it's weeks or months since you saw any appreciable gains in
strength or muscularity, you may well get used to hearing that
these sticking points are entirely normal and that there's no
alternative to working ever harder until your body somehow
miraculously trains its way through the problem.
But unfortunately when it comes to activities such as lifting
weights, body-building, field athletics, sprinting or contact
sports, the idea that "more is better" simply doesn't work. The
problem is that the stronger you get, the more intensively you
need to train to maintain your progress, placing huge demands on
the energy reserves in your muscles and your body's powers of
recovery.
So this can be an intensely frustrating time. Your progress has
inevitably slowed, yet if you try to force the pace beyond your
body's recovery ability you risk ceasing to progress altogether,
and may even find yourself getting weaker.
Not surprisingly then, strength and power event athletes have
searched desperately for anything that might help them get past
this barrier – even turning in large numbers to the illegal and
highly dangerous, but often extremely effective anabolic
steroids. But those sensible enough on grounds of ethics or
self-preservation not to go down this route needed something
else.
The isolation of creatine, a 100% natural substance that seemed
to mimic the effects of steroids therefore produced enormous
excitement. While even now the science behind creatine remains
to some extent in its infancy, the key to its importance seems
to lie in its relationship with another compound in your body
called adenosine-tri-
of energy your muscles need when engaged in an intensive, quick
burst activity such as lifting weights or sprinting.
The problem is that in most people supplies of ATP are
exhausted as quickly as within 10-15 seconds, to be replaced by
the useless by-product, adenosine-bi-
enough, it seems that the creatine stored within your muscles
can then convert the ADP produced by this process back into ATP,
producing more energy for your muscles, rather in the way that a
car turbocharger works.
More energy in your muscles means the ability to perform
longer, harder workouts, which can't help but dramatically
accelerate your gains in greater strength and power – always
provided of course that you allow adequate time for recovery.
And although less well understood, there is evidence that
creatine can enhance the process of protein synthesis by which
your body repairs and strengthens muscle tissue, potentially
reducing the necessary recovery time between workouts.
Creatine is produced in the liver by the synthesis of three
essential amino acids – arginine, methionine and glycine and
around 95-98% of your body's supply is stored in the muscles –
typically in a concentration of around 3.5-4 grams per kilogram
of bodyweight.
So the crucial question was: would supplementing these natural
levels enhance creatine's effects? When research indicated that
the answer to this question was yes, it was no surprise that
creatine quickly became the biggest selling sports supplement of
all time. In fact as long ago as 1988 more than $200 million
worth of creatine products were sold.
But a couple of cautionary words are necessary. Some of the
marketing behind this astonishing figure has been ethically
dubious to put it politely. It has to be stated that creatine is
definitely not some miracle formula for superhuman strength.
You're not going to be able to pop a pill and sit back on the
couch with a pizza while your body quickly and painlessly
transforms itself into that of an elite strength athlete.
Creatine may dramatically enhance the results of your workouts,
but in no way can it be a substitute for them. If you want the
results, you still have to put in the work, a point by the way,
which is often forgotten, but equally true of anabolic steroids.
Secondly, creatine seems only to be really effective for
certain kinds of physical activity; those which demand muscle
strength, bulk and explosive power. The benefits have proved
much harder to assess in the case of endurance events such as
long distance running, swimming cycling or triathlon, although
there is some evidence that creatine may help in slowing down or
reducing the build up of lactic acid, the substance that causes
that characteristic and painful burning sensation as your
muscles fatigue during exercise.
Remember, too, that creatine occurs naturally within the body,
and as with other such substances the amounts vary from
individual to individual. So understand that if you're one of
those who naturally produce high levels, further supplementation
may produce little or no benefit. Conversely, if your body
produces only moderate to low amounts, a good quality supplement
may well produce very rapid developments in your physique.
The only real way to tell which category your body falls into
is to give it a test drive with this new muscle fuel supplement.
A month of supplementation, combined of course with regular
tough workouts, should be enough to find out whether creatine's
going to help you.
About The Author: Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter
specializing in direct marketing and with a particular interest
in health products. Find out more at
http://www.sisyphus
