Review: MuscleTech CREAKIC Hardcore (Hardcore Creatine)

Posted By elissa on Nov 2, 2008 | 0 comments

“CREAKIC® Hardcore – America’s #1 Musclebuilding Creatine Pill – was developed to meet the needs of a true bodybuilder. For those that demand brutal force and extreme results CREAKIC Hardcore is for you because it’s officially the most powerful hardcore creatine pill in existence! Its molecularly engineered formula was designed with a specific purpose: to offset the destructive effects of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) on creatine transport, so that you can see explosive gains in muscle size and strength.”

I gotta admit, the ads for CREAKIC Hardcore are vintage MuscleTech. When it comes to hype, nobody does it better.

Is there something to the hype, though? After all, creatine is one of the most valuable supplements in a bodybuilder’s arsenal. Is CREAKIC a superior form of creatine? Does it really “offset the destructive effects” of reactive oxygen species (oxygen ions, radicals and peroxides) on creatine transport?

To get at the truth, we need to take a closer look at the ingredients.

World’s First And Only Muscle Receptor Hyperactivator 3052mg
Creatine-6,8-Thioctic Acid-Ketoisocaproic Acid Calcium (Featuring Nano-Diffuse™ Technology)
Creatine Taurinate – Curcuma Longa Powder (Root) – Cinnamomum Cassia Blume Extract (Bark)
Creatine Pyroglutamate – Bambusa Breviflora Extract (Shoot)

Despite its lofty title, the “World’s First And Only Muscle Receptor Hyperactivator” isn’t nearly as complicated as some of MuscleTech’s other supplements—there are only 6 ingredients. These are…

Creatine-6,8-Thioctic Acid-Ketoisocaproic Acid Calcium: This one’s a real mouthful, but that’s because it consists of three active components: creatine, alpha lipoic acid (6,8-thioctic acid) and alpha-ketoisocaproic acid (KIC).

Creatine—primarily in the form of creatine monohydrate—is a well-known and thoroughly researched supplement used to enhance strength/power. You may also be familar with alpha lipoic acid, a potent antioxidant that also enhances insulin sensitivity/glucose disposal and creatine uptake.

KIC, on the other hand, needs a bit of explaining. Like HMB, it’s a breakdown metabolite of the amino acid leucine that may have anti-catabolic activity. Other potential benefits to KIC supplementation include reductions in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and accumulation of (toxic) ammonia.

There are only a limited number of human studies on the value of KIC as a sports supplement, however, and these are conflicting.

In one, there was no observable performance benefit from acute supplementation of up to 9.0 g KIC.

On the flip side, a different study showed KIC—as part of a glycine-arginine complex—reduced the decline in mean power experienced over repeated cycling sprints.

So KIC may be useful…or not. The jury’s still out.

The same could be said for creatine-6,8-thioctic acid-ketoisocaproic acid too. There are no published studies on it, so it remains to be seen just how well it works.

Creatine Taurinate: Creatine taurinate is a patented form of creatine combined with the amino acid taurine.

Are there any benefits to a creatine-taurine combo?

Like alpha-lipoic acid, taurine acts as an antioxidant and can improve insulin sensitivity, so—in theory—taurine could be a useful adjunct. On the other hand, there is no evidence that it actually has any effect on creatine uptake. While creatine taurinate has never been studied, creatine + taurine has…and no additive effects on creatine uptake, mass or strength have been observed.

As researcher Richard Kreider wrote :

“Although we have found that creatine supplementation…is effective in promoting gains in strength and muscle mass, we have not found that the addition of taurine (3 grams/day for 2 weeks) had any added benefit.”

Creatine Pyroglutamate: this is another patented form of creatine. Pyroglutamic acid is a cyclized derivative of the amino acid glutamine. It can cross the blood-brain barrier, and is sometimes used as a “smart drug” to enhance memory and cognition, similar to piracetam—which has the same basic structure. Although user reports are generally favorable, scientific evidence is limited to a few older animal studies and a single human study.

Conceivably, creatine pyroglutamate could be an interesting supplement, with both physical and cognitive effects. There are no published studies on it, either, although this is probably a moot point…it’s doubtful CREAKIC Hardcore contains enough pyroglutamate to have an effect, anyway.

Curcuma longa Powder: the botanical name for the common spice Turmeric. Turmeric contains curcumin, which has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Cinnamomum cassia Blume Extract: likewise, this is the botanical name for cinnamon, which has been shown to improve glucose tolerance.

Bambusa breviflora Extract: Bambusa breviflora is a type of bamboo, and bamboo extracts may have antioxidant and anti-tumor effects, but the evidence is scant, at this point.

So where does this leave us?

With some unanswered questions, unfortunately…after all, CREAKIC is composed of 3 unstudied creatine compounds. While MuscleTech claims “test subjects consuming the key ingredient in CREAKIC Hardcore increased muscle fiber protein content by an amazing 58 percent” (emphasis mine), all this implies is that ONE of them works. But we don’t know (among other things)…

• which one of the ingredients it was.
• how it compares to creatine monohydrate.
• how the dose taken in the full CREAKIC formula compares to the dose taken by the subjects.
• how the claimed 58% increase in muscle fiber protein translates into lean mass and strength gains.
• if the “test subjects” were even human.

These issues are important, as CREAKIC is being advertised as a sort of super-creatine formula, that enhances creatine transport—yet MuscleTech provides no proof of this. The all-important details are missing, so we can’t assess whether that 58% increase is an improvement…or similar to what you’d see with most creatine supplements under the same circumstances.

On the other hand, maybe it is an improvement, because…

• ROS have “destructive effects” on creatine transport.
• CREAKIC Hardcore supplies antioxidant compounds capable of reducing ROS.

There are two obvious flaws in this logic, however. First of all, we have no idea if the dose of antioxidant compounds is large enough to suppress exercise-induced ROS production. Secondly: it’s far from proven that ROS have “destructive effects” on creatine transport to begin with.

In fact, one in-vitro study suggests the precise opposite: ROS production may actually facilitate creatine uptake. This is not as counter-intuitive as it sounds…after all, we already know that exercise increases creatine uptake. And while ROS are routinely portrayed as “bad,” the reality is that they play positive roles as well—such as enhancing glucose transport into skeletal muscle during exercise.

Reduction of excessive ROS is useful for preventing cell/tissue damage, but some ROS production is needed for normal physiological functions…this is a process that you DON’T want to shut down completely.

So is CREAKIC Hardcore really a better creatine formula…or, just another creatine formula?

I report, you decide…

At any rate, my own brief (1 month trial) didn’t produce any radical results, but were consistent with other creatines I’ve tried—I experienced a small bump in weight and some modest gains in certain lifts. This is also consistent with user reviews I’ve seen, which are generally (but not uniformly) positive.

Admittedly, I did not take CREAKIC Hardcore as part of the recommended stack with GAKIC® and LEUKIC® (as many others do), so it’s possible I missed out on some complementary effects…but this would have made it impossible to evaluate this supp on its own merits.

So what’s the final verdict?

While MuscleTech’s claims for improved creatine transport are speculative, at best, CREAKIC Hardcore appears to be a decent source of creatine, and the pill form is convenient. And—despite the hype—it would be hard to go too wrong with a supplement from an well-established, reasonably reputable company.

Thus, if you’re in the market for an alternative to creatine monohydrate, CREAKIC Hardcore could be worth experimenting with. It’s available from our recommended online retailer, BodyBuilding.com.