This article looks at the effects of creatine monohydrate on repeated sprints performance
What’s the deal?
Creatine monohydrate is a popular supplement for building muscle and many believe it boosts power and strength for short, intense efforts. This study looked at whether creatine monohydrate could improve performance during repeated, all-out sprints.
What did they do?
Sixteen recreationally active men took part and started by taking a glucose placebo (75mg per kg of body weight) daily for 5 days. They then performed a baseline sprints test consisting of 6×10 seconds all-out on a self-propelled treadmill, with 30 seconds of recovery in between. Participants were then randomly assigned to either continue on the placebo for another 5 days, or to take creatine monohydrate (75mg per kg of body weight) daily for 5 days. Participants then repeated the sprints test.
What happened?
Maximum power output and maximum running speed were similar between groups, but average power output and average running speed were both better in the creatine monohydrate group, especially in the final 5 seconds of each 10-second sprint. The improvement was by about 4-5%.
What can you tell me about the people?
These were healthy, recreationally active men in their mid-20s. The average body weight was 75kg, meaning the average creatine monohydrate dose was about 5.6g per day.
What else should I know?
Body weight increased by about 1kg (about 2.2lbs) on average in the creatine monohydrate group. This was most likely due to water retention within muscles themselves, which is a common effect of this supplement during the first few days. Interestingly, creatine monohydrate is also suggested to have cognitive benefits and anti-ageing effects too, but more on this later.
What will I do differently?
I’ve yet to jump on the creatine monohydrate bandwagon, but I’ll add this to the bookmarks as another thing to experiment with before competitive HIIT-style sessions! I haven’t done a bleep test for a while, but I’m sure it could be handy there too!
Acknowledgements
This research was published in March 2022 by GC Bogdanis and colleagues from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece.
This article highlights our personal take on their research, but there is so much more information available! Check it out here and see what you think!
Abstract Athlete 