The Effect of‌ Acute Creatine and Combined Creatine and Carbohydrate Supplementation on Anaerobic Performance of Soccer Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of acute creatine-monohydrate (CR) and creatine plus carbohydrate (CR+CHO) supplementation on anaerobic performance in young soccer players. Twenty one young male soccer players (19±1.61 years) participated in the study who were matched and assigned to 3 random trials: CR+CHO (N=7, 4× 5 g/d of creatine + 25 g CHO) or CR (N=7, 4×5 g/d of creatine) or placebo for 5 days using a double-blind research design. Before and after the supplementation protocol, subjects performed a counter-movement jump test (CMJT), and Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) after the measurement of body composition. T-test and one-way ANOVA were used to establish if any significant differences existed within and between groups at P ≤ 0.05 respectively. Maximum and average power and body mass improved significantly in the CR+CHO and CR groups, whereas there was no significant change in CMJT and fatigue index at post-test. Furthermore, there were no between group differences in maximum and average power; CMJT and fatigue index in CR+CHO and CR groups compared with placebo group. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that although performance of an acute creatine loading together with CHO supplementation did not significantly improve anaerobic performances of soccer players but in spite of increase body mass, certain improvements were detected in Creatine groups which might have had an important role in the game results.