There's a sports supplement out there that's getting written off before it even gets a chance. Having the prefix "Creatin-" immediately sends up red flags in most of our heads. "Uh-oh, another creatine analog. When will they learn that there's nothing wrong with plain 'ol monohydrate?"
My goal of this thread is to educate all of you that there is a totally novel supplement called Creatinol-o-Phosphate that has almost NOTHING to do with creatine. Unfortunately because of the nature of the industry, it has been falsely written off as a creatine analog and hasn't picked up much popularity yet. However, it is slowly sneaking into more and more formulas (BSN, VPX, MHP, Cytogenix, MuscleTech, and Muscle Asylum Project), and my prediction is that it will continue to do so. By the end of this thread, you will see why I think C.O.P. may be "the next beta-Alanine."
Let's start off with the basics.
CREATINOL-O-PHOSPHATE IS NOT CREATINE. Whew! If you can get that part out of your head, it's time to look at some of the facts/research.
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Creatinol-O-Phosphate:
Creatine:
You can see here how COP got the prefix "Creatin-" They both begin with Nitrogen, double bonded to NH, and bonded to NH2 and CH3. From what I've read (source unavailable ATM), the scientist who named COP saw this similarity and decided to give it that prefix.
However, you can clearly see that the tail of the two "creatin"s are completely different. This isn't a creatine molecule bound to anything. It's an Oxygen molecule with a "creatin" for its first bond and a phosphate for its other bond.
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On Bodybuilding.com (which can sometimes get to be a bit FUBAR), a member of Gaspari's R&D team (Dan from now on) decided to dig up the dirt on creatinol-o-phosphate. The reason why we can't just type it into pubmed.com is because most of the studies are in German and Italian, and were never done in the States. I'm going to quote Dan quite a bit in the following paragraphs since he looked through ALL the research on COP (believe me, he read through quite a bit), and has roughly translated the important parts into English.
THE SHORT ANSWER: Read here if you don't want to flip through all the research junk. According to Gaspari's "Dan,"
Quote:
Basically, it’s an intracellular buffer. It helps you train longer by increasing anaerobic glycolysis in the presence of lactic acid. In a nutshell, it helps you increase the time under tension during eccentric motion.
This is key because training failure during eccentric motion is usually due to a breakdown in sarcolemmal integrity and the junction between muscle cells and the nervous system (neuromuscular junction). Once you reach the failure point they can no longer communicate but with creatinol-o-phosphate your typical failure point can be surpassed. This can cause a greater quantal summation of muscle cells recruited during eccentric motion. Basically, you have greater total muscle stimulation which may lead to enhanced hypertrophy. Creatine does not do this.
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HEY KABUKI! I want you to read that part up above buddy. Remember your thread back in the day trashing Muscletech's Aplodan (which, btw, is COP, not creatine)? THAT is what they meant by "dormant muscle fibers." Theoretically, there are muscle fibers that may never be activated because lactate, and loss of sarcolemmal integrity, stops eccentric motion before those fibers ever get to be activated. By allowing a couple of extra reps in the presence of lactate and improving communication between the somatic nervous system and the muscle tissue, your body will most likely turn to fibers that never got a chance to truly be targeted before. Not defending MuscleTech, nor am I trying to insult you; in fact, I think they really rode the failboat with Aplodan and their crappy marketing for it. But since that whole thing seemed to irk you I figured you might find that interesting.
It's for this exact reason that people who have correctly loaded and used COP in the right doses have felt extra sore after their lifting days. Normally, lactic acid stops your muscles from contracting before they damage themselves too much. COP, as an "intracellular buffer," allows your muscles to push past that lactate threshhold and "damage" their muscles more. (On a side note, I think COP would be great while on an AAS cycle where your recovery is so much faster.)
SO HOW DOES IT WORK ANYWAYS?
Right. By now you're probably saying "Alright ***hole, that's some big talk, let's see you back it up." I'm not a chemist, but I'm still prepared to do so. Bear in mind, I'm not taking credit for the original research; I'm more like a parrot, but I've been reading up on it enough that I have a basic understanding.
Quote:
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maintaining the structural integrity the sacolemma (plasma membrane) plays an essential role in acheiving maximal stimulation and withstanding neuromuscular fatigue. Aplodan (creatinol-o-phospate) reduces Ca2+ overload and Mg2+ depletion but more importantly reduces creatine phosphokinase (CPK) loss across the plasma membrane (7). CPK is an essential enyzme in the anaerobic production of ATP from phosphocreatine. Obviously, limiting it’s loss through an enhanced sarcolemmal membrane is another way Aplodan can improve exercise performance.
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Source: "Dan."
(7) 7. Marzo A, Ghirardi P. Pharmacokinetics of creatinol O-phosphate. Plasma turnover, fate and excretion rate, subcellular distribution in isolated perfused heart and ****bolic behaviour.
Arzneimittelforschung. 1979;29(9a):1452-6.
In a nutshell, creatinol-o-phosphate actually improves the action of creatine in the muscles. In order for creatine phosphate to be used, sufficient levels of CPK must be present to separate the phosphate and eventually donate it to ADP to make ATP.
Potential Stack 1: C.O.P. and creatine? Sounds good to me.
(It should also be noted that in many kinesiology studies, CPK is almost always used as a marker to detect muscle damage.)
Overall, like "Dan," said, the importance of C.O.P. lies in maintaining sarcolemmal integrity. Under heavy weight loads, obviously with muscles contracting at such high intensity leads to the breakdown of muscle cell membrane integrity. C.O.P. acts on the basis that the cause of muscle failure is the nervous system's inability to continue signaling skeletal muscle cells while the sarcolemma is under such stress. You can have as much creatine phosphate as you want at this point, but if your CNS can't signal the muscle fibers, it's like having gas without an engine.
Potential Stack 2: Nootropics and C.O.P.? Improving the mind-body connection through two different pathways.
HERE'S THE WRAP-UP FOR POST #1
I do have more information and research, just not right on hand at the moment. If any of you are more curious/require more information I am digging that up right now.
In the beginning, there was creatine. (This was even before my time for the most part). Though other supplements came and went (HMB, myostatin, anabolic flavones, etc.), the next "big thing" that is slowly becoming as much of a staple as creatine is beta-Alanine. (I also believe LCLT will be up there very soon)
Creatine supplies your muscles with more ATP. beta-Alanine -> Carnosine buffers out H+ and thus balances muscular pH. Now how about a supplement that converts your creatine to ATP MORE EFFICIENTLY, and on top of that, allows eccentric contraction
even in the presence of lactate?
In my mind, it's the perfect stack. C.O.P. is simultaneously helping convert your creatine over into energy better, and in the meantime, when Carnosine hits its limit and lactate builds up, C.O.P. is
still allowing you to work! This is why I think C.O.P. really could be the next beta-Alanine.
When you look at all this, it really makes you want to superman punch the guy that decided to name this stuff CREATINOL-o-phosphate. Sheesh, even VPX was dumb enough to call this stuff a creatine analog.
