I decided today to begin using creatine in conjunction with good nutrition to gain some weight. The instructions say to load 20 grams a day for 5 days and then 10 a day from then on but the guy at the store told me I didn’t need to do the loading phase or cycle it. I was wondering exactly how to use creatine do I need to cycle it and how many grams per day per pound of body weight should I take. Oh yeah, does anybody have a favorite brand and a reason for that choice?
Ivan, I liked using effervescent creatine by FSI nutrition. It completely dissolves in luke warm water, doesn’t bother my stomach and you don’t need to do any loading phase…just take one packet a day and you’re good to go. I really didn’t get any results from the powdered form of creatine and it bothered my stomach…but this stuff gave me some incredible pumps without disturbing my gut. Just make sure you drink tons of water throughout the day. Good luck
Oh yeah, whether or not you need to load with the powdered form is up in the air…but I would say take in at least 15 grams (3x5g svngs) with a highly glycemic carb (even this is debatable) for the first 5 days. I myself liked using WARM gatorade… Also, I’ve heard it’s better to cycle your creatine usage, one month on followed by 2-3 weeks off then on again. Otherwise you become somewhat unresponsive to it… What does anyone else think?
Thanks for the reply, do you have any idea if the amount that you need to take differs by how much you weigh? I would think their would be a number of grams per kilogram pound of body weight.
I honestly don’t know of any body weight dependant percentages for creatine, I’ve always believed that 20g is more than enough, and if certain companies advocate using more it’s just a ploy to make more cash since you’ll just be pissing it out…but that’s just my opinion. I’ve even read reports that say 10g a day for loading is enough. If you stick with 20g for the loading phase and 5g a day thereafter you should be good. Just make sure you drink a ton of water and don’t use a juice/drink that is too sugary as this will slow down/delay gastric emptying. This is why I like to use gatorade… Good luck
I honestly don’t know of any body weight dependant percentages for creatine, I’ve always believed that 20g is more than enough, and if certain companies advocate using more it’s just a ploy to make more cash since you’ll just be pissing it out…but that’s just my opinion. I’ve even read reports that say 10g a day for loading is enough. If you stick with 20g for the loading phase and 5g a day thereafter you should be good. Just make sure you drink a ton of water and don’t use a juice/drink that is too sugary as this will slow down/delay gastric emptying. This is why I like to use gatorade… Good luck