Jacobs, K. A., Leenders, N. Y., Sherman, W. M., Nelson, T. E., Lamb, D. R., & Miller, E. C. (1998). Creatine (Cr) supplementation and swimming. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30(5), Supplement abstract 1506.

Two weeks of creatine ingestion was evaluated as to whether it would or would not improve swimming velocity over 50-m (6 x 50 m twice a week) and 25-yd (10 x 25 yd twice a week) intervals. College swimmers (M = 18; F = 14) served in a double-blind study after a two-week period of placebo (baseline) supplementation.

There was no effect of creatine supplementation on the 10 x 25-yd intervals for either gender. There was no effect of creatine supplementation on the 6 x 50-m set in females but there was in males.

These data suggest that short swimming intervals (10-15 sec) are not affected by creatine and males, but not females, do improve marginally over repetitious intervals of 30-35 seconds.

Implication. Female swimming performance is not benefited by creatine supplementation but males do improve over 30-35 second repetitious tasks.

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