Creatine and Ephedrine

Creatine and Ephedrine

Bill Romanowski, Shannon Sharpe, and Mark McGwire, are just a few of the professional athletes that use and endorse fitness supplements such as Androstendione, Creatine, and other products. Every on camera interview that you see Shannon Sharpe he is wearing an EAS mock turtleneck. EAS is one of the leading manufacturers of Creatine and other supplements. The hottest supplement in Hollywood is Ephedrine; an herbal based drug designed to increase fat loss. Why do so many athletes use supplements? Who is using the supplements? How can I get supplements? Those are a few of the questions I have tried to answer in this report. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to educate. To educate not only the athletes using the supplements such as Creatine and Ephedrine but to also educate the governing bodies of collegiate sports. Answers were sought to the following questions: 1. Who is using Creatine and/or Ephedrine based products? 2. Why are they using supplements? 3. Are these products easily available? 4. Should the NCAA increase regulations on supplemental usage? Methods and procedures used to formulate this report I used primary and secondary research methods. I used the Internet as a focal point for my research. There were many sites devoted strictly to supplement usage and education on subjects related to the supplements, Creatine and Ephedrine. I also used muscle magazines and books for research. For primary research I gave forty questionnaires (see appendix 2) to twenty women and twenty men from Husson College. Background on Creatine What is Creatine When I think of Creatine I don't think of a body building supplement I think of an aid to recuperation. Like an aspirin you take if you have a headache, an athlete takes Creatine if they have chronic sore muscles from continuously working out. Creatine is a compound that can be made in our body. It is taken as a strength supplement. The chemical name for Creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. The organ that produces the bodies Creatine is the liver. The amount of natural Creatine in the body can be increased or decreased depending on our diet(Absolute). How much Creatine do we have in our body? A 160-pound person would have approximately 120 grams of Creatine stored in their body (The Beg...). The reason Creatine is such a hot commodity is because 95-98% of the Creatine in our body is stored in our muscles.

There are four known jobs for Creatine. (1) Provide additional energy for your muscles. This is the biggest reason athletes/weightlifters use Creatine. By using Creatine for additional energy for the muscles you are able to recover quicker from a strenuous workout or a tough game. (2) Volumization of Muscles. Studies have shown that Creatine pulls water into the muscles cells increasing the size of the muscle. (3) Buffer for Lactic Acid build-up. Lactic Acid gives that burning feeling in your muscles while you work out. Creatine keeps the Lactic Acid out of the muscles for a longer time allowing the user to lift more, thus increasing size and strength in the long run. (4)EnhancesProtein Synthesis.

The more protein synthesis there is the more muscle mass the user will attain (The Beg...). Creatine is used by most for the first benefit, providing additional energy for your muscles. For example if I don't take Creatine and I go to the gym and I go through my normal workout, I will be sore the next day and not be able to lift as much. However, with the use of Creatine I will either not be sore or not as sore the next day, allowing me to lift more and increase my muscle mass. Creatine is the best selling sports supplement of all time. In 1998 alone over two hundred million dollars worth of Creatine based supplements were sold. According to Absolute Creatine.com a supplement becomes very popular for one of three reasons. (1) The supplement industry did a great job marketing the product. (2) The supplement actually delivers benefits to athletes. (3) A combination of the first two, good marketing and benefits. Absolute Creatine believes that the third reason best describes Creatine (Creatine as...). I would also add word of mouth to those reasons. A gym is a very sociable area. Athletes are always looking for that edge to get them to the next level. In 1998 you could not go into a gym without someone in that gym being on Creatine. I know about ten people in my graduating High School class of 1999 that were using Creatine. Creatine Use at Husson In 1998 when Creatine was by far the largest supplement in the United States everybody who was using it was taking pure Creatine. Now with Creatine Technology getting better, Cell-tech, which is marketed as "An advanced Creatine Formula!" is the new fad. Out of the forty Husson students that answered my questionnaire, fourteen said that they had used Creatine or a Creatine based supplement. Thirteen of those who have used Creatine were men. I had presumed that more men would have used Creatine because those who use Creatine want to bulk up more than take weight off most women want to take weight off and get tone. Men want to put weight on and get "ripped". We know that there is Creatine use at Husson, now we must look at why there is Creatine use at Husson and should it be regulated. The reasons for Creatine use at Husson are clear. Husson has a rich tradition of quality athletics and thus the pressure of performing is greater than other small colleges throughout Maine. Also, because of the climate the regular seasons for many sports are squeezed into a short amount of time. For example the Husson baseball team plays their whole season from April 6th to April 28th. That's ten games squeezed into three weeks. Furthermore, they play back to back games four times. By using Creatine the players will be able to bounce back quicker from injuries and soreness caused by continuous stress on muscles. Another reason that Creatine is being used is that many players at Husson still have dreams of making it to professional status. It has been said that if you're not on Creatine then your not serious about taking your game to the next level. I wouldn't take it that far, for one reason, the risks involved with taking Creatine. Natural Creatine is produced in the Kidneys. Questions have been raised about Creatine possibly damaging the Kidney's if it is used for an extended period of time. Absolute Creatine raises a good point, anything can become dangerous if it is used for long periods of time and or abused. For example Vitamin C can have harmful effects if you take too much of it. (Absolute) Creatine is not currently on the banned substance list. But, should an athlete die of dehydration due to Creatine or the FDA finds that there are long term effects to using Creatine I think that the NCAA will