An investigation into the combined effects of creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation on repeated bouts of high intensity exercise in elite cyclists

Muscular contraction and relaxation are fuelled exclusively by the free energy liberated during the dephosphorylation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Adenosine triphosphate is the only direct fuel that can power muscular contraction. The store of skeletal muscle ATP is limited, and so must be rapidly resynthesised from its breakdown products to avoid muscular fatigue (Hultman, 1987). During maximal exercise of short duration, this replenishment comes from the creatine phosphate (CP) stores, the myokinase reaction, and anaerobic glycolysis (Meyer et al., 1985).