20g is a loading dose (typically for a week), then it's 3-5g daily for maintenance. But I've seen studies that 5g daily catches up to the 20g loading dose after about a month.
Yeah pretty much this. I took creatine back in high school/college to build muscle mass. In those days we would load with 20g for a week -> then do 5g for 8 weeks -> cycle off for two weeks -> repeat.
I'm back on it now for endurance sports (trail running + cycling) and the advice is to just take 5g a day and don't worry about cycling off. At 5g/day it takes 4-6 weeks to saturate your muscles.
It does have a noticeable impact on water retention, so this year I cycled off six weeks away from my "A" race and lost 5lbs of water weight. It was a 100 mile mountain ultra so I thought the extra pop on the climbs probably wasn't worth the extra weight over the entire course (but probably was worth it while doing hill reps in training). Next year I'm sticking to shorter stuff where I'll run up more climbs. For those I don't plan to cycle off.
I've taken creatine for 20+ years, nobody does the "loading" dose anymore, or shouldn't be if they still do. Maybe it stills says it on the jars but there was tons of information a decade or more ago that it was deemed as a way to get you to blast through your jug faster. 5g is the normal dose. You're always taking in creatine eating normal meat added meals.
This is giving me flashbacks to using bodybuilding.com forums.. man, long time ago.
It is my 100% always buy supplement. I only have 2 of those now, protein the other. It absolutely helps me think better and feel better throughout the day. Noticeable when I stop taking it. And its dirt cheap. If I had more disposable income I'd have a few others but I went from tons of supplements to basically nothing. I never use PWOs or anything now, even when I do have money.
I haven't seen the 20g loading dose recommendation on anything recently either. Everything I've seen just recommends 5g/daily.
My regular supplements that I've noticed made any difference is: creatine, vitamin D, and fiber. With vitamin C and protein being situational as needed.
I feel the same way about creatine (and increasingly protein).
One thing that might help me notice creatine more is that I haven't drank much caffeine for some reason.. and the longer I've been able to put it off or minimize it, the more of an unfair advantage it has become when I've started.
20g is a loading dose (typically for a week), then it's 3-5g daily for maintenance. But I've seen studies that 5g daily catches up to the 20g loading dose after about a month.
Yeah pretty much this. I took creatine back in high school/college to build muscle mass. In those days we would load with 20g for a week -> then do 5g for 8 weeks -> cycle off for two weeks -> repeat.
I'm back on it now for endurance sports (trail running + cycling) and the advice is to just take 5g a day and don't worry about cycling off. At 5g/day it takes 4-6 weeks to saturate your muscles.
It does have a noticeable impact on water retention, so this year I cycled off six weeks away from my "A" race and lost 5lbs of water weight. It was a 100 mile mountain ultra so I thought the extra pop on the climbs probably wasn't worth the extra weight over the entire course (but probably was worth it while doing hill reps in training). Next year I'm sticking to shorter stuff where I'll run up more climbs. For those I don't plan to cycle off.
You need sustained 15-20g/day for mental benefits.
If you're only after the lifting benefits, 3-5g/day is sufficient.
I've taken creatine for 20+ years, nobody does the "loading" dose anymore, or shouldn't be if they still do. Maybe it stills says it on the jars but there was tons of information a decade or more ago that it was deemed as a way to get you to blast through your jug faster. 5g is the normal dose. You're always taking in creatine eating normal meat added meals.
This is giving me flashbacks to using bodybuilding.com forums.. man, long time ago.
It is my 100% always buy supplement. I only have 2 of those now, protein the other. It absolutely helps me think better and feel better throughout the day. Noticeable when I stop taking it. And its dirt cheap. If I had more disposable income I'd have a few others but I went from tons of supplements to basically nothing. I never use PWOs or anything now, even when I do have money.
I haven't seen the 20g loading dose recommendation on anything recently either. Everything I've seen just recommends 5g/daily.
My regular supplements that I've noticed made any difference is: creatine, vitamin D, and fiber. With vitamin C and protein being situational as needed.
I feel the same way about creatine (and increasingly protein).
One thing that might help me notice creatine more is that I haven't drank much caffeine for some reason.. and the longer I've been able to put it off or minimize it, the more of an unfair advantage it has become when I've started.
Not a typo, 20g+ a day.
Dosing for gym exercise is different than dosing for excess creatine to reach the brain.
Well studied, checked with my doctor, including for TBI. Obviously everyone should check for themselves.
I'm looking for the pile of studies I had come across, here's a few to help link to more.
Cerebral Creatine levels seem to be a different thing.
Creatine and TBI:
https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Publications/2025/09/25/...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209321/
Creatine supplementation for naturally declining creatine levels:
https://jpbs.hapres.com/htmls/JPBS_1766_Detail.html
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10526554/
I thought it was too, then I started learning about how so many studies about Creatine were only in the body, and not the brain..
And then there were the discoveries of creatine in the brain in studies.