How Often Should You Take Creatine?

Creatine is undoubtedly one of the most discussed workout supplements around the globe. Its efficacy in muscle development and strengthening is mind-blowing. Athletes have been consuming creatine both pre-workout and postworkout to maximize its effects. But the important thing here is to know how much to take? The healthy amount of creatine to be taken per day or per month is crucial to know. Even if you are a beginner or a pro, it’s good to keep your concepts clear and information complete, so you can plan ahead and never have to worry about any side effects. This article will guide you on how often you should take creatine? Let’s go!

A quick look at creatine and its working!

Being an organic compound that helps in the regeneration of used ATP’s in our body, creatine can be referred to as an energy booster. It works by donating its phosphate group to ADP (Adenosine diphosphate) which gets converted into ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) and eventually gets burned to provide energy to our body. Though creatine is naturally produced and present in our muscle cells, the quantity of creatine produced by our body isn’t sufficient if you plant it to perform intense workouts or other heavy jobs. That’s why creatine supplements came in handy. These supplements provide large quantities of creatine to be stored in our muscles so that our body never runs out of creatine stock.

Different workgroups prefer different timings of the day for the intake of creatine. Some also associate it with their workout routine and might want to add it to their daily pre-workout supplements or can also choose to take it afterward. Whatever the case, creatine never ceases to perform well. The only thing here to be careful about is its dosage. How much is normal or good? That’s the real question.

How often should you take creatine?

Consumption of creatine can be tricky and depends on your overall workout routine and your goals, like how would you like to build your muscles? Or how much energy are you going to need for your workouts? Keeping these factors in mind, you can decide from the following recommendations, which one suits you the best.

If you want to load your muscles slowly with the creatine supply, you might want to consider taking a 2g to 10g dosage of creatine daily, for a month. It will help you build stronger muscles and provide continuous energy throughout the high-intensity exercises.

If you want to load your muscles quickly with the creatine supply, you can take 15g to 20g of creatine daily for a week. It will provide you with an immediate burst of energy, and can help you with any upcoming competition. But as soon as you stop taking the supplement, the creatine stored in your muscles will start decreasing.

An ideal condition for creatine supplementation can be maintained by first loading creatine into your muscles for a week and later shifting to a minimal dosage for maintenance of creatine. For that, a simple formula has been offered by researchers, to decide your daily dose. Just multiply your current weight in kilograms by 0.3, for example, if you weigh 65 kg, your daily creatine dose will be (65 x 0.3) 19.5g. This value of creatine dose is to be followed during the initial loading phase and later it can be decreased to 2-5 g per day, for maintenance purposes.

Benefits of creatine

If you are looking for quick muscle gain and strength, creatine loading should be your top choice. Its list of benefits is quite long but the major ones are:

• Increases muscle mass
• Better workout performance
• More power and muscle strength
• Prevention from workout injuries

Any side effects of creatine

While research claims creatine intake to be safe and productive, an overdose of creatine might cause some mild side effects, which are not fatal to health, unless you have any underlying medical condition. 

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Bloating
• Vomiting
• Headache

While some people with renal diseases might observe strong side effects of creatine on their kidney functioning, so it’s always better to consult your physician beforehand, if you have any such medical condition.

Final word

To unleash the whole potential of creatine, it’s necessary to take creatine on a daily basis in a dosage of 3-5g per day. An increase or decrease in this quantity can be managed according to the body’s requirements. However, overdosing is never recommended at any cost. Just take your creatine in a balanced amount and try not to skip a day; your body and muscles will thank you.