Does Creatine Increase Your Endurance?

Creatine is a compound that is produced by your body naturally and also can be taken as a nutritional supplement aimed to increase athletic performance and exercise intensity. Creatine is primarily stored in your muscles and benefits muscle strength and workout intensity during short bouts of resistance training or power exercise. Generally, creatine mostly benefits athletes during activities that require rapid strength or power and not long-duration exercise. However, creatine may have benefits for all types of athletes. Creatine supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, so consult your physician before using creatine.

What it Does

Creatine gives your skeletal muscles the ability to perform more work at a higher intensity by contributing to the energy-producing metabolic pathway called your adenosine triphosphate, creatine-phosphate system, or ATP-CP system. Your muscles require ATP to contract. Once an ATP molecule is used up, it splits into adenosine diphosphate, or ADP, which is no longer of use to your muscles for contraction. Creatine lends a phosphate group to ADP, which converts it back into ATP for continued energy production, allowing your muscles to continue contraction.

Muscle Endurance

Creatine can act like a buffer for the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles, which is a natural byproduct of muscle contraction. Muscle contraction causes the acidity of your muscle tissues to rise, giving you a burning sensation while you exercise. Creatine may slow the rate of lactic acid buildup, which keeps the acid-base balance in your muscles in check, increasing your muscular endurance and giving you the ability to exercise at a higher intensity for a longer period of time.

Cardiovascular System

Endurance athletes require a strong cardiovascular system to effectively deliver oxygen to various body tissues to continue energy production and fat mobilization during bouts of endurance exercise. In a study published by the "International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology," researchers found that the presence of creatine in the heart can increase the rate of ATP phosphorylation from ADP, which may contribute to an increase in your heart's ability to continue contraction at a higher workload during exercise.

Long-Duration Exercise

The ability of creatine to affect endurance exercise has been comprehensively studied, with evidence suggesting it may benefit endurance athletes as well as strength and power athletes. In a 2003 study in the "International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism," investigators found that creatine supplementation improved exercise endurance in elite rowers during seven days of endurance training. By increasing your body's ability to tolerate lactic acid in your muscles, you may be able to effectively increase your endurance during sub-maximal exercise.