Effect of Preexercise Creatine Ingestion on Muscle Performance in Healthy Aging Males

ABSTRACTBaker, TP, Candow, DG, and Farthing, JP. Effect of preexercise creatine ingestion on muscle performance in healthy aging males. J Strength Cond Res 30(6)1763–1766, 2016—Preexercise creatine supplementation may have a beneficial effect on aging muscle performance. Using a double-blind, repeated measures, crossover design, healthy males (N = 9, 54.8 ± 4.3 years; 92.9 ± 11.5 kg; 179.2 ± 11.1 cm) were randomized to consume creatine (20 g) and placebo (20 g corn starch maltodextrin), on 2 separate occasions (7 days apart), 3 hours before performing leg press and chest press repetitions to muscle fatigue (3 sets at 70% 1-repetition maximum; 1 minute rest between sets). There was a set main effect (p ≤ 0.05) for the leg press and chest press with the number of repetitions performed decreasing similarly for creatine and placebo. These results suggest that a bolus ingestion of creatine consumed 3 hours before resistance exercise has no effect on upper or lower-body muscle performance in healthy aging males.