Creatine as a Supplement to Enhance Sprint Running Performance - Term Paper Example

Sprinting Head: CREATINE- SUPPLEMENT TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE Creatine As A Supplement To Enhance Sprint Sprinting Performance [Name Of Student] [Name Of Institution] Creatine As A Supplement To Enhance Sprint Sprinting Performance CHAPTER 01 INTRODUCTION In the race of athletics, a good deal is repeatedly claimed nevertheless little is authenticated. Near the beginning of the 1990s, a novel ergogenic support was being announced as a factual performance booster. Fuelled principally by gossips relating to British sprinters and the medals they had won for their performances, creatine swiftly became sleeted as factual ergogenic assistance for little period, power exercises. Its occurrence in health departments and also on the shelves of health club bite shops has forced it into the limelight in the athletic and strength society. In the middle of claims of amplified power and potency, diminished performance instance and amplified muscle mass, both privileged and the leisure athletes document cretin’s declarations. Nonetheless, with all the propaganda adjoining this 'new' speculate enhancement, researchers have required to conclude fact from invented stories and present a probable contribution into this enthusiasm. AIM In this paper I will analyze through the help of different studies that whether creatine really acts as a performance booster for sprint runners. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The French scientist, Chevreul, first identified creatine in 1835, when he reported finding a new organic constituent of meat. He named this new constituent creatine. Due to detection problems, it was not until 1847 that Liebig was able to confirm the presence of creatine as a regular constituent of meat (Snow, 2002). Liebig also observed that the meat of wild foxes killed in the chase contained 10 times the amount of creatine as that of foxes in captivity. He thus concluded that work results in the accumulation of creatine. At this time, the researchers Heintz and Pettenkofer discovered a substance in urine, later identified by Liebig as creatinine, a byproduct of creatine degradation. The concentration of creatinine in urine was directly related to muscle mass, which suggested its link to creatine (Telford, 2003). By the beginning of the 20th century, research into creatine ingestion was already taking place. Studies reported that not all the ingested creatine was reclaimed in the urine, indicating that the body retained some (Snow, 2002). In 1912 and 1914, Denis and Folin reported that the Cr of cat muscle increased by 70% following creatine ingestion. By 1923, Hahn and Meyer had estimated the total creatine content of a 70kg man to be approximately 140g, an amount close to that proposed (Snow, 2002). Soon after, Schlossmann and Tiegs reported that 'diffusible' creatine increased during muscle contraction. In 1927 and 1929, Fiske and Subbarow discovered a labile phosphorus in the resting muscle of cat, which they named phosphocreatine or creatine phosphate (CP) (Telford, 2003). They showed that during electrical stimulation of skeletal muscle, CP concentrations decreased for a period of time, but then increased to previous levels following a recovery period. These studies have led to the identification of free creatine (Cr free) and CP, and their role as key intermediates of skeletal muscle metabolism (Sjordin, 2003). Through the re-introduction of the needle biopsy technique and the invention and use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques, researchers have been able to study the breakdown and resynthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and CP in skeletal muscle metabolism, as well as determine the role CP plays in skeletal muscle metabolism. While studies involving creatine supplementation can be traced back to before the 20th century, it appears that its influence on humans has only recently been investigated (Sjordin, 2003). Therefore, while creatine and its involvement in muscle metabolism is not a new discovery, its potential for aiding performance via supplementation or 'loading' is one of the latest focuses in ergogenic research. Biochemistry The combination of creatine includes the 3 amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. The synthesis process begins with the transfer of the amidine group from arginine to glycine, a process of transamidination which forms guanidinoacetate and ornithine, a reversible reaction catalysed by the enzyme glycine-amidine-transamidinase (Telford, 2003). Creatine is formed by the addition of a methyl group from (S)-adenosylmethionime, which requires the enzyme methyltransferase for the irreversible reaction known as transmethylation. The enzymes involved in the synthesis of creatine are located in the kidney, liver and pancreas. (Rodriguez, 2002) Creatine is produced outside the muscles and thus must be transported to skeletal muscle via the blood stream. Normal plasma concentrations of creatine range from 50 to 100 µ mol/L. Once it arrives at the skeletal muscle, uptake of creatine occurs against a concentration gradient (Rodriguez, 2002). Creatine enters a number of cell types via an Na+ dependent neuro transmitter transporter family related to the taurine transporter and members of the subfamily of γ-aminobutyric acid/betaine transporters. The presence of insulin and triiodothyronir (T3) appears to enhance the uptake of creatine, but is decreased when vitamin E is deficient. CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION AND EXERCISE PERFORMANCE Incremental and Endurance Exercise The effects of creatine supplementation on incremental and endurance type exercises have been studied by various researchers. Stoud et al. reported no measurable effect on respiratory gas exchange or blood lactate concentrations using a continuous incremental test, sprinting at 10 km/h on a treadmill at workloads of 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90% VO2max, with 6 minutes at each workload, and using a creatine dose of 20 g/day for 5 days. In another study involving creatine supplementation of 20 g/day for 6 days, volunteers showed no improvement in performance time of a 6km cross-country run (Telford, 2003). In fact, sprinting time was actually increased following supplementation, likely due to the increased body mass associated with creatine ingestion. These studies suggest that creatine supplementation is not beneficial for incremental or endurance type activities and may even be detrimental (Kraemer, 2000). These results appear to be logical since CP is not considered a limiting factor for performance in these types of exercises. METHODOLOGY I referred to many different studies from a variety of sports and other health journals, a detail of which has already been provided in the References section. The studies investigated the consequence of oral creatine supplementation on sprinting. The idea of delaying fatigue and increasing the rate of recovery has great implications for sport performance. The ability to delay fatigue for a short time longer or recover more quickly is often what separates the elite athletes from the good athletes. It is with this in mind that a vast amount of research involving high intensity exercise has taken place within the last 5 to 7 years. (Kraemer, 2000) Greenhaff et al.reported that creatine supplementation of 20 g/day for 5 days resulted in an increased peak muscle torque in 5 bouts of 30 maximal voluntary isokinetic knee extensions, separated by 1 minute rest intervals. Increased peak muscle torque was reported in the final 10 concentrations of bout number 1, and throughout bout numbers 2, 3 and 4 and contractions 11 to 20 of bout number 5 (Kraemer, 2000). Balsom et al. and Soderlund et al. Both carried out studies involving 6 days of 20-g/day creatine supplementation, using a protocol of 5 bouts of 6 seconds of maximal sprinting separated by 30 seconds of rest, followed by a 40-second rest and a sixth exercise bout lasting 10 seconds (Katch, 2001). Both studies reported a higher CP concentration following the fifth 6-second bout in the creatine trials compared to the control trials, as well as volunteers being better able to maintain a target speed near the end of the 10-second exercise bout. These studies also reported a decrease in muscle lactate, a finding not supported by many other studies measuring lactate. Bosco et al. reported no difference in lactate accumulation during a 5- and 45-second continuous sprinting test between a creatine group and placebo group, even though the creatine group reported a significant enhancement of performance in the 45-second sprinting test (Katch, 2001). This study did, however, report a 15% increase in lactate accumulation in the creatine group between their pre-and post-ingestion trials following an anaerobic speed test. There was no difference in pre and post values for the placebo group. The case for the role of creatine supplementation in aiding recovery rate is helped by the results of a study by Schneider et al (Katch, 2001). Their protocol consisted of 2 parts, part 1 consisting of 5 15-second bouts of maximal sprinting with 1 minute rest intervals, and part 2 involving 5 1-minute bouts of maximal sprinting with 5-minute rest intervals. The study reported that the creatine trials resulted in a significant increase in work performed during each of the 15-second bouts compared to placebo trials, whereas work performed during the 1-minute bouts was not significantly increased in the creatine trials (Greenhaff, 2003). CHAPTER 02 DETAILS AND ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH The researchers attributed the increased performance in the 15-second bouts to higher initial CP levels as well as an increased re-synthesis rate. This increased rate or re-synthesis following creatine supplementation is also cited by Harris et al., who reported a decrease in sprinting time in the final of 4 bouts of 300m, separated by 4-minute rest intervals, following creatine ingestion, compared to placebo ingestion. This study also reported a significant decrease in total sprinting time in the creatine group, while sprinting 4 x 1000m, as well as decreased final 1000m run time (Telford, 2003). Dawson et al. reported no significant differences in peak power or total work during 10 seconds of maximal cycle ergometer sprints between creatine and placebo groups. However, they did report significant differences between groups during repeated bouts with limited rest (Graham, 2004).While much of the research into the effects of creatine supplementation has involved sprinting or sprinting protocols, much of the marketing of the packaged product is geared toward weight training. To date, few studies of creatine supplementation and weight training have been conducted. Earnest et al.used 10 experienced runners and a protocol involving 3 consecutive 30-second Wingate sprint running tests, 1 repetition maximum (RM) free weight bench press, and 70% of the bench press 1RM until fatigue (Graham, 2004). Reported results indicated that whole anaerobic exertion for all Wingate tests were considerably higher throughout the creatine trials, at the same time as no changes were noted in the placebo trials. Bench press 1RM was reported to increase by 6% in the creatine group. However, when this was corrected for body weight, no significant differences were noted because of the significant increase in body weight in the creatine group. Total sprinting volume was significantly higher in the creatine group, which performed 26% more sprinting repetitions (Essen, 2002). A second study examining the effects of creatine supplementation on weight training involved 5 sets of bench press to exhaustion with 2-minute rest intervals, and 5 sets of jump squats with 2-minute rest intervals. The creatine group reported an increase in the number of repetitions completed during all 5 sets of bench press as well as reporting an increase in peak power during all 5 sets of jump squats, compared to the placebo group. Kreider et al. found that creatine had no effect on squat and power clean exercises, but did significantly affect bench press and sum of bench press, squat, and power clean sprinting volume (Essen, 2002). While many studies support the idea that creatine supplementation can enhance exercise performance, others have found no significant effect. Cooke et al (Telford, 2003). measured power output during 15 seconds of maximal sprinting sprints against a constant load, and reported no significant differences between groups for peak power, time to peak power or total work. Similarly, Odland et al. reported no significant differences in mean peak 10 second power output, mean peak 30-second power output, percent fatigue or post exercise lactate accumulation between groups during 30-second maximal sprinting sprints (Wingate test). (Bishop, 2000) Interestingly, this study also reported no significant differences in CP concentration or total Cr between groups, despite using a dose of 20 g/day for 3 days. The volunteers in this group may by chance have been predominantly non-responders. CONCLUSION Investigation of the effects of creatine supplementation on sprint performance has also reported no significant effects on 25, 50 or 10 sprints. However, Mujika et al. did report a decrease in plasma ammonia concentration following 50 and 100m sprints in creatine trials, but only in the 50m sprint in placebo trials (Bishop, 2000). The decrease in plasma ammonia concentrations corresponds to other studies that also reported a decrease in plasma ammonia. Greenhaff et al.explained the decreases as a more efficient ADP rephosphorylation after creatine supplementation, since ammonia accumulation is a marker for muscle adenine nucleotide loss during maximal exercise. The decline in ammonia concentration in creatine groups supports the idea of greater CP availability and utilization during exercise (Bishop, 2000). Several other studies have also shown that creatine supplementation failed to significantly affect sprinting time in short distance or middle distance sprints. Terrillion et al. reported that creatine supplementation in 12 competitive runners had no effect on 700m maximal sprinting times, compared to placebo trials (Telford, 2003). Redondo et al. reported that creatine supplementation in 18 collegiate field hockey players had no effect on 3 sets of 60m sprints separated by 2-minute rest intervals (Telford, 2003). REFERENCES Bishop R, et al. 2000: Effects of creatine supplementation on repetitive sprint performance and body composition in competitive swimmers. Int J Sport Nutr 7;7: 330-46 Dolgener FA, et al. 2000: Effects of creatine supplementation on two 700m maximal sprinting bouts. Int J Sport Nutr 7: 138-43 Ekblom B. 2003: Creatine supplementation and high intensity exercise: influence on performance and muscle metabolism. Clin Sci 87 Suppl.: 120 Essen B 2002: Studies on the regulation of metabolism in human skeletal muscle using intermittent exercise as an experimental model. Aust J Sci Med Sport; 454: 1-64 Graham BL, et al 2004: The effects of oral creatine monohydrate on sprinting velocity. Int J Sport; 6: 213-21 Greenhaff PL, et al 2003: The effects of oral creatine supplementation on sprinting performance during maximal short term exercise in man [abstract]. J Physiol; 467: 74P Holliman D, Bell D, et al 2000: Effects of oral creatine supplementation on respiratory gas exchange and blood lactate accumulation during steady-state incremental exercise and recovery in man. Clin Science; 87: 707-10 Katch VL 2001: Exercise physiology: energy, nutrition and human performance. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger Publications. Kraemer WJ.2000: Creatine supplementation: its effect on human muscular performance and body composition. J Stren Cond Res; 10 (3): 200-10 Rodriguez R, et al 2002: The effect of creatine monohydrate ingestion on anaerobic power indices, muscular strength and body composition. Acta Physiol Scand;153: 207-9 Sjordin B, et al 2003: Skeletal muscle metabolism during short duration high-intensity exercise: influence of creatine supplementation. Acta Physiol Scand; 154: 303-10 Snow RJ, et al 2002: Effect of creatine supplementation on intramuscular Tcr, metabolism and performance during intermittent, supramaximal exercise in humans. Acta Physiol Scand ; 155 (4): 387-95 Telford RD 2003: Effect of oral creatine supplementation on single-effort sprint performance in elite swimmers. Int J Sport Nutr; 6: 22-33 APPENDIX Table I. Studies reporting a significant effect with creatine supplementation Legend for Chart: A - Study B - n C - Dosage D - Protocol E - Results A B C D E Soderlund et al. 8 20g x 6 days Part I: 5 x 6 sec CE with 30 sec rest Part II: 10 sec CE with 40 sec rest Part I: increase in CP after 6th bout Part II: increase performance, increase total Cr Greenhaff et al. 8 20g x 5 days 30 sec isometric contraction Increase in total Cr in 5 of 8 Vandenberghe et al. 19 20g x 4 days then 5g x 28 days Arm flexion test Increase in maximum strength, increase in fat free mass Greenhaff et al. 12 20g x 5 days 5 x 30 sec knee extensions Increase in peak torque in bouts 2 and 3 Dawson et al. 18&22 20g x 5 days Part I: 10 sec CE Part II: 6 x 6 sec CE with 24 sec rest Part I: no effect on peak power or total work Part II: increase in peak power and total work Earnest et al. 10 20g x 14 days Part I: 3 x 30 sec CE with 5 min rest Part II: 1RM bench press Part III: 70% 1RM Part I: increase in anaerobic power Part II: no effect Part III: increase in number of repetitions Kreider et al 25 15.75g x 28 days Bench press, squat, power clean, 12 x 6 sec CE with 30 sec rest Increase in bench press, no effect on squat and power clean, increase in total sprinting volume, increase in CE sets 1 to 5 Balsom et al. 7 20g x 6 days Part I: 5 x 6 sec CE with 30 sec rest Part II: 10 sec CE with 40 sec rest Part III: jump Part I: no effect Part II: increase in performance Part III: no effect Birch et al. 14 20g x 5 days 3 x 30 sec CE with 4 min rest Increase in peak and mean power Bosco et al. 14 20g x 5 days Part I: 5 and 45 sec sprinting Part II: anaerobic speed test Part I: increase in total work in 45 sec Part II: increase in time Schneider et al. 9 25g x 7 days Part I: 5 x 15 sec CE with 1 min rest Part II: 5 x 1 min CE with 5 min rest Part I: increase in performance Part II: no effect Harris et al. 10 30g x 6 days 4 x 300m with 4 min rest 4 x 1000m with 3 min rest Decreased final 300m time Decrease in total and final 1000m time Volek et al. 20g x 5 days 5 sets bench press with 2 min rest, 5 sets jump squats with 2 min rest Increase in repetitions in all 5 sets of bench press, increase in peak power in all sets of jump squats Earnest et al. 8 20g x 14 days 3 x 30 sec CE with 5 min rest No effect on peak power, increase in total work Gordon et al. 17 20g x 10 days 1 and 2 leg CE Increase in total Cr and CP, increase in performance Vandenberghe et al. 9 0.5g/kg x 6 days 3 static contractions, 3 x 30 MVC, 4 x 20 MVC, 5 x 10 MVC Increase in dynamic torque Grindstaff et al. 21g x 9 days 3 x 100m freestyle swim with 60 sec rest, 3 x 20 sec arm ergometer with 60 sec rest Improved swim time, increased performance CE = cycle ergometer; CP = creatine phosphate concentration; Cr = total creatine concentration; MVC = maximum voluntary; n = number of participants; RM = repetition maximum. Table II. Studies reporting no effect from creatine supplementation Legend for Chart: B - Study C - n D - Protocol E - Result A B C D E Stoud et al. 8 20g x 5 days Sprinting at 10 km/h at 50, 60, 70, 80, 90% VO2max No effect on RER and VO2max Barnet et al. 17 4 x 70 mg/kg 5 x 10 sec CE with 30 sec rest, 2 x 10 sec with 5 min rest No effect on performance Febbraio et al. 6 20g x 5 days 4 x 1 min + 1 to exhaustion at 115 to 125% VO2max No effect on performance Mujika et al. 20 20g x 5 days 25, 50, 100m swims No effect on performance time Odland et al. 9 20g x 3 days 30 sec Wingate test No effect on performance Terrillion et al. 12 20g x 5 days 2 x 700m sprints with 2 min rest No effect on performance Burke et al. 32 20g x 5 days 25, 50, 100m swims No effect on performance time Cooke et al.[57] 12 20g x 5 days 2 x 15 sec CE with 20 min rest No effect on peak power, time to peak power, total work, or fatigue index Harridge et al. 8 20g x 6 days 2 min knee and ankle extensions at 1/sec No effect on torque Redondo et al. 18 25g x 7 days 3 x 60m sprints with 2 min rest No effect on performance Thompson et al. 10 2g/day x 6 weeks 100 and 400m swims No effect on performance CE = cycle ergometry; n = number of participants; RER = respiratory exchange ratio. 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