Effects of 8 weeks of creatine supplementation on exercise performance and fat-free weight in football players during training

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in bench press strength (BPS), vertical jump (VJ), 100 yd dash time, and fat-free weight (FFW) in football players following 8 weeks of supplementation with a carbohydrate placebo (CHO), creatine monohydrate (CM), or CM plus CHO. Using a double blind random design, 24 college football players were placed into one of three treatment conditions: CHO) 35g CHO; CM) 5.25g CM plus 1 g CHO; or CM+CHO) 5.25g CM and 33g CHO. All treatments were similar in taste and were ingested four times per day for five consecutive days and twice daily thereafter. All subjects weight trained for 1 h and participated in 30 min of speed drills four times per week for 8 weeks. The CM+CHO group experienced significant (p<0.05) improvement in BPS, VJ, 100 yd dash time and FFW when compared to the CHO group. However, delta scores for the CM group were not significantly different from the CHO group. These data suggest that CHO taken with CM during training may be superior to training alone for enhancing exercise performance and FFW. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.