Yet Another Workout Thread: Creatine, before or after workout?

[soccerbud34]

Hi, i have been doing research on the subject of creatine for the past 2, 3 days. And i have gathered a fair amount of information on what i should expect out of creatine from this thread

However, i simply could not find a general consensus on when creatine should be taken, before or another workout.

Do anyone have any inputs on this subject? Thanks!

edit ** also another question of the loading phase when 1st start taking creating, is it really necessary? Can and should i forego it? **

 

[amnesiac]

Aren't there directions on the bottle of the supplement?

 

[scauffiel]

Doesn't matter - take it twice a day. Try to take it with a juice/carb replenishment drink. The idea is to have it in your body all of the time - twice a day will do it for ya.

S.

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
Aren't there directions on the bottle of the supplement?

Most instruction from bottles says taken after a workout. But i have read that it is better to be taken 1 hr before workout. So i am somewhat confused.

 

[Colt45]

how about dont take it at all

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: scauffiel
Doesn't matter - take it twice a day. Try to take it with a juice/carb replenishment drink. The idea is to have it in your body all of the time - twice a day will do it for ya.

S.

Thanks for the reply, is there any particular point of day that i should take creatine twice a day?

 

[amnesiac]

Originally posted by: Colt45
how about dont take it at all

I was going to say that too. I felt I should back it up with some evidence that it's not good for you, because I know after you stop taking it your muscles could "deflate" but my quick search only pointed towards kidney problems, bowel issues, and dehydration.

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: Colt45
how about dont take it at all

At first, i was rather skeptical on the usage of creatine also. However, after couple days of reading up on the subject of creatine, i found that the side effects are not as bad as one would make it out to be. The only proven and known side effects that i found and know of are dehydration, cramps, weight gain(water weight), and diarrhea.

 

[MrBaseball]

Put the creatine in apple juice or grape juice and take it 30 to 45 mins before a workout.

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0

Originally posted by: Colt45
how about dont take it at all

I was going to say that too. I felt I should back it up with some evidence that it's not good for you, because I know after you stop taking it your muscles could "deflate" but my quick search only pointed towards kidney problems, bowel issues, and dehydration.

From what i understand, creatine can cause kidney problem is a simply myth since, currently, there are no scientific data to back up that statement.

To the statement "muscles could deflate", one will have to know what exactly is intended for creatine to do to your body.

In addition to the positive characteristics of creatine monohydrate supplementation, one known beneficial side-effect is called cell-volumizing. An increase of creatine uptake by the cell draws water intra-cellular (inside the muscle cell) and increases the size of the muscle cell.

Therefore, once you stop creatine intake, you muscle do not draw water inside muscle cells, therefore, given the conception that your muscle has "deflated" as to when when one was intaking creatine.

Hope that made sense

 

[SnapIT]

After workout, 30-45 minutes after workout your metabolism is raised considerably... in the morning, before breakfast with a high GI meal or drink and after workouts with the same kind of meal... that will be the best choice...

It all has to do with metabolism and the rise in insulin which is benificial for the uptake of carbs (which will be stored as glycogen), proteins and creatine...

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: soccerbud34

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0

Originally posted by: Colt45
how about dont take it at all

I was going to say that too. I felt I should back it up with some evidence that it's not good for you, because I know after you stop taking it your muscles could "deflate" but my quick search only pointed towards kidney problems, bowel issues, and dehydration.

From what i understand, creatine can cause kidney problem is a simply myth since, currently, there are no scientific data to back up that statement.

To the statement "muscles could deflate", one will have to know what exactly is intended for creatine to do to your body.

In addition to the positive characteristics of creatine monohydrate supplementation, one known beneficial side-effect is called cell-volumizing. An increase of creatine uptake by the cell draws water intra-cellular (inside the muscle cell) and increases the size of the muscle cell.

Therefore, once you stop creatine intake, you muscle do not draw water inside muscle cells, therefore, given the conception that your muscle has "deflated" as to when when one was intaking creatine.

Hope that made sense

That makes sense simply because it is true...

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
After workout, 30-45 minutes after workout your metabolism is raised considerably... in the morning, before breakfast with a high GI meal or drink and after workouts with the same kind of meal... that will be the best choice...

It all has to do with metabolism and the rise in insulin which is benificial for the uptake of carbs (which will be stored as glycogen), proteins and creatine...

SnapIT, it seems you have great knowledge when it comes to the subject of creatine. The reason that i am disputing whether or not to take creatine after or before workout is because of the following article that i read.

It can take about 1 hour for the creatine to be absorbed into the bloodstream - and from that point you have about 1.5 hours to use the creatine or lose it. So, let's say you workout at 10am - here is our logic. At 9am you take the creatine powder. By 10am the creatine is in the blood stream. Your muscles are probably mostly saturated with creatine from the supplement you took the day before. So, some of the creatine you took at 9am may be absorbed into the muscles - but the rest is still in the blood. At 10am you start working out and depleting the creatine in your muscles. Your muscles then replenish their creatine supply from the creatine in the blood stream. Your workout ends at 11am (you really should not workout more than 1 hour - but that is a topic for a different day). Remember, you took creatine at 9am - but it was not absorbed into the blood stream until 10am. This means it will stay there until 11:30am (1.5 hours). So, now you have another 1/2 hour where your muscles can replenish their creatine supply if depleted. In a way you are getting the best of all worlds - you have creatine available before, during and after your workout.

do you agree with it or does it seem like BS to you?

Thanks!

 

[Davegod75]

doesn't really matter. taking it 2-3 times a day is all you have to do.

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: Davegod75
doesn't really matter. taking it 2-3 times a day is all you have to do.

How much gram of creatine should i take per intake?

thanks!

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: soccerbud34

Originally posted by: SnapIT
After workout, 30-45 minutes after workout your metabolism is raised considerably... in the morning, before breakfast with a high GI meal or drink and after workouts with the same kind of meal... that will be the best choice...

It all has to do with metabolism and the rise in insulin which is benificial for the uptake of carbs (which will be stored as glycogen), proteins and creatine...

SnapIT, it seems you have great knowledge when it comes to the subject of creatine. The reason that i am disputing whether or not to take creatine after or before workout is because of the following article that i read.

It can take about 1 hour for the creatine to be absorbed into the bloodstream - and from that point you have about 1.5 hours to use the creatine or lose it. So, let's say you workout at 10am - here is our logic. At 9am you take the creatine powder. By 10am the creatine is in the blood stream. Your muscles are probably mostly saturated with creatine from the supplement you took the day before. So, some of the creatine you took at 9am may be absorbed into the muscles - but the rest is still in the blood. At 10am you start working out and depleting the creatine in your muscles. Your muscles then replenish their creatine supply from the creatine in the blood stream. Your workout ends at 11am (you really should not workout more than 1 hour - but that is a topic for a different day). Remember, you took creatine at 9am - but it was not absorbed into the blood stream until 10am. This means it will stay there until 11:30am (1.5 hours). So, now you have another 1/2 hour where your muscles can replenish their creatine supply if depleted. In a way you are getting the best of all worlds - you have creatine available before, during and after your workout.

do you agree with it or does it seem like BS to you?

Thanks!

Actually, it would make sense if it wasn't for one thing... Insulin... you have a better chance of clearing out your bloodstream from creatine if you do take it with a high GI meal after excersise... AND then there is the conversion from creatine (the muscles cannot hold creatine) into creatine phosphate which takes place in the liver, so you see, the thing isn't to saturate your muscles at the right time, when you are done with the loading phase your muscles will be saturated pretty much all of the time, it's a question of how to make best use of the creatine consumed to not only replenish the storage of CPH, but actually increase it...

If you stop taking creatine it will take a couple of weeks for the effects to wear off, so, a couple of hours to replenish is mostly bullcrap, what you want is to make best use of the creatine consumed, by following the high GI/creatine combo at the right time you can actually push MORE creatine into your muscle cells simply because more creatine is absorbed...

Did that make sense?

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: soccerbud34

Originally posted by: Davegod75
doesn't really matter. taking it 2-3 times a day is all you have to do.

How much gram of creatine should i take per intake?

thanks!

2 times daily... morning and after workouts... 3-5g at a time... you will have to experiment... for most people 2*5g is a waste of money, but for some it have shown improvements over the ususal 2*2,5g dosage... it all depends on workouts and body weight...

 

[incallisto]

I gained 15lbs. of lean mass in the first month of taking Muscletech's Creatine with Alpha-Lipoic-Acid (ALA forces creatine into cells, providing maximum cellular volumisation).
Personally, I take it after resistance training. That's when the muscles need it most, as it replenishes and encourages nitrogen retention.

 

[soccerbud34]

last question, is it ok for me to take creatine and whey protein at the same time?

 

[Spamela]

Originally posted by: incallisto
I gained 15lbs. of lean mass in the first month of taking Muscletech's Creatine with Alpha-Lipoic-Acid (ALA forces creatine into cells, providing maximum cellular volumisation).
Personally, I take it after resistance training. That's when the muscles need it most, as it replenishes and encourages nitrogen retention.

sounds like an ad to me. do you work for/sell MuscleTech?

i take creatine mixed with a protein drink 30 minutes after my (powerlifting) workouts (3x/week).
on non-lifting days i mix it with OJ for breakfast.

 

[syzygy]

heck, try both, before and after. make the comiittment and experiment. if nothing else, it may have a placebo effect, and inspire
you to work out harder. you need to test your tolerance, ofcourse, so begin with half the recommended dosage for the first few
days then build up to a maintenance dosage of 5 grams per day. if i recall correctly, the creatine should be mixed with a high
glycemic drink, and taken before or after.

if you want to feel the surge, try taking it before you begin banging the wieghts, like 10 or 15 minutes before. creatine is useless
with all aerobic activities.

once you've established your tolerance, drinks lots of water and take in loads of protein; 1gm per 1 lb. body weight is the popular ratio.

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: Spamela

Originally posted by: incallisto
I gained 15lbs. of lean mass in the first month of taking Muscletech's Creatine with Alpha-Lipoic-Acid (ALA forces creatine into cells, providing maximum cellular volumisation).
Personally, I take it after resistance training. That's when the muscles need it most, as it replenishes and encourages nitrogen retention.

sounds like an ad to me. do you work for/sell MuscleTech?

i take creatine mixed with a protein drink 30 minutes after my (powerlifting) workouts (3x/week).
on non-lifting days i mix it with OJ for breakfast.

LOL, i was thinking the same thing... ALA does nothing of the sort... and creatine cannot be stored in any cells, creatine PHOSPHATE can be stored in cells and the ALA will be metabolized well before that conversion can take place... nevermind the ad's muscletech are wellknown for their exaggerated claims...

The key is to get as much creatine into cirulation, that has to do with digestion, and to get the creatine out from the bloodstream, that is where insulin works it's magic (and therefore high GI foods and drinks will increase the available amount of creatin) and then the creatine will have to be converted into CPH (Creatine PHosphate) and that will require phosphorus...

So.. the ultimate creatine drink would contain digestive enzymes to enhance the digestion, dextrose (to boost insulin) and phosphorus.. the creatine should be crystallized and it should be mixed right before consumed...

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: soccerbud34
last question, is it ok for me to take creatine and whey protein at the same time?

Whey protein does cause an insulin spike, so does dextrose, so one might assume that taking both would create a bigger spike... it doesn't.. instead the insulin rise will be somewhere in between the two of them...

So, in short... i would advise against it, i take the creatine/dextrose/phosphorus combo immediatly after training, wait 45 minutes and then i consume a large whey-protein drink...

When it comes to protein, as long as it contains all eight essential amino acids... there is really no benifit to structure it, your body will convert the structure the way it sees fit... the thing with whey is that because it contains an amino acid profile similar to your needs you need less of it...

You could achieve the same result with soy protein... i don't use that because as i need less protein with whey, i can maintain my 8% bodyfat while bulking up... (or rise to 9% if i feel i would benefit from it)...

So i think that high BV proteins are better, BUT if i was on a tight budget... i would exchange the whey for soy before i made any other changes...