Creatine

I don't know how it has worked for others, so I would like to know, but I know my doctor said it helps replace the phosphate (I think..) in the ATP quickly, so that it is harder to go anaerobic or something. Like I said, I've kinda forgotten because it was over a year ago. Never took it because I didn't know anyone else who had, or knew others' experience with it.

its a banned substance. don't be stupid.

Banned by who? The O'Grady's Pub 5k? Do it unless you're worried about getting tested.

Also, yes, what you're actually getting is creatine phosphate which donates the phosphate to ADP creating ATP which is the molecule your body breaks down for energy. This should increa time to exhaustion.

its not a banned substance, your body creates it. you can buy it anywhere

you people are stupid. Creatine works for heavy activities for maybe up to 6 seconds. I do not think you can run a 800 that fast. Creatine is not even good for sprinters. Do your research. Try working harder to get ahead.

By banned he means by some sports organizations, not by law. There are many things you can buy at Walmart that would get your gold medal taken away.

As far as doing research you should do yours. In addition to reclaiming ATP, creatine also acts as an acid-base buffer in the blood. This keeps blood pH from dropping as quickly with lactic acid production. Also, several studies have shown that creatine supplementation does in fact increase endurance. Some of these studies are runner specific.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0864.htm

That link summarizes a few articles. I have access to full articles at school. Later I'll quote a few of them for you.

First of all that "article" you found does not even have any references, which means it is full of bullshit. I have never seen an article saying creatine increase endurance. I have a medical degree and hace studied these things. Creatine is for lifters not runners. go out and work harder.

on top of that you will gain a lot of weight, last time I looked the greatest 800 meter runners are near as thin as the greatest 5000 runners, no creatine won't work for 800 runners

http://www.care-vevey.ch/infos/la-photo-du-mois/wilson-kipketer.jpg

I did see one study though that showed it improved performance in all field events and in the short indoor sprints; falls short of 100-120 seconds.

creatine is for body builders and football player/wrestler types who want to gain muscle weight.

Creatine use is not considered doping and is not banned by sport-governing bodies. In some countries, such as France, creatine is nevertheless banned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine

While creatine's influence on physical performance has been well documented since the early twentieth century, it only recently came into public view following the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. An August 7, 1992 article in The Times reported that Linford Christie, the gold medal winner at 100 meters, had utilized creatine prior to the Olympics, and an article in Bodybuilding Monthly named Sally Gunnell, gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, as another creatine user. Several medal-winning British rowers also used creatine during their preparations for the Barcelona games.

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Creatine is often taken by athletes as a supplement for those wishing to gain muscle mass (bodybuilding). There are a number of forms but the most common are creatine monohydrate - creatine bonded with a molecule of water, and creatine ethyl ester (CEE) – which is creatine monohydrate with an ester attached. A number of methods for ingestion exist - as a powder mixed into a drink, or as a pill.

There is scientific evidence that taking creatine supplements can marginally increase athletic performance in high-intensity anaerobic repetitive cycling sprints, but studies in swimmers and runners have been less than promising, possibly due to the weight gain. Ingesting creatine can increase the level of phosphocreatine in the muscles up to 20%. It must be noted creatine has no significant effect on aerobic exercise (Engelhardt et al, 1998).

Some studies have shown that creatine supplementation increases both total and fat-free body mass, though it is difficult to say how much of this is due to the training effect. Since body mass gains of about 1 kg (about 2.2 pounds) can occur in a week's time, several studies suggest that the gain is simply due to greater water retention inside the muscle cells. However, studies into the long-term effect of creatine supplementation suggest that body mass gains cannot be explained by increases in intracellular water alone. In the longer term, the increase in total body water is reported to be proportional to the weight gains, which means that the percentage of total body water is not significantly changed. The magnitude of the weight gains during training over a period of several weeks argue against the water-retention theory.

It is possible that the initial increase in intracellular water increases osmotic pressure, which in turn stimulates protein synthesis. A few studies have reported changes in the nitrogen balance during creatine supplementation, suggesting that creatine increases protein synthesis and/or decreases protein breakdown. Again, while hypothesized, this remains unproven.

Also, research has shown that creatine increases the activity of myogenic cells. These cells, sometimes called satellite cells, are myogenic stem cells that make hypertrophy (increase in size of cells) of adult skeletal muscle possible. These stem cells are simply generic or non-specific cells that have the ability to form new muscle cells following damage to the muscle tissue, or to fuse with the existing muscle fibres in the case of exercise to permit growth of the muscle fibre. Following proliferation (reproduction) and subsequent differentiation (to become a specific type of cell), these satellite cells will fuse with one another or with the adjacent damaged muscle fiber, thereby increasing myonuclei numbers necessary for fiber growth and repair. The study, published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine was able to show that creatine supplementation increased the number of myonuclei donated from satellite cells. This increases the potential for growth of those fibers. This increase in myonuclei probably stems from creatine's ability to increase levels of the myogenic transcription factor MRF4 (Hespel, 2001).

Current studies indicate that short-term creatine supplementation in healthy individuals is safe (Robinson et al., 2000). Longer-term studies have occasionally been done, but have been small. One such study that is often cited involved a minimum length of 3 months, but only had 10 creatine subjects (Mayhew et al 2002).

There has been controversy over the incidence of muscle cramping with the use of creatine. A study at the University of Memphis showed no reports of muscle cramping in subjects taking creatine-containing supplements during various exercise training conditions in trained and untrained endurance athletes (Kreider R. et al, 1998).

Creatine use is not considered doping and is not banned by sport-governing bodies. In some countries, such as France, creatine is nevertheless banned.

Yeah, you'll gain weight. The article has references in the middle after the statements pulled from each article. If you read it, you'd realize that.

For example:

Creatine Propels British Athletes to Olympic Gold Medals: Is Creatine the One True Ergogenic Aid?' Running Research News, vol. 9(1), pp. 1-5, 1993

Another one I found myself.

EFFECTS OF CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION ON ENDURANCE CYCLING COMBINED WITH SHORT, HIGH-INTENSITY BOUTS 1428. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 29(5) Supplement:251, May 1997.

Godly, A.; Yates, J. W. FACSM

I never said it'd make you faster. I said it should increase time to exhaustion.

maybe creatine supplementation it will increase time to exhaustion in a sprint by 0.5 seconds, thereby helping a 200m sprinter go 0.1 seconds faster. I am sure it will buffer acidity by a similarly similarly small margin, but claims that it increases endurance are related only to short term excercise.