. Plus it was legal. So the marketing hype started and it became the latest in a long line of supplements that promised the world to desparate young bodybuilders too sensible to try steroids. It was the new Ornithine, the new yohimbe extract, the new aminos.... But apparently it worked. I tried it and all it did as far as I remember was give me a raging thirst and extreme cramps in my calves. It was also expensive so I did not persevere. The thing is, creatine is still around. Most such supplements fade into the outer dar...