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Creatine Loading
Creatine Loading and Creatine
Cycling are protocols associated with Creatine Monohydrate Powder.There
are several opinions about how use creatine, many believe the proper way to take
creatine is "cycling". The idea behind cycling creatine is that the body may
eventually get used the supplement and may stop responding, and the benefits of
taking creatine subside. We have seen little evidence to back this up - and are
aware of many of the biggest and best built bodybuilders who have been taking
creatine consistently for years with seemingly no ill effects - however cycling
is a theory worth mentioning. Creatine cycles consists of a loading,maintenance,
and absence of creatine phase. An example cycle would look something like this:
Week 1: Creatine loading phase (20 grams a day) (5 grams, 4 times a day)
Weeks 2 to 4: creatine maintenance phase (2-5 grams a day)
Weeks 5 to 8: no creatine
With Kre-Alkalyn Creatine and Creatine Ethyl Ester there is no need for a
loading phase.
If you are a serious bodybuilder, strength athlete or rugby player using
Creatine Monohydrate powder many people believe that they can optimize their
muscles and strength gain by cycling their routine dosage. However everyone’s
body works differently. Some larger people may need a nit more - some less -
only you can judge what works best for you. You will know if you are taking too
much normally by the adverse "toilet" effects!
Loading Phase: The purpose of the loading phase is
to rapidly fill your muscle Creatine stores within a brief period high dosage
Creatine Supplements for only a few days.
Maintenance Phase: Once your Creatine Stores are
full then you should undertake a maintenance dosage for a period of 4-6 weeks.
Wash-out Phase: The wash-out period allows the body
to recover from the artificially high Creatine levels observed during
supplementation that the body would not ordinarily encounter in everyday life.
Do you need this phase? In all honesty who knows as there has been little long
term research done on Creatine. However as it is a natural product that your
body will excrete if you take too much then as long as you are sticking to the
correct dosage then why not? Certainly many of the worlds top bodybuilders and
strength athletes take Creatine continually with no visible ill effects other
than larger stronger muscles!
Loading
In the original scientific study that devised the loading strategy of taking
Creatine, a person's Creatine dose is a function of their weight . I am not sure
if this was totally correct as there is a big difference between the body make
up of someone who weighs 220 pounds of muscle with low body fat and someone of
the same weight with 30+% bodyfat - but it is a good guide anyway. During the
loading phase, 0.3 grams of Creatine should be taken for each kilogram of
bodyweight. This is for KILOGRAMS so if you know your weight in Pounds or Stones
simply convert.
Calculate your Creatine dose.
Calculate your loading dose - multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.3. For
example, an 80 kg person would take 24 grams of Creatine per day during the
loading phase; 0.3 x 80 = 24. These tests were done on men - will women be any
different? Actually women always tend to do better on
Creatine Ethyl Ester rather than
monohydrate.
Taking your Creatine dose.
Divide the loading dose into 4 equal parts; take one part every 4-5 hours. If
your loading dose is 24 grams per day, you would take 6 grams of Creatine four
times a day during the loading phase. For the best results we would recommend
taking Creatine tablets or capsules with a large glass of fruit juice, but
taking powder is OK as well - often though it does not mix well. The loading
phase should take between 5-7 days. The research says 5 but experience (personal
no science to back this up) says 7 is better.
Maintenance
The body's Creatine store's degrade at a rate of around 2 grams per day
according to the research. Again, with practical and personal experience, I
would recommend taking a quarter of the loading phase during the maintenance
phase. So in the example above, this would be 6 grams per day. Take this either
last thing at night before sleeping or immediately after a workout for maximum
effect. This phase should last around 6 weeks.
Wash-out
Wash Out - or not? The choice is yours, the research says yes, many of the
worlds top bodybuilders say no! I'm not sure how much muscle the scientists
doing the tests had, or wanted!!
Always remember that the above relates solely to
CREATINE MONOHYDRATE and not other forms of Creatine.
Reference:
Hultman, E., Soderlund K., Timmons, J. A., Cederblad, G. and Greenhaff, P. L.
(1996) Muscle Creatine loading in men. Journal of Applied Physiology, Volume
81(1), pages 232-237
Creatine Loading
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