Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is nitrogenous organic acid occurring naturally in all vertebrates. Creatine helps to supply energy to muscle and nerve cells. The body manufactures, stores and uses creatine for pursuits which require bursts of energy – like running at a high speed.

Creatine Monohydrate is highly reputed diet supplement which improves athletic performance. Creatine is widely used by athletes and bodybuilders for anerobic exercises, such as weight training. Creatine increases energy reserves, thus by the virtue of its use more energy becomes available for high intensity exercises and recovery is faster after workouts. Creatine monohydrate affects nitrogen production within the body to delay fatigue. When used in a training program creatine allegedly also facilitates muscle repair, and stimulates muscle strength.

There is a lot of conflict on the issue of how creatine works – how it provides performance enhancing benefits and increases lean muscle mass. Research report on the subject has concluded that creatine is able to achieve this by two mechanisms:

1. Intra-cellular water retention.
2. Ability to enhance ATP production.

Creatine has been shown to absorb and retain water, once its stored inside the cell. This makes the cell expand. Muscles thus filled with water mass, seem larger and fuller. I addition to this, creatine provides the body the ability to recover faster from anaerobic exercises like weight lifting and running. It does this by facilitating production of ATP, which is the main fuel for the enzyme motors in initial high-intensity muscle activity, within the cell, which in turn provides energy by releasing phosphate molecules. Unfortunately this is short-lived, since ATP, after giving up phosphate ions becomes ADP. So the muscles start to burn glycogen for energy. Lactic acid is the byproduct of this process, and its this by product which causes muscle fatigue and cause muscles to stop contracting.

Creatine improves glycogen synthesis which enables muscles to work out for a longer period. In addition to this creatine assists lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The mechanism for this is still unknown. Due to its ability to provide instant energy, creatine has become very popular aming health freaks and especially among athletes who require sudden bursts of energy during their workout and because they have to recover quickly between workout sessions.

Most studies in this area have performed evaluations on muscular performance by gathering data from in high intensity exercises about creatine concentration in muscles, ability to re-synthesize ATP and increase of buffering of the acidic environment under which the muscles function. Athletes performing in the test reported a benefit from ingesting creatine. However the benefits only collate when a strict exercise regimen is followed.  Except for a few isolated cases, the study reported no evidence that creatine assists sporting activities which require endurance and energy supplies over a period of time, like long distance running.

Whatever may be the case, athletes using or aiming to use creatine should do so cautiously, and after consultation with their governing sporting body and a physician. creatine has received mixed reviews from athletes on how it helped them to enhance performance. While some including tennis professionals, claimed that they found no difference before and after creatine use, weightlifters and body builders gave creatine a full confidence rating. More research is imperative on creatine and its benefits.