First, I’ve noticed positive results personally when using creatine, in both strength results and in muscle size, but does it REALLY work or is it a “placebo effect?” Is it safe, or are there potentially negative effects? Does it help with strength only or endurance as well?
These questions and more are answered in the following article, which I have re-produced in full, published online by the National Council on Strength and Fitness. I love the NCSF, by the way. Even though my certification is currently NASM, I highly recommend the NCSF as well.
By: NCSF on: Jul 7 2010
Clients often ask personal trainers what supplements or nutritional modifications might serve to provide the extra edge in attaining their goals. Misconstrued data and anecdotal based supportive claims are commonly encountered when an individual attempts to review supplement usefulness via the internet or other easy-access sources of information. Thus, the personal trainer should be aware that supplement companies are not regulated; company claims founded in “independent research” are not the same as peer reviewed research and the government does not require evidence of the proven efficacy or purity of any dietary supplements and herbs. To protect clients from the marketing of bogus supplement products a personal trainer must become aware of these facts and educate clients on the safety and proper use of them.
Of the numerous supplements used for ergogenic purposes, creatine is one of the most examined in peer reviewed literature and as such, its effectiveness is commonly inquired by personal training clients. In the form of phosphocreatine (PC), phosphorylated creatine has an essential role in immediate energy metabolism. It is naturally produced in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas from non-essential amino acids at a rate of 1-2 grams per day. It can also be obtained from dietary sources such as meat, poultry, and fish – Eskimos consume about 4-6 g from fish each day. Commonly sold in supplement form as creatine monohydrate, creatine supplements are used to enhance natural phosphocreatine stores in the body for improvement in high force actions. Studies have shown that supplementing 20-25 grams per day for 5-6 days (commonly recognized as a loading phase) can increase intramuscular creatine stores by approximately 20%. After the loading phase, it is common to maintain elevated creatine levels by consuming approximately 5 grams per day. Once supplementation discontinues, muscle creatine concentrations tend to return to baseline levels in about 4 weeks.
Personal trainers should be aware of the evidence regarding creatine supplementation published in periodicals from a variety of studies and clinical research:
* Creatine supplementation has been shown to provide improved short-term performance of intense exercise, and may aid athletes that rely primarily on the anaerobic energy systems such as power lifters, sprinters, and football players * Creatine supplements taken for several weeks using both loading and non-loading phases have shown to improve PC storage * Creatine supplementation has been shown to improve PC resynthesis during rest intervals * Creatine supplementation has been shown to be associated with an increase in body mass, potentially due to increases in lean mass mainly via cellular fluid retention * Creatine supplementation has not been shown to aid in long-duration endurance training or aerobic-dominant activities * Creatine supplements have demonstrated ineffectiveness in some individuals (labeled nonresponders) * Acute creatine supplementation has not been shown to enhance an acute bout of explosive/strength training (single dosage just prior to training session) * Caffeine ingestion with creatine may negate or reduce the supplement’s ergogenic effects (equivocal data)
Although creatine supplementation has demonstrated levels of effectiveness for improved performance in short duration, high force activities, personal trainers should be aware of the potential side-effects of ingesting the supplement. In the case of creatine, anecdotal reports suggest side-effects including abdominal cramping and bloating, acute bouts of diarrhea, muscle cramping, stiffness, and strains. No controlled studies have documented any significant side-effects however, so a causal relationship between these effects and creatine supplementation has not been established. A newer form of creatine has become popular as it supposedly reduces the gastrointestinal distress associated with creatine monohydrate and was alleged to be more easily absorbed and therefore have greater bioavailabity. An article published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (Feb 2009) suggests otherwise. The 7-week study examined the combined effects of different forms of creatine supplementation with resistance training on measures of body composition, muscle mass, muscle strength and power, serum and muscle creatine levels, and serum creatinine levels in 30 non-resistance-trained males. Using a double-blind method participants were randomly assigned to a maltodextrose placebo (PLA), creatine monohydrate (CRT), or creatine ethyl ester (CEE) group. The supplements were orally ingested at a dose of 0.30 g/kg fat-free body mass or approximately 20 g/day for a five day loading phase followed by ingestion at 0.075 g/kg fat free mass or approximately 5 g/day for 42 days. Following the treatments researchers concluded when compared to creatine monohydrate, creatine ethyl ester was not as effective at increasing serum and muscle creatine levels or in improving body composition, muscle mass, strength, and power. Therefore, the improvements in these variables can most likely be attributed to the training protocol itself, rather than the supplementation regimen.
Personal trainers should recognize supplementing creatine will only provide ergogenic aid for individuals with goals in-line with gaining strength, lean mass, or power. Since most clients are not performing near maximal lifts with long rest intervals it is likely not a key ingredient to personal training success. Likewise, the supplementation of creatine will not directly aid a client striving to enhance functional improvements, weight loss, improved aerobic performance or muscular endurance. Creatine happens to be one of the few supplements shown in numerous studies to be relatively safe and presumably effective for most individuals; but personal trainers should remain cautious when recommending ergogenic aids to clients (even if they are considered effective) as recommendations create potential liability.
According to a current posting on Livestrong.com, a web site I highly recommend, “A pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories, so to lose pounds you must create a calorie deficit. Physical exercise, particularly cardiovascular work that makes your heart beat faster and that utilizes the large muscles of the body, is recommended to help you create a greater daily calorie burn. An hour of swimming for a 160-lb. person burns about 500 calories, per the Mayo Clinic.”
However, it is important to maintain and even increase muscle since muscle burns fat, so weight lifting is critical along with adequate nutrition and rest. If you’re really interested in looking good fast for the Summer, try two-a-days involving 40 mins. of lifting in the morning, and swimming or running in the afternoon or evening. You’ll be amazed at how fast the weight will melt off if you lay off of the refined sugar and white flour in your diet at the same time!
Ever do anchored sit-ups or leg raises? The problem is that if the femur is moving much, you are really working your hip flexors. Anchoring your legs during sit-ups, placing your legs further out, or even doing leg raise types of abdominal exercises increases hip flexor activity and may cause disc compression. It also increases risk for low back pain aggravation.
So what’s a better way to work your abs? Abdominal curl-ups, especially if done on an exercise ball, can more effectively activate the abdominal muscles. Abdominal curl-ups place the majority of the resistive stress in the rectus abdominis. Rollouts also are effective for engaging the trunk musculature without hip flexion.
Additionally, consider this: Almost every lift you do, from squats to standing alternating dumbbell curls, activate your abdominals in one way or the other. I’m not a subscriber to the theory that you shouldn’t work your abdominals, but if you are exercising and doing daily resistance training, you are indirectly working them all the time! What this leads to is that if you can’t see your ab muscles, you are probably packing too much body fat and should adjust your diet.
Summary: Choose ab exercises where the femur is largely anchored and not flexed in, and reduce calories to reduce body fat.
There are many important principles to bodybuilding, losing weight, getting fit, that you just can’t ignore if you wish to “cut up” and get fit. Key among them is the principle that you just can’t lose body fat until you are in caloric deficit, but while maintaining adequate proteins, carbs, and all other important nutrients while in the deficit zone.
If you are following the dietary principles set forth at fittransition.com, I have a recommendation which will make the calorie game more scientific. Livestrong.com is a fantastic web site which will allow you to enter your daily intake, calculate your caloric needs, and your caloric burn due to exercise. It makes the fat loss game much more accurate and easy to do.
For example, one day I stopped at a convenience store and indulged myself with a breakfast burrito from Rico. On a whim I typed it into my account on livestrong.com and was delighted to see the product was there, complete with the number of calories, grams of fat, protein, carbs, and milligrams of sodium. Of course, that particular indulgence cost me about 587 calories - yes it’s a fat burrito - and taught me the value of not buying them very often.
Livestrong.com even tracks how many glasses of water you drink per day. Also instructive to note is the number of calories that you burn during exercise. I’m a two-a-day-er, and it would be easy to guess my actual caloric burn. With Livestrong I now know that I am burning over 1000 calories a day with my exercise routine, so I need to carefully monitor my protein intake and meal frequency to ensure I’m feeding my NASCAR (my body) properly.
By the way, I’ve driven a NASCAR, and wow what a thrill! I can’t imagine pulling up to the local Chevron to fill it up. It runs on special fuel. Similarly, run your body on special fuel. Livestrong.com will help you to do this!
Every body builder, athlete, and serious weight loss participant knows that you have to eat 6 smaller meals per day to lose weight, gain muscle, be more healthy. Walnuts are a great source of protein that can be eaten with other complex carbs to produce one of such meals. I’m eating a handful as I write this, because I’m hungry!
What I’m getting with just a 1/4 cup is omega-3 oils, which have been shown to lower cholesterol, protect heart, arteries, (and many other things), 3.81 grams of protein, dietary fiber and many other vitamins, minerals and nutrients, such as copper, manganese, and tryptophan.
Below is a link to the California Walnuts web site, particularly to a delicious-looking tuna salad which has walnuts in:
http://www.walnuts.org/walnuts/index.cfm/all-recipes/a-smarter-tuna-salad/
Enjoy!
Body Mass Index, or BMI, has usually been the Index upon which your health risks are assessed. However, this can be problematic for athletes or fit/muscled people since it puts them in the overweight to obese charts, since the BMI is calculated based on weight and height. A recent intriguing article I found on Livestrong.com issues info about research surrounding WtHR or Waist to Height Ratio as being more accurate.
Since stomach body fat can be more dangerous and cause the release of hormones which contribute to diabetes and many other maladies, this could be a better predictor of health.
“WHR
The WHtR is calculated by dividing waist size by height, and takes gender into account. As an example, a male with a 32 inch waist who is 5′10″ (70 inches) would divide 32 by 70, to get a WHtR of 45.7 percent. The WHtR is thought to give a more accurate assessment of health since the most dangerous place to carry weight is in the abdomen. Fat in the abdomen, which is associated with a larger waist, is metabolically active and produces various hormones that can cause harmful effects, such as diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and altered lipid (blood fat) levels.
Many athletes, both male and female, who often have a higher percentage of muscle and a lower percentage of body fat, have relatively high BMIs but their WHtRs are within a healthy range. This also holds true for women who have a “pear” rather than an “apple” shape.
The following chart helps you determine if your WHtR falls in a healthy range (these ratios are percentages):
WOMEN • Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight • Ratio 35 to 42: Extremely Slim • Ratio 42 to 46: Healthy • Ratio 46 to 49: Healthy • Ratio 49 to 54: Overweight • Ratio 54 to 58: Seriously Overweight • Ratio over 58: Highly Obese
MEN • Ratio less than 35: Abnormally Slim to Underweight • Ratio 35 to 43: Extremely slim • Ratio 43 to 46: Healthy • Ratio 46 to 53: Healthy, Normal Weight • Ratio 53 to 58: Overweight • Ratio 58 to 63: Extremely Overweight/Obese • Ratio over 63: Highly Obese”
- Area in quotes excerpt from Livestrong.com
I highly recommend that you check your ratio!
When my clients come into the gym where I do some training in the evenings, they are always excited to be there and work with me. That is true of most of our trainers - their clients don’t generally regret purchasing personal training. It helps them to know what to do. It motivates them, and it holds them accountable.
Not everyone however has the budget for personal training. Here are two options, one inexpensive, one affordable, that might help:
There you have it! Two inexpensive options to help you know what to do and how to do it. Compare personal training at $50-$175/half hour per session, which gets very expensive.
If you were to pull up to the pump in a NASCAR and fill it with standard unleaded gasoline, it wouldn’t run very well. NASCARs use 100 octane fuel! Similarly, your bodies need proper nutrition to function optimally. That is the first secret to getting ripped.
The second secret - although the same thing - is percentage of body fat as it relates to nutrition or caloric intake. If your abs are buried below a layer of fat, you’ll never see them no matter how hard you work out! Gauging your caloric expenditure, workout expenditure, and caloric intake however is difficult. Lance Armstrong’s site, Livestrong.com makes this easy! I highly recommend it!
At Livestrong.com, you can create a free account called the Daily Plate. Here you enter your food choices and before you’re done typing, dozens of options are coming up on the screen. So if you buy a breakfast burrito at the local gas station, and it’s made by Rico, it’s there! If you down a Minute Maid pomegranate juice, it’s there. It will tell you how many calories per serving and the serving size, how much sodium, protein, carbs, and this by grams, milligrams and also percentages. It makes the science of thermodynamics a snap!
Remember, you can’t really get ripped until you lose the body fat covering your muscles, and you can’t lose it if you don’t know whether you’re in a nutritionally-sound caloric deficit. That’s my tip - go to Livestrong.com and take a few minutes every day to see how you’re doing nutritionally. You’ll be glad you did!
I’m always amazed at the amount of ignorance that exists relative to weight training and fitness. I see guys and gals in the gym every day doing the same things and wondering why their bodies never change. Assuming you lift hard, consistently, and properly, here are three tips that will shoot your muscle gain into the stratosphere:
Do you have some favorite mass gain movements or tips? One of mine is the power clean and press. It stresses not just shoulders but traps, arms, the power core (hips, glutes, quads) and all stabilizers. Submit your favorite movements and what benefits you’ve seen, and we’ll publish them in an upcoming blog!
This time of year many women and as many men are looking to feel more comfortable on the beach, around the pool, at the family reunion, or just to be able to do the Summer hiking and backpacking they love without embarrassment or fitness issues. With this in mind, what is the greatest key to your success?
The answer is nutrition, but it’s the one that gets most overlooked. We’ve dealt with the topic of nutrition in previous blogs, and will in many more, so for today, the key concept is resistance training and consistency. Put very simply, here’s what you must do:
So that’s today’s message - be consistent and ensure you are doing resistance training 4-5 times per week.
