Effects of creatine in exercise

Introduction

Creatine supplementation is widely used in the athletic community for its potential to enhance exercise performance. This synthesis examines the effects of creatine on various aspects of exercise, including sprint performance, muscle metabolism, muscle damage, and endurance.

Key Insights

Increased Muscle Creatine Content:
- Creatine supplementation consistently increases muscle total creatine and phosphocreatine levels .
Performance in High-Intensity, Short-Duration Exercises:
- Creatine improves performance in high-intensity, short-duration exercises, such as maximal voluntary contractions and intermittent sprints .
- However, some studies report no significant improvement in sprint performance despite increased muscle creatine content .
Effect on Muscle Damage and Recovery:
- Creatine supplementation does not significantly reduce markers of muscle damage or enhance recovery from high-force eccentric exercise .
Endurance and Prolonged Exercise:
- Creatine does not significantly improve performance in endurance or prolonged exercise tasks .
- It may improve thermoregulatory responses during prolonged exercise in the heat, particularly in individuals with substantial increases in intramuscular creatine levels.
Interaction with Other Substances:
- The ergogenic effect of creatine is completely eliminated when combined with caffeine.
Body Composition:
- Creatine supplementation can lead to small but significant increases in body mass and lean body mass, particularly with short-term loading regimens .

Conclusion

Creatine supplementation effectively increases muscle creatine content and enhances performance in high-intensity, short-duration exercises. However, its benefits do not extend to endurance or prolonged exercise tasks, and it does not significantly aid in muscle recovery post-exercise. Additionally, the presence of caffeine can negate the performance benefits of creatine. Overall, creatine is beneficial for specific types of athletic performance, particularly those involving short bursts of high-intensity activity.

Effects of creatine in exercise

Summary

Introduction

Key Insights

Conclusion

Sources and full results

Effect of creatine supplementation on sprint exercise performance and muscle metabolism.

Creatine supplementation increased muscle total creatine content but did not improve sprint performance or alter anaerobic muscle metabolism.

Caffeine counteracts the ergogenic action of muscle creatine loading.

Creatine supplementation improves performance during intense intermittent exercise, but this effect is completely eliminated by caffeine intake.

Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Exercise Performance

Creatine supplementation may enhance short-term energy and muscle resynthesis during high-intensity exercises, but its effects on endurance and incremental exercises remain inconclusive.

The effects of creatine supplementation on cardiovascular, metabolic, and thermoregulatory responses during exercise in the heat in endurance-trained humans.

Creatine supplementation can increase intracellular water and reduce thermoregulatory responses during prolonged exercise in the heat, but does not significantly increase time to exhaustion in endurance-trained individuals.

The Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Exercise‐Induced Muscle Damage

Creatine supplementation for 5 days does not reduce indirect markers of muscle damage or enhance recovery from high-force eccentric exercise.

Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis.

Creatine supplementation can increase lean body mass in short-term, repetitive laboratory-based exercise tasks, but not in field-based tasks.

Creatine supplementation increases muscle total creatine but not maximal intermittent exercise performance.

Creatine supplementation increases muscle total creatine but does not significantly impact maximal intermittent sprinting performance.

The Effect of Creatine Supplementation on Markers of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Intervention Trials.

Creatine supplementation does not accelerate recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage.

Influence of oral creatine supplementation of muscle torque during repeated bouts of maximal voluntary exercise in man.

Oral creatine supplementation increases muscle peak torque production and reduces plasma ammonia accumulation during maximal exercise in men, but does not affect blood lactate levels.

Effect of Oral Creatine Supplementation on Jumping and Running Performance

Oral creatine supplementation significantly enhances performance in sprinters and jumpers, improving their maximal power output and endurance.

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