Loading Strategies of Creatine

Most users do a loading phase when they start taking creatine. This fills up their muscles with the nutrient and allows them to see the benefits of creatine use relatively quickly. However, That some 15 percent choose not to load. The reasons for this vary from a desire to start experimenting with a light dose and see what the effects are, to a lack of awareness about the advantages of a loading phase.

Men and women have the same average loading dosage: 20 grams per day. Men have a wider range in their loading strategies, with some taking a little as 10 grams and others loading with as much as 40 grams per day. Women tend to stay closer to the due to an understanding among women that the amount of creatine needed for loading is directly related to muscle mass.

The average loading phase for men lasts seven days, although two men loaded for only three days and another loaded for forty-two days. Most men divide their daily dosage into three or four servings, which results in an average serving of 5 to 7 grams. The typical loading strategy for women is similar to that of men. Women usually load for six days and divide their 20-gram loading phase into three servings per day.

Maintenance Strategies

Average creatine user has been taking the supplement for six months. The time that individuals have been on creatine, however, ranges from two weeks to four years. After the loading phase, most men continue on a maintenance dosage of 10 grams, which is usually divided into two servings. The actual individual dose is variable, ranging from 1 to 24 grams per day.

Although the vast majority of men take the same amount of creatine every day, 12 percent vary their surveyed athlete takes creatine only on the days he works out, while the others reduce their maintenance dose on the days they don’t train.

Women usually maintain their creatine supplementation with a daily dose of either 5 or 10 grams. This is taken in one or two servings. No women in the survey indicated that they modify their creatine consumption on off-days.