Creatine had a moment. When it was most related to the bodybuilding scene, many athletes and recreationists over the benches and barbells of the gym have been praised. But what is the advantage of creatine supplements for endurance athletes?
We talked with Dr. EMILY JEVONS of Sports Nutritionist, Total Endurance, to gain an expert’s insight into what creatine is, the potential advantage of Creatine for endurance athletes and how to take it.

Emily JEVONS AFN Registered Nutritionist
What is creatine?
Like all sports supplements, before you jump with possible benefits. It is important to understand what creatine is at first. Dr. Emily Jevons said, “Creatine is a protein made naturally in the body in three amino acids (arginine, glycin and methionine). It can be found in meat and fish or more supplements.
“Creatine is provided as a single supplement, but it is often a component of ‘all -in -one’ meal replacement drink and ‘stack’ supplement. The main form of creatine is fish and red meat.”
What does Creatine actually do?
As a form of protein, creatine plays an important role in strength, performance and muscle recovery. Emily explains, “It keeps all efforts longer than usual and allows you to recover faster between sets.”
“Creatine supplements also help to increase the dry body mass by promoting protein manufacturing and muscle hypertrophy. It also reduces muscle acidity and can reduce muscle protein decomposition after intense exercise. This increases strength and improves the ability to perform repetitive sets.”
Is there an advantage of creatine supplements for endurance athletes?
The ability to make more effort and recover more quickly between sets can be ideal for muscle training, and athletes who compete in a fast fire track and field event that can go hard, quickly recover and go back to field events. But how about endurance athletes like Triathlon, who works mainly as a diesel engine?
Improvement of glycogen storage
“Creatine seems to improve the anaerobic performance of both men and women.” But recent studies have shown that creatine can provide more aerobic -based sports.
One of these benefits is to improve glycogen storage. When we exercise, the body uses the stored glycogen to produce adenosine tree triposphate, the energy currency of the body that supplies fuel to the muscles. “Studies show that when you eat creatin for the loading stage (~ 20g creatine a day) with the carbohydrate after the hard training session, the creatin can store more muscle glycogen.” (PMID: 27193231)
Reduced blood lactic acid reaction
Helps to improve the amount of glycogen to fuel your muscles. Emily explains that creatine can promote improved lactic acid buffer. “Creatine can act as a buffer in the cell, which means that it can reduce blood lactic acid reactions.” PMID: 23164647
During exercise, lactate is produced as a by -product of the destruction of carbohydrates. As the physiologists of Loughborough Performance Lab described in TRI247, the body can actually clarify this locktate as another fuel source to make it effectively clarify. However, as the strength increases, the speed at which carbohydrates decompose increases, increasing lactic acid production speed. At this stage, blood begins to accumulate in the blood. Along with it, acidic ions create a ‘burning’ sense when it reaches fatigue.
We change these changes in blood lactic acid levels. Maintaining longer activities before lactic acid accumulates in the blood means that you can go longer before you start fatigue. Therefore, if creatin can act as a ‘buffer’ to reduce this blood lactic acid reaction, you can get advantages to endurance sports performance.
Support for recovery
Creatine is welcomed by increasing the recovery rate between the set in the strength and conditioning context. EMILY explains that it can help to support recovery after endurance exercise.
“Creatine also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects after endurance exercise. Many studies have shown that creaatin (20g creatine 5-7 days a day) has shown that short-term supplements reduce the marker of inflammation after endurance events.” PMID: 34199588
Other potential health benefits
With sports benefits, creatine can help you support overall health and welfare. “Creatine can provide benefits in different ways and is associated with many general health benefits.” This includes improved blood sugar control, improved cognitive ability and brain function, as well as many other beneficial observations. “PMID: 33572884
For ages who manage constant juggling of work, life and training-better cognitive abilities and brain function can be a good thing after the afternoon slump went up to the clock for the morning swimming training!
How many creations can you take -and there is a danger or disadvantage?
Like the supplement, it is important to understand the potential risks and side effects as well as possible for selection based on information. So what do you need to know about taking creatine?
“Creatine is safe in the short term and long -term, and the only known side effects are likely to increase weight due to water retention, but it is important to emphasize that everyone will not experience this.”
“The most common creatine-loading protocol is a 4 x 5-7g dose per day for 5 days. But this is more likely to cause side effects such as moisture retention.”
“Instead, if you load 3g per day for 30 days, you need to have the least water resources. In general, the recommended individual must eat 3G creatin a day to support the general health as we age.”
TOTAL ENDURANCE NUTRITION received more nutritional advice in the content series Go to their website Learn more about about 1: 1 nutrition.