Creatine has been show to work. But how does it work BEST? Should you take it before or after a workout? What about on rest days? Is it necessary to cycle on and off? Here is your ultimate guide for supplementing with creatine!A few years ago, you’d find people online debating whether creatine “worked.” Show
There’s no real doubt about that anymore. Creatine has been shown in study after study to improve strength, power, speed, recovery— pretty much everything that makes a workout better, especially if you are doing one of our programs like Clean Bulk, Ripped In 90 Days, or Toned In 90 Days. These days, instead of asking “does it work,” the question has shifted to “Is there a best time and way to take creatine?” It’s a topic that is almost as heavily debated as “Are BCAAs a waste of money” — which you can read more about HERE. For this article, we are going to clear up any confusion you have about creatine. Creatine: Before or After a Workout?The funny thing about creatine is that there really isn’t a “best” time to take it in regard to your workout. As long as you take between 2-5 grams daily, even on non-training days, when you consume it isn’t as important. That is because its effects are systemic, meaning that you need to have it build up in your system to work, over a period of days or weeks. This sounds great, but the only problem with taking a supplement daily is that it can be easy to forget, especially on rest days. That’s why we recommend taking creatine post-workout on training days: it’s easier to remember. And it’s why we put a precise amount of three different types of creatine in our Sculptnation Post-Workout. There is no guesswork! You get both a clinically studied dose of creatine AND other nutrients your body needs to properly recover after crushing a tough workout all in one scoop. But if you’re in the “I’ll drink it whenever” camp or would rather slam a protein shake after your workout, we’ve got you covered there, too. Sculpt Nation Creatine is designed to be a single-dose of the most research-backed form of creatine, which is creatine monohydrate. Each scoop has 5g, which is all anyone needs. Should I load with creatine?Some people recommend starting off by taking creatine with what is known as a “creatine loading protocol,” which is typically 4-5 doses a day for five days. Is it effective? Sure, but unless you’re desperately seeking muscle size, most people should skip it. Here’s why: Some people experience temporary side effects from creatine loading, like bloating or an upset stomach — and these pretty much always happen during loading protocols. The answer: Keep it simple!! Just take 3-5 g every single day, and you’ll load your muscles just as well without any of the side effects some experience with “creatine loading.” Not to mention, supplements only play a small part in reaching your muscle-building goals. You should first and foremost make sure your nutrition is on point. You can find out how much and what you need to eat to reach your goals in the V Shred App for IOS or Android. Make sure you get that squared away before you consider supplementing. If Creatine Is Necessary For Your Goals?If you are looking at all this advice and just saying, “just tell me what to do, please,” that’s why we have the V Shred personal trainer and nutritionist team. Maybe you are a female mainly looking to lose body fat and not sure if creatine is needed? Or are an Ectomorph body type and unsure if you need more creatine to help reach your muscle-building goals? Not only does our expert team make personalized diet and workout plans for thousands of people every day, but they can also help you pick the best supplements for your body type and goals. You can get your personalized meal plan here or email to learn more. Related
If you’re the kind of person who shops for popular dietary supplements like protein or collagen powder, you’ve probably seen another popular bottle on the shelves: creatine. This supplement, which is most commonly taken in powder form (often stirred into a protein shake, applesauce, oatmeal, and so on), is a staple in the bodybuilding and certain other sports communities thanks to its ability to help you pack on muscle and work out longer and harder. (1) While creatine is generally considered safe — and is one of the most researched supplements out there — it is still a supplement, which means it’s not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and product claims don’t necessarily need to be substantiated (though the FDA can pull products that are found to be unsafe). (2,3) Before you consider taking it, here’s what you need to know: What Is Creatine and Do I Need to Take a Supplement?Creatine is an organic acid that our bodies naturally make, and that we get by eating certain foods — seafood and red meat, in particular. (4) Our bodies store creatine in our muscles so that we have quick access to it for fast, high-intensity movements, like sprinting or powerlifting, explains Autumn Bates, a certified clinical nutritionist and sports nutritionist in private practice in Manhattan Beach, California. “It’s a nonessential amino acid, meaning your body creates it and you don’t need to primarily get it from food.” And you don’t really need added creatine beyond what’s in a healthy, balanced diet, Bates adds. “Creatine isn’t an essential nutrient,” she says. “Your body naturally makes it from other amino acids that you receive from various protein sources.” When it comes to creatine supplements, there are also different options for ingesting it, and they’re not all created equal. “There’s much debate on which type has the highest bioavailability — which is absorbed the best,” Bates notes. And as far as formulations, the International Society of Sports Nutrition has approved and recommends creatine monohydrate supplements as not only a safe form of the supplement, but also the most effective one available. (2) RELATED: 8 Ways Strength Training Boosts Your Health and Fitness So How Much Creatine Does My Body Actually Need?If you’re not lifting super-heavy weights, doing high-intensity workouts, or eating a mainly vegan or vegetarian diet, your body probably makes as much creatine as it needs. “Creatine is naturally found in animal-based products,” says Bates, “so your body can make plenty of creatine as long as you have a balanced diet that includes animal-based products.” Protein sources like beef, chicken, pork, and fish help your body produce the creatine it needs — it varies depending on the source, but, in general, a 3-ounce serving of meat will have about 0.4 grams (g) of creatine, Bates says. (6) If you want to take creatine as a supplement for bigger and stronger muscles, then the standard protocol is to have a “loading period” where you significantly increase your creatine intake for a few days or weeks. “This can prime your muscles to increase the amount of creatine that they ‘hold,’” explains Bates. “During the loading period, you generally take 5 g of creatine four times per day, for a max of 20 g a day. After the loading period, you decrease the amount of creatine you take to a ‘maintenance’ level of 3 to 5 g per day.” (That’s also the recommendation from the International Society of Sports Nutrition.) (2) There’s no need to go overboard on creatine intake, though, in search of crazy muscle growth. “The maximum amount of creatine that you can hold depends on the amount of muscle mass you have,” explains Bates. “So if you have more muscle, then your body can store more creatine. In general, the muscle can hold about 2 to 3 g of creatine per kilogram of muscle mass. So the amount of creatine you use will depend on the amount of muscle mass you have.” Studies have deemed staying in the range of 3 to 5 g per day for maintenance to be safe, and while higher levels have been tested under acute conditions without adverse effects, there isn’t sufficient evidence to determine long-term safety. (8) If you’re interested in upping your creatine consumption, you should work with your doctor or dietitian to make sure it’s right for your goals and health history. Why Do People Take Creatine Supplements?The most common use of creatine supplements is to help attain goals in exercise and sports. Bodybuilders, weightlifters, endurance runners, wrestlers, and other athletes use it to build muscle and enhance performance, stamina, and recovery time. It is especially helpful in sports that require brief, high-intensity activity. “Short, fast movements use a different energy system than aerobic exercise,” says Bates. “It mainly uses creatine. So in theory, the higher creatine stores you have, the more time you have until you fatigue.” Examples might include sprinting or throwing a baseball pitch, both of which involve quick surges of energy. Creatine, the amino acid, naturally helps your body produce more adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, a small molecule that’s actually your body’s primary energy source. But research shows that your body is only capable of storing enough ATP for 8 to 10 seconds of high-intensity exercise — and after that, it needs to produce new ATP for you to continue. (9) If you’re exercising at your maximum intensity, your body literally can’t produce enough ATP to keep up. (10) That’s where creatine supplements come in: They can help increase your body’s stores of phosphocreatine (an organic compound of creatine and phosphoric acid that’s stored in your muscle tissue) to produce new ATP during high-intensity exercise. This is all great for bodybuilders. Creatine supplements can increase muscle fiber growth 2 to 3 times more than training without it, as well as double a muscle’s body mass and double the maximum weight someone can bench press in a single repetition, one 12-week study in weightlifters found. (11) In other research, creatine was determined to be the single most beneficial supplement available for adding muscle mass out of six supplements that had sufficient data to be analyzed in the meta-analysis. (12) It’s not just bodybuilders who could benefit. One analysis found that creatine supplementation may enhance performance in track sports (like sprinting), combat sports (like boxing), team sports (like basketball), and more. Other research shows that creatine supplementation helped muscle recover faster and reduced muscle damage after intense exercise. It’s also been shown to help muscles hold more glycogen (stored fuel) than they ordinarily could. Highly active vegans and vegetarians might also get an energy boost from creatine supplements if they’re not getting enough from the diet, and children with rare creatine-metabolizing syndromes may see improvements in some symptoms if they take creatine supplements. Are Creatine Supplements Safe to Take?Creatine is generally considered to be safe when taken properly, and is not considered a banned substance by the International Olympic Committee, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. (1) It’s important to know that while it may not help everyone who uses it, it likely won’t hurt, either. “If you’re an athlete looking for a competitive edge, creatine may be able to help you,” says Bates. “However, if you are using creatine as a supplement for your normal workout routine, you may not require it.” Still, any supplement should be used carefully and after discussion with a dietitian or doctor. And professional or college athletes should make sure that they choose a creatine supplement that’s certified by NSF International or Informed Sport. These are organizations that test dietary supplements to make sure they’re safe as well as free of substances banned by sports organizations. There are some potential health risks and side effects that you should be aware of before taking creatine. Muscle cramping, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, gastrointestinal pain, dehydration, weight gain, water retention, heat intolerance, and fever have all been linked to the supplement. (13) Weight gain might be the most common side effect. “Creatine can cause your body to hold on to water by pulling fluid into your cells via osmosis,” says Bates. “It doesn’t necessarily cause you to gain weight as fat, but it can increase edema, or water weight.” Also, muscle is denser than fat, so in some cases building muscle can increase body weight overall (even if you’re simultaneously burning fat). There have also been concerns that creatine can cause kidney damage, and doctors warn that people with a history of kidney disease or conditions, such as diabetes, that increase the risk of kidney problems should steer clear of the supplement. (1) Combining creatine with nephrotoxic drugs — drugs that might damage the kidneys — like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen sodium (Aleve), should also be avoided, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Also note that taking creatine with caffeine may decrease its efficacy. (1) Are There Other Health Benefits of Creatine?Creatine isn’t all about muscle growth and gains. “Recently, there has been some really interesting research on creatine in relation to brain health,” says Bates — particularly in groups of people who may be low in creatine because of diet or other factors to begin with. Among the elderly and people who are vegans or vegetarians (those who can be low in creatine to begin with), some research suggests those individuals can increase their ability to reason quickly and think abstractly when supplementing with creatine, Bates says. (14) It’s important to note that the participants in studies that have found this effect were already deficient in creatine. More research needs to be done to see if people with normal levels of creatine might get any of the same cognitive benefits by using supplements. Creatine may also help you keep your skin from showing signs of age. Applying a cream containing creatine daily for six weeks reduced skin sag and wrinkles in men in one study; and separate research found that a cream with creatine and folic acid improved sun damage and reduced wrinkles. (15,16) RELATED: 6 Supplements for Glowy Skin and Gorgeous Hair And some preliminary research has investigated whether or not creatine can help lessen symptoms in patients with heart disease, or slow progression of problems by increasing blood flow and improving physical endurance and skeletal muscle strength. (17) So far, there isn’t enough evidence yet to recommend it. (4) Other research indicates that creatine use appears to provide many potential benefits to women, especially postmenopausal women, in terms of strength, bone density, mood, and cognition — but this area also needs more study. The bottom line: If you’re interested in boosting your muscle mass and strength or exercising harder for longer, creatine could be something worth adding to your dietary routine. But if you’re fine opting for the lighter weights or less-intense intervals, just make sure to eat plenty of protein-rich animal foods, and your body will be just fine. FAQs and AnswersWhat are the benefits of taking creatine supplements? Creatine supplements will help your body produce more energy so you fatigue less during short, high-intensity exercise. Taking creatine will also help you increase muscle mass and strength. What are the side effects of creatine? Creatine may cause muscle cramping, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, gastrointestinal pain, dehydration, weight gain, water retention, heat intolerance, and fever. How much creatine do you need? Your body naturally creates about 1 to 2 g of creatine every day. To build muscle, take 20 g of creatine per day for a limited time, followed by a 3- to 5-g daily dose after that. Can creatine cause hair loss? Some research suggests creatine usage may worsen hair loss by increasing levels of androgen (a male hormone known to contribute to hair loss) in the blood. (19) But there is scant evidence that has specifically measured hair loss in individuals who take creatine supplements. Does creatine make you gain weight? Yes. Because creatine pulls water into your cells, you will likely put on water weight or weight from having more muscle — but not fat. Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
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Is it OK to take creatine only on workout days?Should I take creatine every day or just on workout days? Research has shown that taking creatine on both exercise and rest days can bring benefits. The purpose behind supplementing on rest days allows the creatine content of your muscles to elevate.
Should creatine be taken every day?One common question among athletes: Should I take creatine on off days? The short answer is yes, but you can also skip some days. "Research suggests that creatine stores can be maintained at high levels even if creatine is not taken every single day," says Paul Falcone, senior scientist for LADDER.
How many days a week should I take creatine?The most well-studied form is creatine monohydrate. The ISSN suggests that 5 grams of creatine monohydrate four times daily for 5–7 days is the most effective way to increase your muscle creatine levels, though amounts may vary depending on your weight ( 2 ).
Is it OK to skip a day of creatine?Answer: You should never miss a full day. If you do, then double up the next day. If you miss more than 3 days, reload otherwise taking the daily maintenance dose will require a couple of weeks to get you back where you should have been to maximize benefit.
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Should i take creatine everyday or just on workout days
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