So i have been readin alot on this and still cant fathem out the best way to take this..

Before work out?

After?

Drink heaps of water?

Ok thats all i got, so someone shed some light on this for me?

Im takin one tablet a day, usually in the mornings.. work out the gym every other day and go hard..

Thanks in advancee

Generally it tells you on the label when you should take it..
Are you taking anything else as well as creatine.

Take it with large dose of water

I'd recommend taking creating on training days, post-workout.

It depends what type you have, i dare say you're on Krealkaline with the pills yeah? I used that for a while and found it didnt work as well as some of the other types, im loving the 'creative labs' branded stuff, they do a real good bcaa too and its all flavoured.

With any creatine tho you should drink a buttload of water

I use it with protein shake, and test o roid - and yea im using that krealkaline stuff.

ill see how i go with this stuff, so drop one after a hard session? and yeah drink heaps of water

Yeah i was doing one a day and one of an arvo after i worked out.
Best of luck with the loading man

Sounds like a plan, all whats going to be hard is keeping off the KFC, but after what i read about it i should never have it again haha

Anyways thanks man!

have a read of this article mate, everything u need to know

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article..._up_on_creatine

another useful webpage http://www.absolute-creatine.com/creatine.htm

I just bought myself some MRM Creatine Monohydrate powder.

It says on the label that I should do a loading phase but not too keen on taking 20g of creatine a day...so I just take it after me training session.

Will it still work by not having the loading phase and just taking it after my training sessions of is the loading phase vital?

lux your body can absorb 5g on creatine a day (yes, had been proven), if the label says more than 5g its a shitty company trying to make you buy more.

Thats one of the advantages of taking the powder over pills you can control the amount you take, the best way to find out when to take it is similar on finding out which one to buy, trial and error to see what works best for you. Most companies reccomend taking after your workout and then some studies have shown its better to take before workout because when you take creatine in powder form its in your blood for like 1 to 1&half hours before becomming saturating in your muscles where it can stay for days.

You will have ALOT of toilet trips through out the day. Gets bloody annoying really lol

In regards to loading phase,

There's currently two schools of thought in regards to creatine

1. Load for the first five days (~0.14g x Body weight in lbs = grams's per day). Break this down over the day as much as possible hopefully into 4 or so doses.
Maintenance phase for the next ~4-6 Weeks
Cycle off then repeat

2. Take low dose (appox 5g) per day and never cycle off. Loading isn't necessary for this method but won't hurt either.

So to answer your question, no it doesn't matter if you don't load. All it means is that it will take longer for the creatine to come into full effect as the dosage in your body will be lower.

Best time to take creatine is generally after a workout on your workout days.

Are there any precautions you must follow when taking creatine?


A workmate that used to take it said you cannot drink coffee or alcohol whilst taking creatine. Is this correct or just scaremongering?


I'm assuming it relates to dehydration and creatine drawing fluid from your organs?


It occurred to me that a lot of people taking creatine may also be taking other supps for cutting etc that have a load of caffeine in them, how would that go?

creatine monohydrate , 35 minutes before workout with food and water.
enough said

caffine and creatine is not a good mix, caffine dehydrates you, where creatine requires you to be hydrated.

food and water 35 mins before exercise?
thats not right.
you should have a snack 1 hour before gym or a meal 2 hours before.
otherwise your food will still be digesting while you're training, leaving some of your blood being used for digestion and not enough going to your muscles. you'll also feel sluggish and may feel like spewing during your workout if you push yourself too hard.

just remember to mix your creatine with juice/gatorade or some other high sugar drink. it helps the muscles to absorb the creatine.
when i used creatine i used it before and after workouts. but there are different methods to using it so just research a little (google).

creatine will be pretty useless unless your diet is pretty spot on, speak to a nutritionist or a knowledgeable supplement distributor.

The guy i get my protein from talked me out of a sale back in the day when i wanted creatine. Rare you find someone that does that. Biologic Labs near RNA if anyone wants a good place

creatine added 2 inches to my penis length

True, But protein supplement and exercise can also be less effective when eating poorly. If your taking protein as a supplement to build muscle, your diet should be close to perfect as well otherwise you wont get maxi results, If your diet was healthy enough to include protein without been a waste you'd think it would be ok to include creatine as studies show high protein diets and creatine are a good mix.
not saying the guy doesnt know what his talking about or anything, just tryin make sense of your post.

you got jipped... i got 3...

I agree with you. Moral of the story is-

good diet first, then worry about supplements

ASN nano-creatine is the best on the market, doesnt cause any upset tummys, but too much creatine can cause long term affects in regards to your phosphate levels when you eventually stop.

i was going to have a go at you for thinking asn(aus. sports nutrition) have good products, then i realised you were referring to asn(advanced sports nutrition)...

hey guys just a quick question, i'v got some body ripped TCM creatine. The guy at ada street said not to take it with oj or any fruit juices as it will not work as it is too acidic. Is this the case? cos i'v read on bb.com that's it's fine as the stomach is alot more acidic then oj and other fruit juices. any advice would be good.

cheers

Creatine must pass the stomach, where it is absorbed in the small intestine. And the acids in the stomach are more acidic than the ones in acidic drinks.

Acidic drinks won't destroy the creatine. The PH of acids in orange juice isn't even comparable to the PH of the acids in your stomach. The whole acidic thing is sort of a myth, the stomach is extremely acidic and avoiding an acidic drink wont help much.

But he bigger reason to avoid orange juice is that it doesnt have enough sugar compared to grape or apple to illicit the type of insulin response needed to help shuttle the creatine to the muscles.

Different acids have different effects on different things


It is fine to take it with OJ and any other citrus juices, like I already said the creatine must pass the stomach and get to the small intestine where it is absorbed as long as there's enough sugar.

Is it bad to take it with a couple of scoops of protein, milk, iceing sugar, milo and icecream?

ahh thanks for that imppy haha, yeah iv seen gains with oj anyway so im not too fussed, just making sure. cheers

What about Creatine with milk, a couple of scoops of protien powder, tea spoon of milo, tea spoon of icing sugar an occasionally some icecream??

I hate the taste

a quick question, mate wants to know if it is bad to take creatine with three scoops of protein, a tea spoon of milo, a tea spoon of iceing sugar and the occasional scoop of icecream?

he takes it like that as he cant stand the taste of creatine..

Do you know what type of creatine he is taking?
You can get creatine with no flavour in a powder.
I add it to protein shakes most days and don't even notice a taste.

i used to drink no flavored creatine in water. Dry reaching was frequent

yeah it's the body ripped tri-creatine malate. tastes vinegarish so thats why he puts so much other stuff into his shake. i personally take it with fruit juice, tastes good then. I find the monohydrate creatines have no taste? or maybe the one i had had no taste, hence, i can take them with the protein shakes and cannot taste it.

You are correct mate, monohydrate generally has no taste, tri-creatine malate does. I don't use it often but I just spoon it out of the container into my mouth and wash down with water. HMB straight is still the worst tasting supp I think I've ever had.

What Are The Recommended Creatine Monohydrate Dosages?

Excellent results have observed when taking creatine monohydrate in two ways.

* Creatine loading:
Creatine loading works saturating the muscles with creatine in the first 5-7 days and then maintaining the creatine levels in the following weeks. So in the first 5-7 days, 20g of creatine monohydrate is taken (4 x 5g servings) with a non-acidic fruit juice or dextrose. The dosage is then reduced to 5-10g per day taken post workout and before bed.
* Gradual approach:
The gradual approach skips the loading phase and moves straight on to taking 5-10g per day.

Both of these methods have been proven to be effective, so it’s down to personal preference.

A simple carbohydrate taken with creatine monohydrate is known to greatly enhance the absorption of creatine. According to Green et al. (American Journal of Physiology), ingesting a carbohydrate solution (sugars) with creatine promotes a 60 percent greater increase in total creatine concentrations in the muscle, compared with taking creatine alone. [1] So far, there are no peer reviewed journal articles which disagree with Green's findings[1] (Green A.L., Hultman E, Macdonald I.A, Sewell D.A., Greenhaff P.L. Carbohydrate ingestion augments skeletal muscle creatine accumulation during creatine supplementation in humans. Am J Physiol 1996 Nov;271(5 pt 1):E821-6.)





How To Optimize The Uptake Of Creatine

You can increase the update of creatine by creating an insulin spike. Insulin is an extremely anabolic hormone and can transport nutrients throughout the body quickly and effectively. The easiest way to create an insulin spike is by using creatine products that are mixed with simple carbohydrates like Nutrex Volu-Gro and Gaspari SizeOn. Or, another method is mixing your creatine monohydrate supplement with dextrose. You need to take about 70g of destrose to get a good insulin spike.



cheers