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By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD

Vegetarians Thrive on Creatine supplements

Vegetarian diets may reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke but make it difficult to consume enough iron, essential amino acids, calcium and creatine that are more abundant in meats. Creatine monohydrate supplements help bodybuilders and power athletes because they increase lean mass, muscle size (particularly in fast-twitch muscle fibers), strength and muscle endurance. The supplement works by increasing creatine phosphate levels in muscle, boosting the free creatine levels used to make new creatine phosphate (CP), so the muscles have more high-energy fuel available and can make new CP as it’s used during training or competition. Vegetarians have low levels of muscle creatine and creatine phosphate because meat is the main source of creatine. Canadian researchers from St. Francis Xavier University led by Dr. Darren Burke found that vegetarians experienced greater increases in muscle creatine and creatine phosphate, bench press strength, isokinetic power output, fast twitch muscle fiber area and lean tissues than meat eaters given the supplements. This study shows that vegetarian power and strength athletes should probably take creatine monohydrate supplements. It also shows the dangers of vegetarian diets for high-performance athletes.

Glutamine May Help Keep You Well During Heavy Training

The immune system may be the ultimate factor limiting performance in high-intensity sports, such as body-building. Does this scenario sound familiar? You’re on a roll because training is going well, you haven’t missed a day at the gym in weeks, you’re starting to pack on the muscle and you’re lifting houses. Then, boom! You get so sick that you can barely get out of bed for a week and the illness lingers for months. So much for progress. Your illness is just as devastating to your progress as a pulled hamstring or a blown rotator cuff. Immune system depression in athletes is caused by overstress from errors in training, nutrition or emotional well-being. Some researchers think depletion of the amino acid glutamine may be a cause of exercise-related immune problems. Oxford researcher Dr. Linda Castell summarized the research on glutamine, exercise and depression of the immune system. Blood glutamine levels decrease following surgery, starvation or intense exercise. This critical substance is an important fuel for some cells in the immune system. Many endurance athletes report a decrease in the incidence of upper respiratory tract illnesses when they take glutamine supplements, but research studies have not consistently confirmed this. Also, supplementing glutamine may boost the power of harmful immune cells that may promote inflammation.

Magnesium + Creatine Boosts Muscle Strength and Size

People who drink soft water often don’t take in enough magnesium. The critical mineral is essential for energy reactions in the cells that help you lift weights, run, jump and throw. Low magnesium intake is also associated with osteoporosis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, abnormal heart rhythms, asthma, attention deficit disorder, stroke and chronic fatigue. Researchers from Western Washington University showed that supplementing magnesium with creatine resulted in increased quad strength and body water. The study shows the importance of magnesium for athletes involved in intense exercise. You can take all the creatine supplements you want, but they won’t improve performance unless you have magnesium available to get the reactions going.

Taking Creatine and Water Throws off Bod Pod Measurements

Many health clubs offer body composition measurements as part of their services. People get very concerned if their body fat is even on percent more than it should be. Before you get worked up about the results of your latest fat test, consider that the results vary by three percent. That means if the test says you are 17 percent fat, you may actually be as little as 14 percent fat or as much as 20 percent fat. It could be even more or less if the test administrator made mistakes. Skinfold measurements are even worse; they predict the results of underwater weighing and have their own built-in errors. Body fat determined by skinfold must overcome errors inherent in the skinfold method and the underwater method that it predicts. The Bod Pod is the latest method for determining body fat. While the underwater weighing test measures water displacement, the Bod Pod measures air displacement. Both methods are subject to many of the same errors caused by variations in the density of fat, muscle and bone, and differences in body water levels. South Dakota State researchers Drs. Maththew Vukovich and Brian Peters found that water or creatine monohydrate consumption, water retention and dehydration affect the accuracy of Bod Pod measurements. Use body composition measurements as general estimates of changes in muscle and fat levels along with more basic methods, such as how you look nude or in a bathing suit and how your clothes fit.

Creatine + Dextrose is Best

Creatine monohydrate supplements improve performance and build mass by increasing the creatine phosphate (CP) in muscle. CP is a high-energy chemical that allows for rapid, powerful contractions that stress the muscles and help them grow. Researchers from Baylor University headed by Mike Greenwood found that giving subjects creatine monohydrate plus dextrose (a simple sugar) increased creatine retention more than creatine monohydrate alone or efferverscent creatine. Subjects were given five grams of creatine, four times a day. Researchers determined creatine retention by measuring the difference between creatine intake and creatine excretion in a 24-hour urine sample. This study reaffirmed the importance of taking creatine with carbohydrates. However this study shows that you need far fewer carbs than we thought to improve the effectiveness of creatine supplementation (18 grams of dextrose). The dextrose increased blood insulin levels, which help transport the creatine into the muscles.

Source: MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT