Abstract

The effect of short-term, low-dose creatine supplementation in conjunction with resistance training on body composition and muscle performance was evaluated in a double-blind randomised placebo¬-controlled trial. Eighteen healthy males (mean age 21 yrs), were assigned to a creatine (CR; n=10) or placebo control (PL, n=8) group. The CR group supplemented their diets with 10g of creatine and 10g of dextrose daily for 5 clays and the PL controls ingested 20g of dextrose only over the same period. Both groups performed three weight-training sessions of 60 minutes duration each. Neither group showed significant changes in total body mass. The CR group experienced significantly greater mean percentage changes than the PL group in lean body mass (+1.99 vs+0.34%; p<0.01), fat mass (-4.62 vs-1.67%; p<0.05), muscle mass (+2.52 vs+0.41%; p<0.001), and body mass index (+1.2 vs 0.02%; p<0.05). The CR group experienced greater respective mean percentage improvements in absolute isotonic jumping power (+1.5 vs+0.6%), isometric grip strength (+2.1 vs+1.7%) and significantly greater changes in isotonic muscle endurance (+16.8 vs+4.8%; p<0.05). Results indicated that short-term, low-dosage creatine supplementation, in conjunction with weight-training, induced positive effects on body composition and muscle performance. Verf.-Referat