Creatine cycling: the right supplement

Let’s talk about amino acids for cycling, specifically what creatine is used for and when to take it

You’ve read creatine among the ingredients of your sports supplement and wonder what it is? Do you wonder how it can help you perform at your best during rides? In this article we will discuss cycling creatine the perfect combination to improve sprints in competition and training.

Whether it’s an amateur outing on a Sunday morning in the company of friends or an intense training session in preparation for a competitive race, the cyclist rides every time with the aim of improving his or her times and exceeding his or her limits, straining and stressing his or her mind and body to achieve the desired results. This is why, a correct pre-workout diet and integration with the right nutrients is essential to ensure sufficient energy, strength and endurance throughout the performance.

What is creatine

Creatine is an amino acid naturally present in the body that is synthesised by the liver, pancreas and kidneys from three other amino acids: arginine, glycine and methionine. Its main function is to bind to a phosphate group, transforming into phosphocreatine and providing the energy needed to make short, very high-intensity efforts by intervening in the alactacidic anaerobic mechanism.
In a man of about 70 kg, the natural body amount of creatine is about 120 g, the daily requirement is 2 g, of which 1 g is synthesised and 1 g is taken in with food (creatine is present in foods of animal origin, especially meat and fish). Once assimilated, it is stored in the muscles.

The phosphocreatine reserves in the muscles are depleted very quickly, replenishing creatine through specific products can increase the stores by up to 40% enabling, through phosphocreatine, the use of ATP to be prolonged.

Creatine cycling: the benefits for athletes

Over the years, numerous studies have demonstrated the usefulness and benefits of creatine, especially in endurance sports. Creatine cycling is therefore truly a winning combination in many respects. For cyclists, creatine brings several important benefits, such as:

• the increase in the capacity for a single sprint and the speeding up of recovery times, allowing the athlete to perform two sprints close together;
• the increase in muscle strength due to the anabolic effects on muscle cells;
• the increase in glycogen reserves: taking creatine boosts the muscle’s ability to store it by 50%;
• the reduction of muscle atrophy in the event of a forced stop caused by an injury and, subsequently, creatine supplementation helps muscles regain strength, mass and vigour;
• the improvement of the body’s hydration, increasing the efficiency of the thermoregulatory response, thanks to creatine’s osmotic properties;
• the removal of the feeling of fatigue.

Sprintade’s product for sports supplementation

The Sprintade® line of products are designed to be easy to carry and use in training or racing, as well as to ensure maximum speed of assimilation of the right active ingredients. When training becomes more intense or in anticipation of a race, it is a good idea to increase the amount of creatine in a cyclist’s diet to ensure the muscles have the right amount of energy they need to maintain high performance and achieve their goals. The right creatine supplementation should be able to maximise stores, increasing the amount stored by 20-40%.

CREAFos by Sprintade® is a powdered supplement that is perfect for inserting into water bottles and, thanks to its high creatine and fructose 1,6-diphosphate content, can be consumed regularly for the purpose of increasing muscle reserves of creatine and phosphate. Before training, it helps saturate reserves to support upcoming energy use; during training, it is also an excellent energy support due to the presence of magnesium and potassium.