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Loading Phase
Creatine loading typically involves taking 20 grams of creatine, divided into 4-5 equal doses, for 5-7 days to rapidly increase your muscle creatine stores. The loading phase reduces the amount of time it takes for the muscle cells to be fully saturated with creatine. From our diets or the liver making creatine on its own, we only get approximately 60-80% saturation. Which means supplementing is a great tool to max out our cellular capacity of creatine. The International Society of Sports Medicine supports creatine loading because it is more efficient than taking a daily 5 gram dose of creatine to fully saturate the muscle cells. Without a loading phase it would take approximately 28 days to fully saturate muscle cells, so loading helps expedite the process. After a loading phase, help maintain your muscle creatine with a maintenance dose. If you’re a novice to creatine, incorporating a loading phase can help you saturate the cells with creatine quicker but if you’re a creatine veteran, taking a maintenance dose will suffice.
Maintenance Dose
A daily maintenance phase of 3-10 grams per day helps retain muscle creatine stores. Around 1-2% of creatine is lost in our urine daily from natural metabolism. Scientists believe approximately 1-3g of creatine are needed to replace these normal loses of creatine for maintenance. Remember this is just to replace the saturation levels at 60-80% which is why the maintenance dose is higher than 1-3 grams daily. It is unknown if athletes participating in high-intensity exercise lose more creatine. Other factors, such a vegetarians or individuals in larger body sizes might need additional creatine to maintain optimal levels within the muscle cells. While most recommended maintenance doses are typically 3-5 grams per day, creatine research improving performance outcomes range from 3-10 grams per day.
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When just beginning to use this supplement most experts recommend that if you’re “loading” you take about 0.3 grams per kilogram of bodyweight (or about 0.136 per pound) for the first five to seven days.
During this loading phase you’ll take much higher amounts than during the weeks to follow. To give you an example, a man who weighs 175 pounds (79.4 kilograms) would take about 25 grams per day when loading.
After the first five to seven days, take a lower dose of five to 10 grams per day for about three weeks. To be more precise, aim for about 0.03 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for about three weeks.
Once the three weeks are over, you can either continue taking the lower dosage for as long you’d like to or can go back to loading. You might choose to cycle your intake every three weeks or so.
If you are going to use oral supplements, you can reduce the potential for experiencing creatine side effects by making sure not to take too much at once. Avoid very high doses and always read directions for dosage/serving recommendations, since each product is a bit different. *
