Creatine

[maxinout18]

Hey everyone I just joined. I just had a couple questions about Creatine.
1). About how much water would you recommend drinking per day while taking Creatine?

2). Is 20g for 5 day too much for the loading phase. Then 5g everday after that?

I was just planning on taking Monohydrate Creatine.

all advice is helpful, thanks.

[restless]

Forget the loading phase. There's little point in that. It's one more scam from supplement companies to take your money from you.

It's hard to say how much water you should drink as this depends on your weight, how much do you sweat, weather, etc. I recomend as a general rule a water intake in excess of one gallon, at least on training days and maybe a little less on non training days, split evenly in as many glasses of water it takes you to drink that. Don't go around drinking most of it at once because your body as a limited capacity to absorb water.

[maxinout18]

Thanks for the advice. But what I heard about the loading phase is that in order to have quicker results you have to saturate your body with the creatine. Not that you wont saturate your body with 5g a day just that it will take longer. Anyways thats just what I read in an article.

[restless]

It won't hurt to do it, but I doubt you'll see any measurable change in gains with or without loading.

[icanrace]

don't load, it's a wastetuttut

[Ti1301]

ahhhh another creatine post.

[NateDogg]

lol

[GIS]

Originally posted by Ti1301
ahhhh another creatine post.

Haha, no doubt.

Although, I've always kept an eye out for reccomondations on daily intake of creatine in grams. It isn't covered very often and I'm afraid of getting torn a new bumhole for starting a thread asking. I only take 5g on days I work out, but was thinking of taking a break and in a couple of months starting 5g a day, 7 days a week.

[Goin_Big]

First off, read my sig, it's been in there forever.

As for the water, make sure to drink enough that you don't cramp up. Nothing hurts worse than waking up to a hamstring creatine cramp :)

Everyone's body is different, but a good rule of thumb is, if your throat is dry, you aren't drinking enough water, and I always drink a glass before bed while on creatine.

[Shao-LiN]

You should aim for a gallon a day regardless if you use creatine or not. So, aim for a gallon, but I always try for 1.5 - 2 gallons.

[Ti1301]

I easily hit 1 gallon of H2O a day.
I just get thirsty!
I don;t acheive it by choice, I acheive it because I need water.

[Damian]

As a frequent user of creatine, I have to agree with the loading phase being a total waste of money. Actually, I've heard stories about Gastro-intestinal problems, cramping, and even headaches associated with the "loading phase".

Bottom line is: If it doesn't affect you negatively and it gets you in the right state of mind to keep you on the right track, do it. Just remember that if you take MORE creatine, you need MORE water. Otherwise, you might wake up looking like a pretzel in the morning. (Sounds like your water intake is fine, though.)

[TreeTrunks]

Mods be useful and make a faq on creatine a sticky. It will really help out the newbies.