Creatine for endurance exercise

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Skipjack66
Skipjack66 Posts: 102 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Any endurance exercisers out there who take creatine supplements to recover faster from sessions? I know it’s can be a thing for some weight lifters, but not sure about endurance. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks!

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  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    suzannesimmons3 wrote: »
    Hasn't creatine been debunked as useless?

    Lol when did this happen?
  • GoodnightJulia
    GoodnightJulia Posts: 22 Member
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    As far as I'm aware creatine has been one of the more studied supplements with proven significant effectiveness. I read a review on it recently, somewhere on pubmed. However, this is when using it with a progressive lifting program. I think there might be some suggestion that taking while doing endurance training decreases muscle catabolism, but don't think that's been solidly established yet.

    In any case, if you take it, be sure to stay well-hydrated as it acts like a sort of sponge, pulling more water into your muscles. (You might also notice a few extra pounds of water retention).
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    suzannesimmons3 wrote: »
    Hasn't creatine been debunked as useless?

    Creatine is the most studied and proven supplement that is on the market. It is far from debunk.

    It hasnt really shown to benefit aerobic exercise or recovery.

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    suzannesimmons3 wrote: »
    Hasn't creatine been debunked as useless?

    @suzannesimmons3
    Absolutely not - think you are confusing creatine and BCAA perhaps?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I do long distance cycling but in my understanding creatine is of no real benefit for my style of riding, perhaps for the very high intensity hill climbs? Would be more appropriate for a track sprinter than a long distance road rider.

    Not aware of it being used for recovery as creatine supplementation is normally not time-based, you just take daily to hit your maximum saturation point. My recovery nutrition (when required) is just carbs and protein.

    I did try creatine for a few months (to support my weight lifting) but either I already get enough from my diet or I'm just one of the many people that don't respond to it. Got nothing from it at all, either negative or positive.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    So far as protein is a thing, it's a thing if you have all 23 amino acids available for the thingishness to be thingy. Creatine has only 3 of them. That's not enough to make a thingy. BCAA is only 4 of them. Still not enough.
  • Skipjack66
    Skipjack66 Posts: 102 Member
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    Thank you so much to everyone for your speedy replies!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    Skipjack66 wrote: »
    Thank you so much to everyone for your speedy replies!

    You may want to research Beta-Alanine While the suggest support recovery, it's with endurance based lifting (high rep low weight). Generally, that is the active ingredient in many BCAA's that support increased recovery.

    https://examine.com/supplements/beta-alanine/
  • Skipjack66
    Skipjack66 Posts: 102 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    Skipjack66 wrote: »
    Thank you so much to everyone for your speedy replies!

    You may want to research Beta-Alanine While the suggest support recovery, it's with endurance based lifting (high rep low weight). Generally, that is the active ingredient in many BCAA's that support increased recovery.

    https://examine.com/supplements/beta-alanine/

    Thanks! I will take a look.

    The main reason why I posted this is that I have been tired lately and having trouble recovering from longer and/or harder exercise sessions, especially when they are back to back (one day to the next). However I have chronic pain and I don’t sleep well at all, which most definitely affects my fatigue levels. I eat a plant based diet, for the most part.

    I had some blood work done last week and it showed low blood creatinine and low ferritin levels (both lower than “normal” range levels). I did some preliminary research and found this recent article that suggests supplementing with creatine may help.

    The article is long, however it is very comprehensive and may be of interest to vegan/ plant based athletes:

    https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0192-9

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