Many of you might be thinking that how to take creatine monohydrate for the best results while others might be thinking when is the best time to take a creatine supplement. Well, this question is not new in the bodybuilding, health, and fitness industry, and this question has to be asked enormous amount times on sites like Reddit, Yahoo Answers, Quora, and many forums also.
Why because creatine is the best bodybuilding supplement for muscle growth and strength that is available in the market and it’s one of the highly researched supplements. So it’s not strange to see so many questions and doubts in both men’s and women’s minds about this popular product.
No matter you are doing bodybuilding, weight training, or you are an athlete. Creatine will not let you down and give you the best results provided you do your regular workout routines and take a high protein diet. This is very crucial if you want to increase muscle mass, size, and overall body strength.
If you haven’t tried creatine before then you must give it a try because there are many benefits of creatine monohydrate supplement, and you must not neglect the potential of this product both regarding strength increase and muscle gains.
Since creatine is so much popular supplement than many people started to ask like
- How to take creatine monohydrate for beginners
- How to take creatine powder for better results
- How to take creatine powder for bodybuilding
- When is the best time to take creatine powder?
- When is the best time to take creatine before or after workout?
Well if you in the doubt about when to take creatine before or after a workout then previously I have written a complete and in-depth, article explaining this which you are read below
Also, I thought why not write a complete guide which discusses this major topic about creatine supplementation.
And I am sure that you will love this and you would be able to clear all the doubts from your mind. So friends without wasting any time let’s start this post.
How & When is the Best time to take Creatine Monohydrate Powder for Best results
How to Take Creatine Monohydrate Powder For Beginners & Bodybuilding
I will explain each of these one by one so let’s see how to take creatine monohydrate supplements. First of all, Creatine can be taken in two ways with creatine loading and creatine maintenance phase.
1. Creatine Loading Phase
Creatine loading phase means you take a certain amount of creatine four times a day for 5 to 6 days. For example, the recommended dose to take creatine 20 grams per day during the loading phase.
So, if you are taking 20 grams of creatine which I also recommend then don’t just take it all at once as this might cause some stomach distress and especially for beginners who have never supplemented with creatine powder before.
What you can do here is take 5 grams of creatine with morning breakfast, 5 grams early afternoon with lunch, 5 grams in the evening, and finally 5 grams after your dinner. This is the best cycle to follow during your creatine loading phase which will give you the best results.
Never exceed more than the recommended 20 grams of creatine during the loading phase. The maximum you can load is 25 grams of creatine not more than that. Just Remember excess of anything this is bad.
The above quote is applicable both for beginners and those who are doing bodybuilding. Instead, this should be the rule of thumb if you are planning to do a creatine loading phase.
The reason why many nutritionists and sports experts advise to do the creatine loading phase is that your body gets saturated with creatine much faster, and you can see the results more quickly.
But for beginners who have never tried creatine monohydrate or any other food supplements don’t take more than 20 grams of creatine powder per day to be on the safer side.
Why I am saying this was when I started to take creatine I used to get the urge to take one tablespoon more because I want to build muscle really fast
And once I took more than 20 grams on the very first day of my creatine supplementation, and you know what I had to take diarrhea medicines, and I had my stomach upset.
So I would recommend to all the beginners to never take more creatine monohydrate just to see very fast results. You will get the ultimate results, and you don’t have to cross the limit of the daily recommended dose of 20 grams of creatine during the loading cycle.
There is really no point to override this recommended dose, and I know if you are a beginner then how excited you are to finish the first creatine bottle to see the results.
But there are many types of research and studies to back this point that taking creatine more than the recommended dose will not give you additional benefits as there is a limit to which our body can store creatine.
So if you are taking more than 20 grams of creatine supplement then the excess of creatine will be excreted from your body.
I have seen supplement companies claiming that taking XYZ supplements five times a day will gain you 10 lbs of lean muscle mass or take the ABC supplement four times a day will help you to lose weight in a week.
Do you believe in that, actually I don’t these are all the hype which are created by the supplement companies to sell more products and make more money, and I don’t want you to lose hard-earned money.
Why I am insisting on this point because beginners no matter they are men or women always want quick results, and for that they are ready to take any product which these companies claims to give exponential results and most of the time they end up wasting a lot of money by buying these products.
So till now you know how to do the loading phase let’s see how to do the maintenance phase.
2. Creatine Maintenance Phase
Now after completing the loading phase you can cut down on your daily dosage from 20 grams to 5 grams per day because after the loading cycle your body is completely saturated with creatine and now there is no need to take such high doses of creatine supplement.
The maintenance cycle will be more than enough to maintain the optimal creatine supply to your body, and you can see the best results on a daily intake of 5 grams of creatine monohydrate supplement.
However for beginners who have a little doubt and are afraid to take 20 grams of creatine powder from day one then they can start by taking 5 grams and continue to take this dose daily and you will see the best results without having to worry about the loading phase.
And this is exactly what I did, and the results were great since I was a newbie to bodybuilding and weight training and I never tried any supplement before that so that hesitation was natural.
How to Take Creatine Monohydrate For Beginners
If you are a beginner, then you might get confused about whether to go for the loading cycle or not. Then I have explained to you that if you are not comfortable with a loading phase, then you can start maintenance phase which is taking 5 grams per day.
However, by opting for the loading phase, you will see the results within 4 to 5 days whereas if you choose 5 grams per day which I recommend for first-time users, you will see the results in 2 to 3 weeks for sure.
After your muscle cells get completely saturated with creatine then you don’t have to worry about anything. You just have to take your normal dosage of creatine, and you will see great muscle gains and strength increase.
Is it necessary to do Creatine On and Off-Cycle?
No, it is not necessary to do creatine on and off-cycle. You can take 5 grams of the recommended dose without any problem as many types of research have shown that there is no evidence of superior muscle and strength increase if you do creatine on and off-cycle.
From my personal experience, I tried to go off from creatine for one month, and I drastically saw my weight going down with little strength decrease. So I would say that you should continue to take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate supplement if you don’t want to lose your muscle and strength.
How to Take Creatine Monohydrate for Bodybuilding
If you want to do bodybuilding, then I would advise you to take creatine with other protein supplements like whey protein because Creatine monohydrate is not a protein supplement.
It’s an amino acid that helps to increase your strength and training intensity and with proper protein intake, you can see tremendous muscle gains.
This is most important for beginner bodybuilders who don’t know about bodybuilding supplements and they think that creatine is a protein supplement, No creatine is not a protein supplement it’s an amino acid which is produced naturally in the human body.
Additional, external sources of creatine are beef, pork, meat, and chicken, etc.
Bodybuilding is an extreme sport in which you have to build the complete body muscles to its fullest potential and to build muscle you need to take protein.
So for those who want to take creatine for bodybuilding they must use other protein supplements to see the best results.
What to Mix With Creatine for Best Results
You can take creatine with warm water or grape juice or any other sports drink like Gatorade. You can take Creatine powder with any drink which is rich in carbohydrates.
Why I am saying to take creatine like this is because glucose is released into your bloodstream which when broken breaks glucose into insulin which accelerates the supply of creatine supplement to your muscle tissues, and this will give you the best results.
Can I take Creatine Monohydrate Powder With Water?
Yes, you can take your Creatine powder with water, but here I will recommend you to take it with lukewarm water as it helps to dissolve it quickly.
What about cold water, there is no problem to take your creatine powder with cold water, but it will take very long time to dissolve it completely even if you take a micronized creatine monohydrate supplement.
So I would advise you to take creatine powder with lukewarm water since it dissolves the supplement fast.
When is the Best Time To Take Creatine Monohydrate For Best Results
Oh Gosh! So many questions but I want to make this an ultimate guide about Creatine supplementation So I have to answer this one also.
Here we go, You can take creatine whenever you want there is no study and researches which shows that taking creatine before or after the workout will give the best results.
No matter you do the loading phase or starting with the maintenance phase your body will eventually get saturated at some point or another, and the creatine supplement will be there in your body whenever it requires.
Final Words
So, friends, this was how to use creatine monohydrate powder, We really hope that you loved this article and if you did then please give this post 1 like and also share it with your friends on social media sites.
Apart from this if you have any doubt or question about creatine supplement then feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section below. Thank you.
