Creatine is the most popular muscle building supplement for a reason. It works. Study after study has proven the benefits of supplementing with creatine to increase muscle mass and boost strength when added to a resistance training program.
Knowing that creatine can help you reach your goals, the next logical questions are how much creatine do I need to take? Is creatine loading necessary?
In most scientific studies, subjects are given between 2-25 grams of creatine per day depending of special circumstances. The first being body weight and specifically the amount of muscle mass one has. The more muscle mass, the more creatine is needed. The next is creatine absorption is not a linear process. This leads to phases of supplementation at different dosages aka the loading phase, maintenance phase, and washout.
Can You Take To Much Creatine?
Before we discuss creatine loading, let’s talk about if you can take to much creatine. The answer is yes! If you take more creatine than your body can absorb, you will put unneeded stress on vital organs (liver and kidneys) and end up taking the most expensive pees of your life. Unabsorbed creatine ends up in the toilet. Later in this post, I will outline how much creatine you will need so you don’t end up wasting money and potentially adding unneeded stress to your body.
Creatine Loading
The goal of the loading phase is to saturate your muscular creatine stores. Generally, the loading phase will consist of 10x’s your normal muscular creatine turnover. This amount of daily turnover is largely a function of your muscular mass.
Your body can only absorb creatine in small doses at one time. Therefore, break up your daily loading amount into 5 gram increments every few hours. Otherwise, you’ll be peeing the unabsorbed creatine straight into the toilet.
Research has shown creatine stores saturate around the 5th day of loading. So your loading phase should last 5 days plus or minus a day. Then move onto your maintenance phase.
How Much Creatine To Take
Remember the amount of creatine needed for individual phases is largely determined by your weight and specifically your muscle mass. To keep things simple, we will calculate dosages based off body weight and not muscle mass. This should be perfectly fine for most, as long as you’re not a lard-o-butt.
For the loading phase take .3 grams per kilogram and .03 per kilogram of your body weight for the maintenance phase. Here’s a nifty little picture from Creatine: A Practical Guide.
Creatine Dosages For Loading And Maintenance
Reducing Creatine Loading Dose
If you are over weight, it may be smart to reduce your loading amount by a bit. For our purposes say the average male has 12% body fat. And you are around 20-25% body fat. Since you’re about 10% above average in the body fat category, reduce your calculated loading dosage by 10%. It’s a rough estimate, but it’ll work. So instead of 30 grams you may have calculated, take 27 grams instead.
Is Creatine Loading Mandatory
No it’s not. It’s recommended though. Studies have shown that supplementing with creatine without a loading phase results in the same muscular creatine levels, but it takes several more weeks to reach the same saturation level.
If you choose not have a loading phase, increase your daily dosage to .045 gram per kilogram of body weight.
People who may benefit from no creatine loading phase are individuals that have pre-existing renal issues, diabetics, pregnant women, and the elderly.
You can learn more about whether creatine loading is right for you by reading the article at this link.
Improve Creatine Absorption
Take creatine with a fruit juice to maximize absorption.
Creatine Dosage Calculator
If you can’t do math or hate it, there’s a calculator you can use to simplify everything for you. Just know you will automatically sign up to this dude’s newsletter. If you don’t want to stay subscribed, you can cancel it any time you want. Here’s the link: Creatine Dose Calculator
Learn more about creatine loading and everything else creatine. Great guide in my humble opinion.
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