When creatine is ingested it travels to the muscles through the blood stream. Once inside the muscle cells, it is turned into a substance called creatine phosphate. Which is used for short term energy bursts for such activities as strength training and sports that require short, fast bursts of activity. Creatine phosphate aids in replenishing your levels of ATP. Adenosine triphosphate, ATP is the molecular fuel that provides the power for muscular contractions.
During muscle contraction, ATP loses a phosphate molecule to create energy and gets converted to adenosine di phosphate (ADP). In order to produce more energy ADP must be converted back to ATP. When ATP is depleted, creatine acts as a source of phosphate and converts the ADP molecule to ATP molecule. The more creatine that is available to the body, the faster the body can produce ATP molecules, so that more and more energy is available for the muscle contractions.
Increased amounts of creatine slow the possibility of fatigue. Creatine helps in the synthesis of protein, which further promotes muscle growth and development.
Creatine pulls water into the muscle which obviously makes the muscle look bigger. This ability of creatine seems to have convinced many that the increase in muscle mass with creatine intake is simply due to water retention.
However, studies have shown a significant increase in actual muscle cross sectional area with creatine consumption and strength training.
Not all muscle types respond equally to creatine supplementation. Muscles can be loosely described as either fast or slow. As the name implies, fast twitch muscle fibers mediate abrupt movements. Fast twitch muscle fibers are also those that mostly use creatine energy production. Therefore, explosive movements respond best to creatine supplementation.
However, Slow twitch muscle fibers do not rely much on creatine energy production. Slow muscle fibers are also those that play an important role during endurance exercise. It follows that endurance tasks are influenced less by creatine supplementation. Many endurance sports may be negatively effected by the increase in weight associated with creatine supplementation.
Creatine can provide energy in a short span of time. Which makes creatine a very successful supplement for athletes and weight lifters as they need those sudden burts of energy quite frequently. Creatine has been shown to be very effective in performance of repeated bursts of exercise because it enhances recovery.
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