skandal20

I have been seriously strength training for a couple of years now and I have a lot of experience with supplements. I just recently bought my first road bike and I love it. I was just wondering if supplementing my diet with creatine would enhance my cycling? Creatine has been known to increase performance in short, high intensity muscle contractions such as sprinting/jumping/etc...I know there are some studies that say it causes cramping with extended length exercise, but I was just wondering if anyone has any experiences to share. Thanks.

KeithA

The most extensive discussion I've seen on Creatine was at this forum. You might want to read their FAQ's on the suppliment or perhaps post specifically for cycling as you've done here.

Good luck.

Yo-

Creatine is not too good for endurance training. It increases your water weight and only increases your fast twitch muscle strength. But unless your going to be competing, I wouldn't worry about it.

dirtbikedude

Everyone reacts differently to supplements. That being said, the only problem I have with Creatine is ow it can prevent you from sweating which inturn can cause your body to not be able to regulate it's tempurature and then over heat even if you are properly hydrated.

Since you are going to be doing an endurance sport now you may want to cut out the Creatine.

DBD

skandal20

Thanks. Ive never heard of or experience the non-sweating effect of creatine. I usually sweat like a beast. But yeah, I understand the whole water retention thing. Adding unnecessary weight probably won't help my riding. I just bought a tub of SAN Nutrition V-12 Turbo which is a cousin formula of creatine (not mono-hydrate), and it claims that it doesnt cause water retention. I guess Ill try it out and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks.

EventServices

I had a weird reaction to creatine a few years ago.

The entire time time I was using it, I would wake up in the middle of the night with a weird sense of anxiety. Worried about every little thing as if it were a catastrophe waiting to happen.
It stopped when I stopped using creatine.

skandal20

Yeah, creatine used to be paired with ephedra a lot of the time to counteract some of the weight gain which comes along with carb loaded creatine. So thats probably the source of the anxiety you felt. Or maybe you got some crazy bad creatine. Who knows. I started loading up on my new creatine the other day, and I can already tell a difference in my climbing and my sprints. Could be mental, but the effect is worth it.

LapDog

I did a fair amount of research on this subject a couple of years back and came up with the opinion of no, it's not for cycling

SSP

I've given up creatine during the cycling season, because it seemed to be associated with cramps whenever I did rides that were long, hot, or hilly. I still use it sometimes during the winter months when I lift weights, but quit using it in the spring.

ranalli

Actually I disagree. I've never used Creatine for biking. But I HAVE used creatine for running long distances(~ 1 hour) and the results were just as good as they were when I used it for weight lifting. My legs and arms were pushing so hard my lungs actually had a tough time keeping up.

The water weight argument is BS....as a runner I had no problem with the extra water weight. My gains in speed and endurance were pretty impressive at least for myself. I don't see why a biker would have any more of a problem than a runner. Furthermore, biking seems a lot harder on the muscles than the lungs which seems to be a great opportunity to use creatine as the limiting factor seems to be muscle endurance rather than lung endurance(at least for myself as an ex-runner).


However, I would not bother using creatine until you have gotten as far as you can go without using it. It's really best for pushing over plateaus of training I've found rather than using it when you're already seeing decent improvements week to week.

Again, I've never used it myself for biking as I'm a newbie but to say that it's not good for endurance is false....I know this from straight experience.

Yo-

Then you are the exception to the rule. I know of no long distance runners, or cyclists that supplement with creatine except the sole purpose to gain muscle in the weight room. If they are not trying to gain muscle and want to compete, they will not supplement.

I used creatine to gain muscle before I cycled and saw awesome gains. I used it again this past year and brokeout very badly, so I stopped taking it. I can see it helping you hammer away up a hill, but not for long distance spinning.

Enthalpic

+1

Good for off season strength training; maybe ok for endurance work. Creatine Propels British Athletes to Olympic Gold Medals: Is Creatine the One True Ergogenic Aid?' Running Research News, vol. 9(1), pp. 1-5, 1993)."

https://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0864.htm

DannoXYZ 

I've used it in the winter when weight-training as well when I was racing. But my strength had increased sufficiently after the first 5 years, that I really only needed 4-6 weeks of weight-training and didn't really need any supplements to build muscle-strength back up in between seasons.

You also have to remember with running and hiking, the peak muscle-forces are much higher than cycling. That's because even though you may be generating the same power, say... 250watts, cycling can do it continuously through a 360-degree pedal-revolution. However, hiking & running requires putting out enough force to generate that power only in 50% of the time, on the push stroke, and the other 50% is only loading up the muscles just enough to bring leg back forward again; a much lower force than pushing. So peak muscle force on an endurance event may be 80-100lbs on the pedals while running at that same power-output will require you to push 150-175lbs. Thus at the same power-output with running, the muscles are much closer to their lactate-threshold where creatine may make a difference.