Advice on Creatine

joker77

Hey, I ran out of Whey Protein yesterday, so on my way home I ducked in to Health Matters (on g'ems advice) to get some, and picked up a 2kg tub. Along with it came a free 100gm tub of Creatine.

I was looking at the instructions last night, it says for the first 7 days (load phase) use 8gms per serving, then down to 4gms (maintenance), and to mix with "hot water". Does this mean boiling water???

At the moment I'm taking Whey 3-4 times a day. First thing in the morning, then after lunchtime session in the gym, sometimes after the cycle home before going out football training, then again before bed. When would/should I fit the Creatine into this?

Dragan

When the initial studies were done on creatine, to ensure that the subjects were getting enough of the test product, it was decided that a "loading" phase would be used where subjects would take anywhere from 20grams to 10 grams of creatine a day, split into 5 gram servings over the day.

After this first week, subjects dropped to just a 5 gram a day serving, normally after a workout. It was thought that the 5gram dose a day would be optimal, as we normally get about 1 gram from diet, and the body will produce 1 gram a day, but the body will also excrete about 2 grams a day. It was thought that given any issues with absorbtion etc that a 5 gram dose would be best on a daily basis ( this would later turn out to be correct )

One thing that was found in later studies was that, even though the loading phase does lead to a quicker saturation of the product into the muscles cells, that even on just a 5 gram a day does, this same level of saturation is reached within 30 days, and as such, the loading phase is not strictly required.

As for when to take it, might i suggest that you take it after your workout, and you will be looking to replaced what was lost when you were training. It is also a good idea to take the creatine with something that might spike your insulin just a little, like a sports drink. This will lead to better absorbtion.

joker77

Dragan wrote:

It is also a good idea to take the creatine with something that might spike your insulin just a little, like a sports drink. This will lead to better absorbtion.

Just for the advice Dragan, would it mix ok into a lucozade sport or something then? (...seeing as on the pack it says about the hot water).

I'm not really sure that I need it, I've thought about Creatine before but my weight training isn't really that intense, but sure seeing as I got it free I'll give it a whirl and see how I get on.

Dragan

something like a lucozade sport would be fine i think.

cousin_borat

Grape juice is good for helping to absorb it into the system.