In her first weightlifting competition since recovering from a serious injury, she smashed the Australian record twice during Saturday’s State League event at Chandler. Lovely, 24, had spent the previous nine months overcoming a nasty ankle fracture, suffered representing Queensland at last year’s Australian women’s rugby championships in Sydney. Lovely first broke Caroline Pileggi’s 2001 Australian record of 102kg with a 105kg snatch in the Queensland Weightlifting Association supers division (75+kg) on Saturday. The multi-talented sportswoman was equally impressive in the clean and jerk competition, opening with a 125kg lift before raising the Australian record to 131kg. Saturday’s incredible comeback keeps the 2004 Athens Olympian on target to represent Australia again at the Beijing Games in August. read more

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Athletes use creatine hoping that it will increase muscle mass and strength, and allow them to sprint faster. Creatine may enhance the performance of high intensity, short duration exercise such as power-lifting or sprinting, but it appears to have no positive effects on endurance or low intensity sports. Therefore, there is a risk of contamination of creatine supplements that can result in unexpected adverse effects. People taking creatine supplements usually take 20 grams to 30 grams for the first five to seven days, followed by a maintenance dose of 2 grams per day for five to eight weeks, and then an off-cycle phase (no taking of creatine) for two to four weeks. Taking higher doses only increases the excretion of creatine in urine and can lead to an increased risk of adverse effects. read more

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