Creatine
... Many people have turned to creatine, today almost everyone knows someone who uses it. Creatine and other dietary supplements are beneficial to gaining strength when used properly. Creatine is a natural supplement made in the body and found in things like meat and fish. ... A seventy-kilogram adult has about one hundred and twenty grams of creatine in the muscles. ... When first starting on creatine, users must go through the “loading” process, which requires the person to take twenty grams of creatine per day for the first six days. ... This should be taken with some kind of carbohydrate and a non-acidic liquid (“Creatine Information”). If someone were to try eating food with creatine in it, such as meat, to get the five grams of creatine supplement they would have to eat about sixteen twelve-ounce New York strip steaks (Reinardy “Rewards for Rec Users”). A key factor in using creatine is understanding how it works in the body. Creatine is only good for certain activities because it gives your body a quick boost of energy. ... When that runs out that is where the creatine’s role comes in. The creatine gives back the phosphate molecule to the ADP, recreating ATP. ... Because creatine can recreate ATP faster, which in return puts less work on the glycolysis pathway, the person feels less fatigue and shorter recovery time after a physical workout (Jenkins; “Creatine Information”). Many different kinds of studies have been conducted to test and see if creatine is safe or not. Mostly all of these studies have had a positive outcome towards the benefits of creatine. ... Volek found that “muscle fibers change in athletes who use creatine and these athletes can lift more weight than athletes who don’t”. ... Volek took nineteen men, all around the same age of twenty-five who had lean body mass, and gave ten of them creatine and the other nine a placebo. ... The ten men who got the creatine were given twenty-five grams for the first week and then five grams a day for the remaining period. ... When the twelve weeks were over all the men got bigger but the ten on creatine averaged a six point three percent gain in mass while the other nine on the placebo only averaged about a three point one percent increase. ... When samples from the men’s muscles were taken, it showed that the fiber size of the men on creatine increased about thirty-five percent compared to the six to fifteen percent of the men that took the placebo.