How are modern footballer’s aided by Creatine?
Ian Wright swears by the stuff, body-builders, athletes and top level footballers all take it and it is 100% legal but what is Creatine and how does it help the modern footballer?
Modern football is faster and more competitive than it has ever been and achieving, and maintaining, peak fitness in order to get to the top has never been more important. There has been some bad press about the use of Creatine in sport but why?
Well, I guess it boils down to the misconception many people have that Creatine is a form of doping – they could not be more mistaken.
Creatine is naturally manufactured by our livers, kidneys and pancreas and is also found in fish and most red meats. Creatine helps muscles to work harder for longer and improves recovery time so athletes can train more intensively. Athletes aren’t just counting on their bodies to create enough though; they buy freely available online Creatine supplements at Supps R Us, in chemists and health food shops, either as a powder or in tablet form and take it on its own or mixed with glucose to help maintain intensity, recover and muscle health.
In truth, Creatine is no more a doping agent than vitamin pills, energy bars, protein shakes, isotonic sports drinks or even taking cod liver oil to improve your suppleness. These products do not give athletes who use them an unfair advantage in competition; they simply help them feel at their best.
Creatine has its critics but when Arsène Wenger came to England he got rid of the pre-match chocolate bars the team were using for a false boost of energy and replaced it with a slow burning energy diet high in protein and natural ingredients. He took the team away from sugar and towards whole foods and as a result improved the energy levels of the team arguably giving them an advantage over the rest of the league. Was it an unfair advantage? No. Like Creatine users, many of whom are Premier League footballers, he used his greater knowledge to make his players fitter and stronger.
A bowl of brown pasta will keep your energy levels up longer than a Mars bar will. That is just knowledge. The more knowledge people gain of Creatine the more it will be accepted but if it was as unfairly advantageous as the professional critics suggests it surely would have been banned. It hasn’t because it’s a natural substance. Your body creates it to help your muscles contract, for enhanced recovery, building muscle strength, anaerobic capacity, brain function, and more.
The fact that Creatine enhances high intensity work makes it perfect for footballers and athletes alike. The help it gives to players is not only displayed in their performances but in their resistance to injury and fatigue. Imagine not losing your best players for weeks on end due to muscle strains and burn-out. If players are not using Creatine they are missing out and just because they aren’t willing to make themselves better doesn’t mean they should complain when others do.
