| Hi Friend!
If you're like me you're always trying to simply, systemize, do better, do less, get faster, be present, get more done, be mindful and optimize. Optimize. What an interesting word? Google defines it as, "make the best or most effective use of (a situation, opportunity, or resource)."
How can you optimize your life? How can you optimize your strength training? How can you optimize your recovery? How can you optimize your teenage athletes training, recovery and sports performance? How can you optimize your brain performance? How can you optimize your strength and lean mass while aging? How can you optimize recovery from a concussion? How can you optimize maintenance of lean mass, strength & performance while immobilized and injured?
One of the cool things about the conference I went to was the presentation on creatine. Creatine was a supplement I took in my 20's and it worked great for me. Had I known about it in high school and had I had access to a strength & conditioning coach / personal trainer in high school, knowing my personality, work ethic and drive, earning all league would have been a disappointing year. Playing every game vs. missing time due to injury would be an expectation and having the self-confidence to let my inner attitude express its full intensity on the court or field would have been my norm. Awww glory days and if I knew then what I know now. Thankfully there will be lots of opportunities still to come where presenting my best self, my families best self or your best self where optimizing what we do can be beneficial.
Here's what I learned.
Creatine Supplementation and Protein Metabolism may favor hypertrophic properties in young 22 y/o strength athletes. (this means creatine and consumption of protein sources helped 22 y/o's who lift weights, hypertrophy their muscles (strong, solid and firm) vs. atrophy their muscles (soft, flaccid and weak).
1. 20g/day for 5days or 3-5g/day for 30 days increased muscle creatine by 20% (this is tested and recommended dosing) 2. 20g/day for 5days (may) increase brain creatine by 10% (maybe) 3. Weight Lifters were 8% stronger with creatine vs. placebo. 4. Weight Lifters had 14% increase in performance vs. placebo. 5. Increased high intensity performance lasting less than 30seconds. 6. Less effective for for high intensity efforts lasting between 30-150 seconds. 7. May be effective for endurance athletes who sprint during endurance exercise and events (like last 100meters, climbing a hill, passing someone, etc...). 8. Increases muscle resynthesis of Creatine Phosphate (the explosive energy you use). 9. Increases muscle glycogen stores. (More energy available for 30s bursts and boot camp). 10. Creatine supplementation with immobilization and/or injury helps retain muscle mass, strength and performance. 11. Creatine may boost brain + cognitive performance (10 studies say yes, 3 say no). 12. Creatine supplementation in older adults increased Fat Free Mass (lean muscle) and Chest 1 Rep Maximum (strength). 13. Creatine may accelerate recovery from and possibly reduce concussion risk (currently hypothesized; I don't recall if research is going on right now). 14. Milo, the Greek Wrestler, who lifted his bull everyday from a calf to a full grown bull, had a secret. He ate 20lbs of meat per day. Creatine is the substance in meat that many people gain energy from. 15. The presenter found a slide for Creatine Supplements dating back to 1847 in the U.S. The ironic part is that most people couldn't afford to buy meat regularly, so buying a supplement seemed even more odd, but the take home point is it's been around for a long time and its been well researched (pubmed has 56k studies on creatine). It's safe. 16. Use creatine monohydrate only. 95% of studies have been done on this form. Ignore the rest.
Coach Note: so far most research has been done on elite athletes, college athletes, older populations and sick populations. The 30-50 y/o demographic doesn't have many studies, and the researchers hypothesize its because we're too busy working and raising families to participate in a study. Anectdotaly it worked for me performance and muscle building wise during my 20's. It is very intriguing. The researcher / presenter was awesome and funny, but he did not mention anything about weight gain, and I think it may cause a person to gain weight and/or keep weight on which is useful for those looking to put weight on or not lose weight while participating in a lot of sports, training and exercise (triathletes, high school athletes, hard gainers). The possible brain performance and injury maintenance benefits are very exciting to learn.
Below are the slides Dr. Eric Rawson used in his presentation. | 
