Strategic Ingestion of Creatine Supplementation and Resistance Training in Trained Young Adults

Muscle, Strength

Creatine supplementation improves measures of muscle accretion and performance compared to placebo during a resistance training program. However, the optimal creatine supplementation protocol for maximizing these improvements is unknown.

Creatine is a naturally occurring nitrogen containing compound endogenously produced in the body through reactions involving the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Alternatively, creatine can be consumed in the diet (primarily from red meat and seafood) or through commercially manufactured creatine. It has been proposed that the strategic ingestion of creatine supplementation may be an important factor to consider during a resistance training program to increase muscle growth and performance. There is evidence that creatine supplementation only on training days has greater muscle benefits compared to placebo in healthy older adults. However, the effects of creatine on training days (compared to creatine on non-training days or placebo) in healthy young adults is unknown. Further, pre- and post-exercise creatine supplementation appears to produce similar muscle benefits (compared to placebo) in healthy older adults. It remains to be determined whether the timing of creatine ingestion (immediately before vs. immediately following training sessions) influences the physiological adaptations from resistance training compared to placebo in young healthy adults. It is also unknown whether differences exist in supplementing with creatine immediately before, during or immediately following resistance training sessions in young healthy adults.

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