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The effect of creatine monohydrate ingestion on anaerobic power indices, muscular strength and body composition

DOI:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1995.tb09854.x
Authors:
Conrad P. Earnest at Texas A&M University
Conrad P. Earnest
Peter G Snell at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Peter G Snell
R Rodriguez
R Rodriguez
R Rodriguez
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Anthony L Almada at Vitargo Global Sciences, Inc.
Anthony L Almada
  • Vitargo Global Sciences, Inc.
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Acta Physiol
Scand
1995,
153,
207-209
The effect
of
creatine monohydrate ingestion on
anaerobic power indices, muscular strength and
body
composition
C.
P.
EARNEST,’
P.
G.
SNELL,’
R.
RODRIGUEZ,
A.
L.
ALMADA
and
T.
L.
MITCHELL3
‘Texas Woman’s University, Department
of
Kinesiology,
Denton,
‘The
University
of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center and 3The Cooper Clinic, Dallas, Texas,
USA
Creatine monohydrate (Cr.H20) has been shown to
increase intramuscular phosphocreatine (Harris et
a/.
1992) as well as increasing the power output of various
high intensity work tasks (Balsom et
al.
1993,
Greenhaff
et
al.
1993). To the author’s knowledge,
Cr.H20 supplementation in strength trained athletes
has not yet been reported in the literature. Therefore,
this study investigated the influence of Cr.H20
supplementation on muscular power and strength
indices in
10
experienced weight-trained male subjects.
Three series of high intensity, anaerobic type,
muscular workbouts were used. Series one included
three consecutive 30-s Wingate bike tests, interspersed
with 5 min of rest. Peak anaerobic power was denoted
as the greatest power achieved in a given 5-s work
interval. Anaerobic work was defined as the total
amount of work performed in a 30-s period. Series
two utilized
a
one repetition maximum (1 RM) free
weight bench press as a test of muscular strength.
Series three employed complete lifting repetitions at
70% of the bench press
1
RM until fatigue. Lifting
cadence was paced through the use of a metronome set
at a 1-s timing interval (1
s
eccentric, 1
s
concentric)
and fatigue was defined as (1) the inability to complete
one lifting repetition or (2) the inability to maintain
the lifting cadence. Total lifting volume was calculated
as 70% of pre-test 1 RM multiplied by the number of
complete lifting repetitions. Body composition was
measured via hydrostatic weighing techniques; a 3-
day recall was used to assess dietary differences
between groups.
All
procedures were approved by the
Human Subjects Review Board of Texas Woman’s
University, Denton, Texas.
Received 19 September 1994, accepted 13 October
Key
words
:
anaerobic power, body composition,
Correspondence
:
Conrad
P.
Earnest, 7855 Willow
1994.
creatine, muscular strength.
Hill Court
-
Ste. 233, Dallas, TX 75230, USA.
Subjects received, in
a
double blind fashion, either
a glucose placebo or Cr.H20 supplement (Phosphagen,
Experimental and Applied Sciences Inc., Pacific
Grove, CA, USA) as has previously been shown to be
successful (Harris et
al.
1992, Greenhaff
et
al.
1993).
After 14 days of supplementation, each subject was re-
tested
on
the Wingate bike tests. Re-testing for the
weight lifting and anthropometric parameters took
place after 28 days of supplementation. An
ANOVA
for
repeated measures was utilized
to
assess differences
within the Wingate test groups. If statistical signifi-
cance was found,
a
Newman-Keuls post-hoc analysis
was applied.
A
paired dependent t-test was used to
determine differences associated with bench press
1
RM,
total lifting volume and anthropometric
measures. An independent t-test was used to de-
termine differences in nutritional/energy intake.
Statistical significance was set at
P
6
0.05. All values
are listed as pre- vs. post-test and mean
(&
SD).
Eight subjects completed the experimental protocol.
Age was 29.5
f
3.6 and 31.8
f
2.2 years, training
experience was 10.8f3.2 and 11.1 f2.4 years and
percentage of body fat was 10.1
f
3.7 and 9.4f4.6 for
the Cr.H20 and placebo groups, respectively. Within
the Cr.H20 group
(n
=
4), total anaerobic work for
the Wingate tests was significantly higher during all
post-test trials (P
<
0.05). These increases were 13%
for Wingate test 1,
18%
for Wingate test 2 and 18%
for Wingate test 3.
No
changes were noted in the
placebo group
(n
=
4, Table
1).
Greater total an-
aerobic work resulted from the Cr.H20 subject’s
ability to achieve and maintain higher levels of
anaerobic power consistently over each
5-s
time
interval, with statistical significance being apparent
for several 5-s power intervals during the three trials
(data not shown).
Bench press 1 RM increased 6% in the Cr.H20
group (P
<
0.05). When corrected for body weight no
differences were noted because of a significant increase
in body weight within the Cr.H20 group. Total lifting
207
208
C.
P.
Earnest
et
al.
Table
1.
Anaerobic indices values for Cr.H20 and placebo groups. Values are mean and SD
("P
<
0.05,
t
P
<
0.01, and
1
P
<
0.001)
~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~
Creatine Placebo
Anaerobic indices Pre Post Pre Post
30-s Wingate bike tests
1 (kJ)
2
(kJ)
3 (kJ)
Bench press 1 RM
Absolute (kg)
Relative (kg kg-')
Lifting repetitions (70% 1
RM)
Total lifting volume
Absolute (kg)
Relative (kg kg-')
22.65 (3.0)
20.40 (2.0)
18.54 (1.0)
126.4
(20.5)
1.5
(0.1)
11.5 (0.8)
1017.7 (93.5)
11.7 (0.7)
25.98 (4.0)*
24.49 (3.0)*
22.73
(2.0)*
134.6 (18.9)*
1.5 (0.1)
15.5
(I.5)t
1459.0 (122.3)f
16.5 (0.9)f
23.48 (1.0)
21.15 (2.0)
119.1 (13.0)
1.4
(0.1)
11.7 (1.8)
975.1 (120.9)
11.8 (1.2)
22.08 (2.0) 23.51 (1.0)
22.32 (2.0)
21.4 (2.0)
116.2 (15.0)
1.4 (0.1)
11.7
(0.8)
951.7 (132.0)
11.5 (1.5)
volume was significantly higher within the Cr.H20
group, whether expressed in absolute terms (26%,
P
<
0.01) or relative terms (29%,
P
<
0.001). In-
creases in total lifting volume were associated with the
ability
of
the Cr.H20 group to perform 26% more
lifting repetitions
(P
<
0.01, Table 1). Body com-
position data indicated a significant increase in body
weight (86.5+ 13.7 vs. 88.2+ 14.1 kg,
P
<
0.05),
as
well as
a
non-significant increase
in
calculated fat free
mass (77.6
f
10.8 vs. 79.2
f
11.6 kg,
P
=
0.054) for
the Cr.H20 group.
No
changes in body weight
(82.6f 2.2 vs. 82.5 1.8 kg) or fat free mass (74.9
f
6.6
vs. 74.4 6.2 kg) were noted for the placebo group. In
addition, no significant differences were noted for
percentage of body fat in either group. These
observations were noted in spite of a significantly
lower daily energy intake (10031 1458 vs.
14650+ 1234 kJ;
P
<
0.01), carbohydrate intake
(5918f860 vs. 7315+617
kJ;
P
<
0.05),
and fat
intake (1204+175 vs. 4354+368 kJ;
P
<
0.05) for
the Cr.H+l vs. placebo groups, respectively.
The observed higher work outputs in the Cr.H20
group were consistent with increases in intramuscular
phosphocreatine stores as noted previously (Harris
et
al.
1992), increased ATP cycling through an attenuated
reduction in ATP with repeated work tasks (Greenhaff
et
al.
1994 b), and an increased rate of phosphocreatine
resynthesis during recovery periods (Greenhaff
et
al.
1994a). What is not clear is the associated gain in body
weight observed in our study as well as those of others
(Balsom
et
al.
1993, Greenhaff
et
al.
1994a). We are
the first group to show that: (1) Cr.H20 supplemen-
tation improves strength training parameters and (2)
that the associated weight gain may be related to an
increase in fat free mass as determined through
hydrostatic weighing techniques.
In
addition, because
weight lifting tasks are typically performed
at
sub-
maximal 1 RM levels during training, the ability
of
the Cr.H20 group to perform a greater total lifting
volume, both in absolute and relative terms, demon-
strates the efficacy of Cr.H20 as an ergogenic aid.
In
turn, the ability
to
perform greater muscular work,
per given work task, provides
a
greater muscular
overload that may promote an increased adaptive
response
in
muscular structure and function.
This
adaptation may account for the observed increase
in
bench press 1 RM, body weight and fat free mass.
Whether or not Cr.H20
per
se,
is directly responsible
for this increase in body weight has yet to be
determined.
We thank Christopher B. Scott
of
the Dallas Heart
Group for his help in the preparation of this
manuscript. This study was supported by
a
grant
from Experimental and Applied Sciences, Inc. Pacific
Grove, CA, USA.
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... The most common ingredients are amino acids, proteins, creatine and caffeine (LaBotz & Griesemer, 2009). There is a large number of studies observing the influence of supplementation to physical abilities (El Khoury & Antoine, 2012;Morrison, Gizis, & Shorter, 2004;Rocha & Pereira, 1998;Pereira, Jajolo, & Hirschbruch, 2003;Gomes, Degiovanni, Garlipp, & Chiarello, 2008;Goston & Correlia, 2010;Oliver, Leon, & Hernandez, 2008) amnd changes of body composition (Earnest et al., 1995;Kreider, Ferreira, et al., 1998;Kreider, Klesges, et al., 1996;Vandenberghe et al., 1997). CR is also a part of diet and is mostly found in meat and fish and when consumed 98% is deposited in the muscles and the remaining part in the brain, heart and other organs, while the excess is processed by kidneys and excreted in the form of creatinine (Cannan & Shore, 1928). ...
... Many studies which dealt with the effects of CR confirmed that the body weight increases after a period of oral ingestion (Fairman, Kendall, Hart, Taaffe, Galvao, & Newton, 2019;Vilar-Neto, et al., 2018;Earnest, Snell, Rodriguez, Almada, & Mitchell, 1995;Hultman, Sijderlund, Timmons, Cederblad, & Greenhaff, 1996;Kreider, Ferreira, & Wilson, 1998). Previous studies confirm that 10-20g of CR at daily level with the frequency of five days a week is sufficient for increase in strength and number of repetitions (Urbanski, Loy, Vincent, & Yaspelkis, 1999;Izquierdo, Ibañez, & González-Badillo, 2002). ...
... Muscle mass, as an integral part of overall mass is significantly increased with CR supplementation. In some papers it was noted that there is also increase in total mass in range 0.7-1.6 kg after short-term CR intake in combination with exercises with load (Becque, Lochmann, Melrose, 2000;Earnest, Snell, Rodriguez, Almada, & Mitchell, 1995;Vandenberghe, Van-Hecke, Leemputte, Vanstapel, & Hespel, 1999). LaBotz & Griesemer (2009) established significant increase of body mass of 0.84 kg in CR group, in relation to the control group. ...
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... Furthermore, although in Set 3 there was no statistical significance, the CR group performed 12.7% more repetitions. These results are in line with those of previous studies, which consistently report that CR supplementation increases the capacity to recover between peaks of intermittent activity during different types of exercise, such as repeated Wingate efforts [26,47], rowing sprints [48], cycling sprints [14,24,25,49], running sprints [28][29][30][31], swimming sprints [32], resistance exercise [33,34,47], and maximal voluntary isokinetic contractions [15]. This could be due to the increase in the content of intramuscular PCr produced by the CR supplementation, since increases of 10-40% in the content of PCr have been previously reported [6], as well as increases in the amount of PCr re-synthesis during the different recovery periods [50]. ...
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Two intermittent high-intensity exercise protocols were performed before and after the administration of either creatine or a placebo, and performance characteristics and selected physiological responses were studied. Each exercise protocol consisted of 10 6-s bouts of high-intensity cycling at 2 exercise intensities (130 rev/min [EX130]: ∼820 W and 140 rev/min [EX140)]: ∼ 880 W) so that in EX130 the same amount of exercise was performed before and after the administration period, whereas an exercise intensity in EX140 was chosen to induce fatigue over the 10 exercise bouts. Sixteen healthy male subjects were randomly assigned to the 2 experimental groups. A double-blind design was used in this study. There were no significant changes in the placebo group for any of the measured parameters. Performance towards the end of each exercise bout in EX140 was enhanced following creatine supplementation, as shown by a smaller decline in work output from baseline along the 10 trials. Although more work was performed in EX140, after vs before the administration period, blood lactate accumulation decreased (mean and SEM), from 10.8 (0.5) to 9.1 (0.8) mmol·l−1 and plasma accumulation of hypoxanthine decreased from 21.1 (0.4) to 16.7 (0.8) μmol·l−1, but there was no change in oxygen uptake measured during 3 exercise and recovery periods [3.18 (0–1) vs 3.14 (0.1) l·min−1]. In EX130 blood lactate accumulation decreased, from 7.0 (0.5) to 5.1 (0.5) mmol·l−1, and oxygen uptake was also lower, decreasing from 2.84 (0.1) to 2.78 (0.1) l·min−1. A significant increase in body mass (11 kg: range 0.3 to 2.5 kg) was found in the creatine group. The mechanism responsible for the improved performance with creatine supplementation are postulated to be both a higher initial creatine phosphate content availability and an increased rate of creatine phosphate resynthesis during recovery periods. The lower blood lactate and hypoxanthine accumulation can also be explained by these mechanisms.
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Evaluation of Creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by Creatine supplementation
Article
  • Oct 1992
1. The present study was undertaken to test whether creatine given as a supplement to normal subjects was absorbed, and if continued resulted in an increase in the total creatine pool in muscle. An additional effect of exercise upon uptake into muscle was also investigated. 2. Low doses (1 g of creatine monohydrate or less in water) produced only a modest rise in the plasma creatine concentration, whereas 5 g resulted in a mean peak after 1 h of 795 (sd 104) μmol/l in three subjects weighing 76–87 kg. Repeated dosing with 5 g every 2 h sustained the plasma concentration at around 1000 μmol/l. A single 5 g dose corresponds to the creatine content of 1.1 kg of fresh, uncooked steak. 3. Supplementation with 5 g of creatine monohydrate, four or six times a day for 2 or more days resulted in a significant increase in the total creatine content of the quadriceps femoris muscle measured in 17 subjects. This was greatest in subjects with a low initial total creatine content and the effect was to raise the content in these subjects closer to the upper limit of the normal range. In some the increase was as much as 50%. 4. Uptake into muscle was greatest during the first 2 days of supplementation accounting for 32% of the dose administered in three subjects receiving 6 × 5 g of creatine monohydrate/day. In these subjects renal excretion was 40, 61 and 68% of the creatine dose over the first 3 days. Approximately 20% or more of the creatine taken up was measured as phosphocreatine. No changes were apparent in the muscle ATP content. 5. No side effects of creatine supplementation were noted. 6. One hour of hard exercise per day using one leg augmented the increase in the total creatine content of the exercised leg, but had no effect in the collateral. In these subjects the mean total creatine content increased from 118.1 (sd 3.0) mmol/kg dry muscle before supplementation to 148.5 (sd 5.2) in the control leg, and to 162.2 (sd 12.5) in the exercised leg. Supplementation and exercise resulted in a total creatine content in one subject of 182.8 mmol/kg dry muscle, of which 112.0 mmol/kg dry muscle was in the form of phosphocreatine.
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Effect of oral Creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis
Article
Biopsy samples were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle of eight subjects after 0, 20, 60, and 120 s of recovery from intense electrically evoked isometric contraction. Later (10 days), the same procedures were performed using the other leg, but subjects ingested 20 g creatine (Cr)/day for the preceding 5 days. Muscle ATP, phosphocreatine (PCr), free Cr, and lactate concentrations were measured, and total Cr was calculated as the sum of PCr and free Cr concentrations. In five of the eight subjects, Cr ingestion substantially increased muscle total Cr concentration (mean 29 +/- 3 mmol/kg dry matter, 25 +/- 3%; range 19-35 mmol/kg dry matter, 15-32%) and PCr resynthesis during recovery (mean 19 +/- 4 mmol/kg dry matter, 35 +/- 6%; range 11-28 mmol/kg dry matter, 23-53%). In the remaining three subjects, Cr ingestion had little effect on muscle total Cr concentration, producing increases of 8-9 mmol/kg dry matter (5-7%), and did not increase PCr resynthesis. The data suggest that a dietary-induced increase in muscle total Cr concentration can increase PCr resynthesis during the 2nd min of recovery from intense contraction.
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Influence of Oral Creatine Supplementation of Muscle Torque during Repeated Bouts of Maximal Voluntary Exercise in Man
Article
  • May 1993
1. The present experiment was undertaken to investigate the influence of oral creatine supplementation, shown previously to increase the total creatine content of human skeletal muscle (Harris RC, Soderlund K, Hultman E. Clin Sci 1992; 83: 367–74), on skeletal muscle isokinetic torque and the accumulation of plasma ammonia and blood lactate during five bouts of maximal exercise. 2. Twelve subjects undertook five bouts of 30 maximal voluntary isokinetic contractions, interspersed with 1 min recovery periods, before and after 5 days of placebo (4 × 6 g of glucose/day, n = 6) or creatine (4 × 5 g of creatine plus 1 g of glucose/day, n = 6) oral supplementation. Muscle torque production and plasma ammonia and blood lactate accumulation were measured during and after exercise on each treatment 3. No difference was seen when comparing muscle peak torque production during exercise before and after placebo ingestion. After creatine ingestion, muscle peak torque production was greater in all subjects during the final 10 contractions of exercise bout 1 (P <0.05), throughout the whole of exercise bouts 2 (P <0.01), 3 (P <0.05) and 4 (P = 0.057) and during contractions 11–20 of the final exercise bout (P <0.05), when compared with the corresponding measurements made before creatine ingestion. Plasma ammonia accumulation was lower during and after exercise after creatine ingestion. No differences were found when comparing blood lactate levels. 4. There is evidence to suggest that the decrease in the degree of muscle torque loss after dietary creatine supplementation may be a consequence of a creatine-induced acceleration of skeletal muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis. It is postulated that an increased availability of phosphocreatine would maintain better the required rate of ATP demand during contraction. This is supported by the observed lower accumulation of plasma ammonia during exercise after creatine ingestion.
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The effect of oral creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle ATP
  • Jan 1994
  • P L Greenhaff
  • D Constantin-Teodosiu
  • A Casey
  • E Hultman
GREENHAFF, P.L., CONSTANTIN-TEODOSIU, D., CASEY, A. & HULTMAN, E. 1994b. The effect of oral creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle ATP
Effect of oral creatine supdegradation during repeated bouts of maximal voluntary exercise in man
  • Jan 1994
  • P L Greenhaff
  • K Bodin
  • K Soderlund
  • Hultman
GREENHAFF, P.L., BODIN, K., SODERLUND, K. & HULTMAN. 1994a. Effect of oral creatine supdegradation during repeated bouts of maximal voluntary exercise in man. 3 Physiol467, 84P.