You may be hearing about creatine kinase in the endurance sports world lately, whether you’re in ultra-running, triathlon or cycling. It used to only be mentioned in the world of CrossFit, since it’s a blood marker primarily associated with rhabdomyolysis, but more and more, it’s being mentioned in the endurance scene. I suspect this is because blood testing is becoming more common, easy and popular thanks to places like Inside Tracker, which make it much easier for athletes to actually get bloodwork done without a billion appointments and requisitions. (Read more about Inside Tracker here.) Creatine Kinase isn’t a bad thing—but it is a blood marker that indicates muscle damage. How much is too much? How does it go up and down? What’s the range? I had a ton of questions, partially because on a personal level, this is a blood marker that I’ve struggled with for a decade and until the last year, no one really had ever heard of it. My situation is still a pretty big question mark, but long story short, I have pretty high levels that I suspect are to blame for a few issues I’ve had in the past, but I have yet to figure out the how/what/why exactly. But after talking to researchers with an interest in this field, I have a feeling that in coming years, I’ll learn A LOT more about how it works. For now though, I recommend reading this article to get familiar with what the deal is with creatine kinase (AKA CK), as one of the new cool blood markers to pay attention to:
Head over to Bicycling’s website to read the whole article on Creatine Kinase right here!
… But before you go, check out our book, Becoming A Consummate Athlete, right here:
