The effects of training and creatine malate supplementation during preparation period on physical capacity and special fitness in judo contestants

Background The supplementation of standard diets with creatinebased compounds in speed-and-strength sports has become very popular today. The creatine alone is an endogenous substance synthetized in internal organs, such as liver, pancreas and kidneys. Primary stores of free creatine (Cr) and its phosphorylated form (PCr) are skeletal muscles, cardiac muscle and smooth muscle tissues. Since the mechanism of phosphocreatine shuttle was described in 1981, the role of this compound in cellular metabolism has increased dramatically [1,2]. In athletes competing in speed and strength sports, such as combat sports, particularly in judo, the demand for ATP is elevated during the physical exercise of interval character. An energy substrate required for its re-synthesis is phosphocreatine which, combined with ADP and creatine kinase (CK), synthesizes ATP [3,4]. The efficiency of these processes might have a significant effect on the effectiveness of a judo fight. Supplementation of diets for athletes from a variety of sports with creatine-based compounds is associated with an improvement in physical performance of speed and strength character. Previous studies have shown that supplementation of diets with creatine positively affects physical performance in terms of the ability to generate peak power and the power in repeated anaerobic exercise [4-6]. Legal substances used so far, with the efficiency that has been determined empirically, include creatine monohydrate citrate, creatine malate and creatine ester. The use of creatine malate for tests carried out among judoists in the present study was not