Flick through any of the muscle magazines and it’s clear that the sale of bodybuilding supplements has come down to mega 8-page advertisements containing truck loads of scientific-sounding waffle about products endorsed by ‘roided-out bodybuilders. Of course, every new product is the “massive scientific breakthrough” that athletes have been searching for.
Ho hum…..every month it’s the same.
Here’s a revelation; rather than waste time and cash on expensive products that don’t work and have absolutely no scientific evidence of their effectiveness, why not focus on learning how to get maximum results from the select few research-proven supplements that are shown to provide amazing benefits?
Micronized creatine monohydrate is at the top of this elite category. This amazing supplement provides no unwanted side-effects, is incredibly effective at accelerating muscle mass and strength gains and best of all, its inexpensive!
In fact, in terms of packing on muscle mass, nothing beats creatine monohydrate. Nothing even comes close!
The most exciting aspect of all is that science has only just scratched the surface with regard to the true potential of this supplement. Check out these latest findings on creatine monohydrate.
Powerful anti-inflammatory
Consistently hard training, day-in, day-out can promote a chronic, inflammatory response throughout the entire body. This unrelenting form of inflammation can make muscle gains a distant memory. Sports scientists understand that exercise-induced chronic inflammation is a major cause of poor results from consistent training.
Minimizing the inflammatory response from exercise will speed recovery and keep the quality gains coming. A recent study has shown that loading with creatine monohydrate can actually help reduce exercise-induced inflammation.(1)
In this study, a group of triathletes were given creatine monohydrate (20 grams a day) for 5 days prior to competition. Another group was given a sugar placebo during this time. Blood tests revealed that the creatine-treated group possessed much lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines after the race.
The researchers concluded that supplementation with creatine monohydrate before an athletic event may not only promote better performance, it will probably promote faster recovery by reducing inflammation.(1)
What this means to you
Short-term loading with creatine appears to reduce exercise-induced inflammation. Creatine Cycling is a short-term, repetitive loading strategy I designed to optimize the effects of creatine.
Basically, it involves strategic loading and reloading with Micronized creatine to create and maintain ultra-high creatine levels in muscles. Based in the results from this study, it appears as though Creatine Cycling is a strategy that will not only accelerate gains from weight training, it may also prevent over training by reducing exercise-induced inflammation.
Neuroprotective potential
Due to its ability to regulate the energy production pathways and muscle metabolism, supplementation with creatine monohydrate has been used successfully in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease.
Supplementation not only increases muscle concentrations it also increases brain phosphocreatine concentrations. Increasing this important energy reservoir is thought to protect against a number of aspects that lead to neuronal degeneration. A recent study has shed some light on how potent the neuroprotective potential of creatine may be.(2)
In this study, treatment with creatine monohydrate promoted the regeneration of spinal-cord nerve cells against a well-known toxin (3-NP). The data suggest that creatine may play a critical role during development of spinal cord neurons.(2) Creatine not only appears to protect nerve cells against neurotoxins that promote nerve degeneration, it also promotes the health of spinal cord cells – supplementation may be used in the future to help recovery from spinal cord injuries.
3-day loading phase activates genes that build muscle
Supplementation with creatine monohydrate has been shown in many studies to increase muscle mass, strength and power. One of the ways this supplement is thought to exert its beneficial effects is by triggering an increase in muscle cell volume.
Increasing cell volume (fluid content) is a potent anabolic signal that triggers protein synthesis, glycogen accumulation and the expression of genes that increase size and strength.
Canadian scientists have recently shown that a 3-day loading phase (20 grams per day), followed by a 7 day maintenance phase (5 grams per day) was enough to ensure a powerful stimulus that triggered an increase in the expression of many genes responsible for increasing cell volume and muscle growth.(3)
Take note: although this study did not involve any exercise, a simple, 3-day loading phase with creatine monohydrate triggered a powerful muscle growth response by activating the genes associated with increasing muscle size!(3)
What this means to you
A 3-day loading phase activates the muscle genes responsible for increasing cell volume and size. Once again, this research points towards the awesome potential of Creatine Cycling to accelerate strength and lean mass gains.
References
- Bassit RA, Curi R, Costa Rosa LF.Creatine supplementation reduces plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and PGE(2) after a half-ironman competition. Amino Acids. Oct, 2007.
- Ducray AD, Schläppi JA, Qualls R, et al. Creatine treatment promotes differentiation of GABA-ergic neuronal precursors in cultured fetal rat spinal cord. J Neurosci Res. Jul;85(9):1863-75, 2007.
- Safdar A, Yardley NJ, Snow R, Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA. Global and targeted gene expression and protein content in skeletal muscle of young men following short-term creatine monohydrate supplementation. Physiol Genomics. 17;32(2):219-28, 2008
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