Taking Creatine at Night

[The Kid]

Do you think it would be better to take it before you go to sleep? Since you recover and grow mostly at night, do you think it would be bennificial to take it before you go to sleep?

When I do take it, I usually take it before I work out. I have tried taking it after I work out and I never saw any results. Not like have gotten major results from anything, but I have noticed a few extra lbs if I take it before or while I am working out.

[Capt'nAmerica]

Thru it's loading phase you should take 3 teaspoons servings per day. 1st in the morning and Pre and Post- workout.. The most important is post workout add some dextrose (simple sugar) and maybe L-Glutamine and you are good to go. This only covers the carb side of the post workout meal which is half the equation . You should def add some Ion exchange wey PROTEIN for fast absorption,Isopure is a good one.

[The Kid]

No need for the loading stage(you will piss out most of it) and I know about all the rest.

[Capt'nAmerica]

I forgot to mention to drop the first serving after 5-7 days.

[Haluk]

good to take post-workout, when your muscles need nutrients and before sleeping, when your muscles willbe recovering and repairing...no need to take it pre-workout...it's not an energy provider like ECA or simple carbs...creatine basically allows your muscle cells to grow and hold more water, thus making you bigger....therefore keep the water intake high during the days...

[The Kid]

there have been tests done that say its not all water retention. I dont remeber the whole article but it said that creatine will put on lean muscle mass and help you get stronger. Creatine is good for about 7 seconds of your lift. So it will aid in your strength and I take it before I work out and I do notice a slight difference.

I just bought some over the weekend, havent been on it in months and I am just trying to use it in diff ways cause it wasnt really working for me. I think I am going to take some before I go to sleep as well as before I lift and see what happens.

[Capt'nAmerica]

Creatine can be good for cutiing up because it has shown to increase muscle mass which increases the calories burned with every day function.

[Frankie Spano]

Loading phase for creatine is a phalacy. Companies instruct doing that in order to go through more.

[joeyjoey]

Originally posted by Frankie Spano
Loading phase for creatine is a phalacy. Companies instruct doing that in order to go through more.

I've heard the same, but creatine only costs us a few cents per gram so I doubt it. I always figured the idea behind the loading phase is to slowly increase the level of creatine within the body, while after the first week is just maintaining that level. Do we really piss out creatine?

[Frankie Spano]

Creatine was a big issue for us @ PSU, our nutritionist and our strength coach would be at arms about the supplement. My nutritionist being an advocate and my strength coach feeling that it was a waste and that not enough studies nor information was provided for it. With that being said, taking creatine on the ketogenic phase of a diet, without ingesting carbohydrates, less insulin is available to help get creatine into the muscle. As a result, you wind up pissing out more creatine than you would normally. Save the creatine for the weekend carb-ups. You'll lose about 1-2 grams of creatine a day, which is no big deal.

[joeyjoey]

You're suppsoed to carb up the whole time you're on creatine. So in that case would you still be pissing it out?

[Frankie Spano]

Maybe this will help: http://www.myfit.ca/archives/viewanarticle.asp?table=nutrition&ID=25