Creatine Consideration

Creatine beyond the gym, pants get smart and your weekly recommendations.

The Rundown

Creatine Consideration. There’s substantial evidence that creatine can help build strength and power, mainly by increasing your performance in the gym. But can it help endurance athletes? A new review says it’s worth considering.

Creatine works within the anaerobic alactic system. The anaerobic alactic system exists alongside aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. It relies on creatine phosphate that is stored in muscle cells to fuel sudden, explosive movements for up to ten seconds. Our bodies make creatine out of amino acids and we get some from food sources but the creatine in our muscles is typically about 80 percent full. So creatine supplements can boost that to 100 percent and give us a little more energy for each burst from the anaerobic alactic system.

Understandably, endurance athletes aren’t focused on explosive ten second bursts of energy but the review, co-authored by a group of sports nutrition researchers, says that many endurance events have “race-defining moments” like surges, hill-climbs and finishing sprints, where extra creatine could matter. Past research has tested this claim including a 2018 study that had cyclists do a series of 1K and 4K sprints as part of a 120K time trial. Creatine did not help their overall time but it did increase their power in the final sprints.

The review discusses other possible benefits of creatine including enhancing glycogen storage in muscles, reducing neuromuscular fatigue, counteracting inflammation and speeding up recovery. However, and it’s a big however, the authors’ ethics disclosures list everything from performing industry sponsored research involving creatine supplementation to owning a company that sells creatine products.

So, what to make of the review? As with any supplement, it’s an individual choice and results may vary but it may be worth pursuing creatine’s primary benefit of fueling surges if this is an important aspect of your competition. (Keeping in mind that creatine supplementation is also associated with immediate weight gain from water retention equal to about 1 percent or more of your total weight).

Smart(y) Pants. Move over activity tracking watches. Scientists at Brazil’s Federal University of Espirito Santo have developed movement tracking Smart Pants, which incorporate two, one-millimeter thick optical fibers that run vertically along the back of each leg.

The fibers bend as the wearer moves and wherever they bend light escapes because the scientists removed a small piece of the cladding, or the outer layer of the optical fiber. When light escapes from the cladding-free points, the total strength of the optical signal drops. The degree that it drops corresponds to certain activities.

By continuously monitoring the strength of the signal as it reaches the end of each fiber, an algorithm on a linked microprocessor determines what the person is doing. In lab tests, the technology was 100% accurate at identifying actions including walking, fast walking, squatting and sitting on a chair.

The researchers believe the pants will help doctors to monitor aging patients at home and to measure things like range of motion in rehabilitation clinics.

Extra Point

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Shaun White: The Last Run. This four-part docuseries explores Olympic athlete Shaun White’s life and career, from his childhood struggles with a congenital heart condition to his impressive snowboarding accomplishments. Shaun White: The Last Run premieres on Max on July 6.

Listen

The Gabby Reece Show. Olympic volleyball legend Gabrielle Reece talks to leading experts in health and fitness on her podcast but also dives into relationships, parenting, entrepreneurship and adversity.

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Garmin’s Fitness and Health-Tracking Metrics Explained: Understand What Your Smartwatch is Telling You. Wondering exactly how those HRV, RHR and VO2max measurements work on your wearable? This article explains in easy to understand language and while it specifically discusses the Garmin Fenix 7, it’s a useful guide for measurements found on many smartwatches.