Knowing how, and when to take creatine is crucial to its effectiveness and the benefits you’ll reap from it. This article will explain how to make creatine work for you optimally.
First of all, there are two phases in taking creatine, the ‘loading’ phase, and the ‘maintenance’ phase.
Loading phase
This phase lasts five days, and essentially, all you are doing is taking a greater dose of creatine in order to top your body up with it. Of course, once your body is full it, you get the effects sooner.
Research seems to suggest that, for good results, load with 20 gram per day, split between four lots of 5g doses.
Maintenance phase
This phase should commence as soon as the loading phase is over. Many people prefer to cycle it, taking a month to three months on, and a month off. No conclusive evidence exists this is necessary. For the maintenance phase, taking 15g of creatine, split into three 5g doses is all you need. It should be taken on workout days and off-days.
Everybody experiences different results with creatine, and when to take creatine is more of a personal choice – each person having their own favourite time: post workout, pre-workout, etc, so test it out. What is known however, if you take creatine with a fruit drink which contains sugar, it causes an insulin response, which helps to usher the creatine into the muscles much more efficiently.