Throughout the CrossFit community there is an age old debate, are supplements okay to take and still abide by the natural lifestyle that CrossFit endorses?
Ready for the answer? The answer is… I don’t know.
Not the answer you expected huh? Every one’s definition of maintaining a health lifestyle is different, hence every-one’s view on supplements is different. Knowing this I thought I would lay out the three top supplements on the market today. They have been researched for some time now to increase your levels of strength, power and endurance. The great thing is about these supplements is they are also found in natural food sources. So if popping pills isn’t part of your health creed I also want you to know where you can find it through real dietary sources as well.
Creatine – I’m sure you have head about this well known supplement, it has become one of the most used supplements on the market today. It has been reported that up to 20% of all collegiate athletes are taking or have taken Creatine at one point to increase their athletic performance.
Creatine is found naturally in our body sitting around in skeletal muscle. When the body performs work Creatine is used to replenish your stores of ATP. ATP is the primary source of energy for muscle contraction. The more Creatine you have stored up the faster you can recover and the more work you can perform. Its recommended that to obtain maximal benefit from Creatine supplementation, you should consume roughly 5g/day.
Normally, dietary creatine is obtained from the consumption of meat, fish, and other animal products (Table 1). A half pound of raw meat contains approximately 1 g of creatine. I hope your all hungry!
Beta-alanine – is a nonessential amino acid that is common in many foods that we eat, such as chicken. Beta-alanine is not much of an ergogenic aid by itself. However, when it enters the muscle cell, it becomes the rate-limiting substrate to carnosine synthesis.
Carnosine synthesis is part of the buffering process that occurs when your body starts to produce lactate under exercise conditions. This increase buffing could lead to increase training volume and total work performed under repeat bouts. It is suggested that 2.4 to 6.2 g/day is sufficient for Beta-alanine supplementation.
Similar to Creatine, Beta-alanine can be cound in high protein foods: poultry, beef .
Speaking of Beef, is that Matt and Vinny back there?
Caffeine – One of the most consumed drugs in the world, caffeine has been a staple for energy drink addicts. Caffeine ingestion has been show to have a whole host of benefits. For all you 6:00am’ers Caffeine has been shown to dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for athletes to reach preserved exhaustion levels in the morning hours. It has been shown that 3 to 9 mg/kg have reproducible improvements like: increased resting metabolism, increased stroke volume, heightened neurological activity and so on.
Perhaps one of the most researched Natural sources of caffeine is Guarana. The guarana plant is actually part of the maple family, but while its cousins have sweet sap, the guarana has a high-powered berry with twice the caffeine content of a coffee bean.
Is that caffeine in your shaker or are you just happy to see me?
The information provided is not meant to persuade or coheres anyone into supplementing. The recommended amount labeled above are from pier reviewed journals and are not meant to serve as prescriptions. If you interested in supplementing its always best to discuss with a doctor before hand.
Workout of the Day 8/20/2010
A. 500M Row max effort x 2
B. 21-15-9
Slam Ball (30/20)
Pull-Up
Power Snatch (95/65)
Thanks Matt, great info. Would you speak to the different types of Creatine in supplement form and what is best. Maybe suggest brands? The supplement store carries about a million kinds of Creatine these days. In the past I have used EAS Phosphogen HP with positive results. Is that stuff old school at this point? Do we have better options now?
Thanks.
None of the myriad of forms of creatine (liquid creatine, effervescent, creatine ethyl ester, createine alpha-Ketoglutarate, alkalyn) have any evidence that show they are more effective then good ol creatine monohydrate. Creatine Monohydrate is the form proven effective in over 300 published and peer reviewed research papers. Supplementation with creatine works the way Matt said in about 80% of people who take it, plain and simple. Yes, it is found naturally but you would need to eat a LOT of beef (see table) to reach a point where supplemenation is no longer useful. Some of the creatine mixtures (Cell-tech, phosphagen) are mixed with a lot of sugars, and the resulting insulin spike helps shuttle the creatine into the muscle cell, but they are expensive and you can get this effect by eating the crossfit-approved pwo meals. Add it to your protein shake along with some zico or whatever you like. Unless you have already taken it in the perscribed amounts and found no benefits, there is really no reason not to take advantage of creatine.
Go with micronized creatine monohydrate (for maximum absorption). Creapure is a brand well known for quality, you can get it at Lindberg for cheap.