Creatine in Athletes
As more and more people are playing professional, collegiate and high school sports each year (Debate), the competition for playing time has become more heated. Most male athletes in any sports these days are looking for any sort of edge that they can get over the people who are fighting for the same spot they are. These battles for playing time become so heated that these kids are willing to try just about anything to win. Most kids are not willing to try anything illegal like steroids, but something very similar to steroids is a supplement called creatine. Creatine is now the most widely used supplement in athletics today (Debate).
The sport that creatine is most commonly used in at any level is football.
…show more content…
In the entire National Football League, approximately fifty percent of all players use creatine (Martinez). Other professional athletes who take creatine and also stand behind it are Troy Aikman, Brady Anderson, Michael Johnson, and Chad Curtis. Michael Johnson claims that creatine helped him win his gold medals, while Curtis claims he gained fifteen pounds from taking the supplement (Martinez). These athletes are just a small example of professionals who endorse creatine, and their success is a big reason why many younger athletes feel the need to try it.
On the collegiate level, the number of athletes who take creatine are just as high and continue to climb each day. Young kids that are trying to make it to the next level and play professional sports are almost living off of creatine. Lamberto Byington, a student at San Diego State University, thinks creatine is his answer to playing college football. “. . . I use creatine regularly and plan on using it in the future. At my weight — 175 pounds — I need every pound I can get. Creatine helps me with my workouts and helps put more mass on my frame. I'll keep using it.” Lamberto is definitely not the only college student who feels this way as thousands of other college athletes also take creatine regularly (Martinez).
Creatine is not only limited to professional and college athletics. It has finally replaced illegal anabolic steroids as the most used supplement in high
Creatine (Cr) is a popular dietary supplement used by athletes to increase sports performance, muscle mass, and strength. Creatine was first discovered in “1835, when a French scientist reported finding this constituent of meat” (Demant & Rhodes, 1999). This organic compound is manufactured endogenously by the liver and kidneys “from the amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine” for energy stipulation during muscular contraction. (Arazi, Rahmaninia, Hoseini, & Asadi, 2011). Creatine is either converted into free form Cr or phosphorylated form as known as creatine phosphate (CP). The endogenous production and exogenous consumption of Cr yields about 1 gram a day for the average person (Cooper, Naclerio, Allfrove , & Jimenez, 2012). In
athlete's career. Alex Rodriquez, a superstar in baseball who was caught using steroids, for example has lost a majority of his fan base For an athlete, the most important part of sports is being in top-notch physical shape. To achieve this kind of physicality, all competetent athletes must eat healthy, weightlift, and push themselves to their maximum ability every day. While training, athletes may need an extra jolt of power to push them beyond these limits. This is where supplements come in to play. The supplement Creatine produces chemical reactions in the human body that can improve the athlete’s muscular physique in a positive way.
The sudden deaths of three wrestlers calls into question if something else is causing the deaths. Dr. Wang suspects creatine supplementation might be the culprit. Research studies have shown that the dietary supplement does improve power and strength, apparently with no known side effects. Creatine helps the muscles to retain water. For wrestlers using the supplement, "creatine works as an opposing force" when the wrestler tries to shed weight, causing problems in the body's cooling system (Younge, 1998). Although no direct connections have been made, Jeff Reese was reported as using creatine when he died trying to make weight (Younge, 1998). My investigative report is aimed at uncovering the potential dangers of combining creatine supplementation with the excessive weight loss practices used by competitive wrestlers.
Creatine has proven to enhance the performance of athletes of many sports. The opinion of Shannon Sharpe, the Denver Broncos tight end, will not be swayed. He said definitely, "I believe that it works." He has plenty of company. No one knows exactly how many athletes us creatine, but, as Outside the Lines reported in a television special, and estimated 75 percent of Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos favor the use of creatine.
They came to the conclusion that almost half of the investigated individuals had at some point used creatine but almost none of them had used any other performance enhancing drugs. Almost 65% of the athletes that consumed creatine were between the ages of 17-19 years old. Most athletes using creatine as a performance enhancing drugs were found to be athletes competing in football, basketball, baseball, soccer and track with a substantial majority playing football.
Athletes are always searching for ways to enhance their performance. Recently, beginning in the 1950s, that search has included the use of illegal substances like steroids and growth hormones. Illegal substances have been used widely by athletes in hop es of achieving the desired Olympic gold medal or multi-million dollar contract. Some nations, for example the late East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, have mandated the use of steroids by their athletes. The downside of using those illegal substances is that because they are illegal, getting caught using them can lead to losing that coveted gold medal, a lifetime ban from sports, and a total loss of honor and dignity. This is why the search is now on to find some legal
Creatine is a supplement, creatine is the most popular supplement for improving your performance. Many studies have proven it to be useful for strength, muscle mass and performance. Many people believe it is bad for you and your liver but there are no proven studies showing this if creatine is used correctly. Creatine is a natural substance found inside your muscle cells which helps you gain muscle in several different ways, raise anabolic hormones, boost work load, increase cell hydration, reduce protein break down, lower myostatin levels, improve cell signaling and help strength. Creatine also is 100% legal and is very effective for short term and long term muscle growth. Creatine can also help certain diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. some people believe that creatine should be banned in sports and players caught using creatine should be punished, disqualified, or fined. This includes professional as well as semiprofessional and college athletes. These people believe that both the individual and team use of creatine should be illegal in sports. People who are for creatine believe that when used correctly creatine can be a healthy way to boost your athletic ability in a natural way. They believe creatine should not be banned and that players and teams should be allowed
They measured muscular strength and anaerobic performance in trained athletes. 17 physically, active young men were selected for the study and the creatine group had 8 people and the placebo group had 9 people with average age of 23 and 26, respectively. The creatine group took 20 grams a day over the course of 4 servings and the placebo group received a carbohydrate mixture and both groups took it before meals. They trained on day 1 and 4, which included exercises that the whole body. They measured anaerobic power on a 30 second Wingate test, max bench press and squat, took blood and urine samples, and measured height, weight, and body fat. Using an ANOVA with repeated measures across time, the results demonstrated that there was an increase in anaerobic force (12%) and back squat quality (11%) when contrasted with the placebo group. With more creatine in the body than with the control group and the creatine group had lower body fat but more body weight because of increased muscle mass. Proper training and creatine led to power and force increases for these athletes, which is helpful to a running back in improving power, speed, and game
Creatine is one of the primary things an athlete will do to put supplements into their body. These supplements range from protein shakes to illegal anabolic steroids. Some sports supplements are incredibly safe and effective, yet others work for a while and then fizzle out, while others still work well but do more damage than good in the long run. In the past athletes had to turn to such things as anabolic steroids or blood doping (the process of taking out blood and adding oxygen to it and putting it back into your body in order to increase a persons endurance). However, these procedures have many drawbacks. Mainly, they are illegal. An athlete may be suspended from playing their perspective
Results: Surveys were obtained from 93% of eight hundred six eligible athletes. Overall, 68% of athletes had heard of creatine and 28% reported using it. Forty-eight percent of men reported having used creatine as compared with 4% of women. With two exceptions, the all men's teams had at least 30% of athletes who reported a history of creatine use. Of athletes that had used creatine, about one-third had first used it in high school. Friends and teammates were the most common sources of creatine information. Increased strength and muscle size were the most common effects the athletes expected and perceived from creatine use.
Steroid use in today’s youth is also becoming a large problem. With an ever- increasing pressure to “make it big” high school athletes are succumbing to the temptation of steroids and by taking that path, they risk injury. High school athletes are not physically mature enough to handle the impressive transformations that steroids could bring. Bones can only hold so much lean muscle mass and once that point is reached the muscle can only tear. This is one of the large negatives involved with steroids and is an increasing problem in today’s
In today’s society, athletes are revered as heroes. There is immense pressure to be the best. Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to gain an edge, even if it means compromising their health. For almost three decades, athletes have been supplementing their strength program with anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. To be sure, anabolic steroids are effective supplements to strength training programs, but there is no doubt that the consequences can be deleterious.
Creatine is a very controversial supplement on the market today. Many endorse the uses of creatine, but others are skeptical about the advantage a person receives from taking it and the dangers one inherits as a result of creatine consumption. The debate remains due to the short amount of time that creatine has been available. People base their opinions on preliminary studies that have been done but no one knows the long-term effects of creatine on the body. Many take the risk without vast knowledge, but others still remain skeptical based on preliminary evidence that discourages the intake of creatine.
The evidence I will provide is strictly scientific, the information comes from the Journal of Sports Nutrition. The article is written by Richard B. Kreider, Exercise & Sport Nutrition Laboratory Department of Human Movement Sciences and Education The University of Memphis. The author has many credentials, such as his testing of finding the effects of six weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation in male and female track athletes, which can be found in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. All of his research is peer reviewed.
Abstract: With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent. The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change. No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent. Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.