Creatine
Loading and Creatine Use
Proper Creatine Loading and How to Use
Creatine
As we've already established in previous
articles, creatine is a top notch supplement to help you
gain weight; however, to do so effectively, you need to
learn about creating loading and creatine use. Also, while creatine
monohydrate isn't expensive by any means, you still don't want to waste a good thing. You'll want to get the most
out of your money by putting your creatine to produce maximum
results for you. So take a few minutes and read about creatine
cycles, creatine uses, and creatine loading and maintenance
phases.
There are various competing methods and opinions on the best way to use and cycle creatine supplements. In this article, we're making reference only to pure creatinemonohydrate powders. Some advice simply taking 5 to 10 grams of creatine a day without a loading phase, others recommend a one week loading phase of 20g per day, and then 5g per day for the rest of the cycle, where a cycle typically last around 4 to 8 weeks, and sometimes a little longer.
For a more detail discussion of creatine loading and creatine use, please see here.
Creatine Cycling: Creatine loading-maintenance
phases
If you know what creatine is, you've probably
heard of creatine cycle, creatine loading phase, and creatine
maintenance phase. So what's the big idea? Sure, creatine
is great, and can really help you pack on a few good pounds
quickly, but most people find that after a few weeks on
creatine, their gains taper off, and almost disappear.
So it's a common belief among athletes
(mostly bodybuilders) that creatine cycling will help fight
off that progressive loss in weight gain from creatine use.
The idea is that, after
using creatine for a period of time, your body 'gets used
to it', so the gains and results disappear.
What creatine cycling is designed to do
is to take creatine for a period of time, then stop for
a period of time, then go back on it. The belief here is
that, doing so will help you maintain the gains you make
with creatine use. Kind of like doing workout cycles - where
you always change your routines to prevent your muscles
from getting used to the exercises.
How to properly do creatine cycles and
phases
So, there are 3 phases in a creatine cycle...
well, actually 2, but resting counts as well. The first
phase is called the loading phase, because this is when
you fill up your muscles with creatine, which is then used
for ATP re-synthesis. After the creatine loading phase (first
week), you lower the amount of creatine use - this is the
maintenance phase.
Here's a typical creatine loading and
maintenance cycle:
Week 1: creatine loading phase (20g /
day)
Weeks 2 to 4: creatine maintenance phase
(10g / day)
Weeks 5 to 8: no creatine
As mentioned ealier, a typically cycle could last around 4 to 8 weeks. In our example about, it is a 4 week cycle, with another 4 weeks off from creatine supplements. You could just as easily make it a 8 week cycle with creatine, and then take four weeks off after that. It could be different for you, and there
are many variation of this cycle, so test it out, and figure
out what works best for you..
>> Click here for Micronized Creatine
>> Click here for Optimum Nutrition Creatine
>> Click here for Prolab Creatine
During the creatine loading phase, I typically
took 4 servings a day. Once before breakfast, once before
lunch, once before workout, and once in the evening. Tip:
you should take creatine with grape juice or some kind of
high GI carb drink.
