Creatine For How Long?

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hello,
I am not a bodybuilder by any means of the word, however I am a big guy trying to lose fat and gain lean muscle mass. I strength train 3 days a week and do cardio 2 days a week. I lift HEAVY and HARD. 4-6 reps of heavy weight.

I have read just about everything by Dr. Berardi and a few others. I am currently taking Creatine monohydrate 3-5 g/day. Have been for about 5 months now.

In Dr. Berardi’s ‘Metabolism Advantage’ book he states that all men should take 2-3 g of Creatine daily for the rest of their lives. I have also heard that it loses its affectivness over time and should be stopped for a while. Cylcled. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Should I stop now for a while or not?

Just for arguement sake I will list all the supp’s that I am taking.

Creatine monohydrate 3-5 g/day
Flameout 4-6 caps/day
CLA 3 caps/ day
Green Tea Supp 315 mg / 2x daily
Surge for post-workout
Muscle Milk and Complete Whey Powder for meal replacement shakes and extra protein when needed.
ZMA 2-3 caps/ nightly
Casien protein powder for bedtime shake after hard lift days but at least 2 hrs after the ZMA as to not have an uptake conflict with the calcium and magnesium.

Thanks for your help.

I love this site.

TOM

2

IMO just take it, unless you also stop eating protein etc meats, then youll still be getting some creatine killing the attempt to take time off

Phill

3

Tom, I don’t plan on discontinuing my creatine use anytime soon. As you said old protocol on it suggested cycling off, but I believe much of that thinking has changed.

For me much like protein powder my Surge and Creatine post workout shall continue as long as I am able to make it to the gym. Hopefully quite a few decades into the future. Too many benefits from it not to.

D

4

I think you are confusing creatine with drugs. Drugs lose their effectiveness over time so they need to be cycled off or have their dosage increased. Creatine is an amino acid. Your body is responding to it the same way right now as it did the first day you took it. Just follow maintenance dosage and you’ll be fine.