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05.03.2018

This happens when you combine drop sets with creatine supplementation

Exercise scientists suspect that drop sets are even better able to build muscle mass and muscle strength than regular sets. What would happen if you combine drop sets with creatine supplementation? Would this enhance the training effect even further? In 2016, Canadian sports scientists published a human study in Experimental Gerontology, in which they answer that question.

Study
The researchers divided forty untrained men and women into 2 groups. The average age of the subjects was 58 years. One group took 100 milligrams of creatine per kilogram of body weight every day for 12 weeks, while the other group took a placebo.

Both groups worked out with weights 3 times a week. Each workout consisted of 4 exercises: the leg press, the hack squat, the chest press and the lat pull down. The sudy participants made 2 drop sets of each exercise.

Each drop set consisted of a maximum number of reps with 80 percent of the weight with which just 1 rep was possible [the 1RM], and then without rest a maximum number of repetitions with 30 percent of the 1RM.

After such a drop set the subjects rested for 1-2 minutes. Then they did one more.

Results
Both the placebo group and the creatine group gained fat-free mass [say: muscle mass]. However, the increase in the creatine group exceeded the increase in the placebo group.

Both groups lost just over one kilogram of body fat.

The maximal strength increased more in the creatine users more than in the placebo group.

When the researchers split their data by sex, they noticed that creatine had increased training volume in men and not in women.

Analysis of the urine made it clear how that came about. In the urine of the women who had used creatine, the concentration of 3-methylhistidine had increased, while in the men in the creatine group it had decreased. 3-Methylhistidine is a bio marker for muscle breakdown.

"The anti-catabolic effects of creatine may have enabled males to resistance train at a greater capacity over time", the researchers speculate. "The lack of response from females on creatine could involve intramuscular creatine metabolism. Females may have higher resting intramuscular creatine levels than males and therefore may not respond as well to creatine supplementation."

Hmmm. Not very likely, considering the dosage used.

Conclusion
"The addition of creatine to drop-set resistance training leads to superior gains in muscle mass with males on creatine experiencing additional benefits", write the researchers.

"Future research should compare creatine supplementation and drop-set resistance training to creatine supplementation and heavy load and light load resistance training in aging adults. Furthermore, long-term training studies examining the effects of creatine and drop-set resistance training on properties of aging bone are needed."

Source:
Exp Gerontol. 2016 Oct;83:112-9.

More:
The training principle that increases strength athletes' growth hormone secretions by a factor 17 05.11.2015
Muscle growth is the same whether you do high-intensity or high-volume resistance training 09.09.2015
Full body workout is a teeny weeny bit more effective than a split routine 26.08.2015

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