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so you want to start taking creatine but
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what time of day should you load it how
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long can you take it for
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well fear not because in this video
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we're going to tell you everything you
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need to know about taking creatine
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how's it going guys my name is richie
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kerman and i'm a nutritionist and
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nutrition researcher at liverpool john
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moores university and you're watching
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the my protein youtube channel this is
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the channel that brings you need to know
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info on how to fuel your body and train
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to be your strongest self in my last
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video i spoke about what creatine is and
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why you might want to take it
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here's a quick recap it's magic and if
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you want to get the most out of your
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you probably should be taking it in this
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video we're going to talk all about
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how to take it how much when and for how
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long because there seems to be a lot of
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confusing information out there
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about creatine dosage so we'll try and
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clear all of that up we'll also talk
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about some of the side effects of
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and why you probably don't need to worry
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i'll give you a little tip on the best
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type of creatine to take let's start off
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how much should you take i'm gonna make
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this as simple as possible
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three to five grams per day is all you
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need most packs of creatine powder come
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which measures out about 5 grams of
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creatine one of those a day and you're
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golden now like protein the bigger and
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more muscular you are
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the more creatine you may need so very
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big and muscular individuals who are
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might want to take more maybe up to 10
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it's perfectly safe and you'll pee out
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the excess so there's no need to worry
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about taking too much you see
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the point of supplementing with creatine
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is to build up the amount of creatine in
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until you can't increase it anymore and
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just maintain it from there this is the
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point at which you'll get the most
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performance enhancing effects and if
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you're taking three to five grams of
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it can take up to four weeks to fully
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saturate your muscles i know
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some of you aren't that patient so you
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can speed up the process by
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doing a loading phase this just means
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dose of creatine usually 20 grams a day
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to load your muscles with creatine and
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then you drop down to three to five
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grams a day to maintain that level you
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but it may help you get faster
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that brings me to my next point it
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probably doesn't matter what time of day
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you take creatine as long as you take it
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daily the most important thing
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is you take it consistently to keep your
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with creatine all the time that means it
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doesn't matter if you take it before or
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it's not going to give you some sort of
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now as amazing as creatine sounds
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and while creatine is an incredibly safe
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supplement which i'll talk about a
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it does seem to have an anecdotal side
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effect in some people
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and that's gastric distress that's right
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might get an upset tummy when they take
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creatine even though there isn't a lot
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of clinical evidence to support this
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while there isn't much evidence on this
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there are two things you could try to
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if you notice it firstly don't take
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creatine on an empty stomach
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so save it for your meals secondly try
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splitting your dose into smaller amounts
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so if you're loading try to divide the
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dose into four doses of five grams
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and take them at different times of the
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day another thing that people talk about
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is weight gain the thing is this really
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for most people unless they have a poor
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relationship with the bathroom scales
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people who take creatine often notice a
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sudden increase in weight
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sometimes up to as much as two and a
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half kilos or even more but that
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stabilizes when somebody is using it
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constantly but here's the thing it's
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not fat say it again it's not
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fat the weight gain is caused by the
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attracts water to it mostly in the
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muscles for most people
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this often means that their muscles look
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bigger and overall they may actually
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leaner the only time that weight gain
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could be a real problem
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is if you're an athlete in a very weight
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sensitive sport that requires weigh-ins
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boxing or if you do a sport that
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requires you to be lighter to perform
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like rock climbing in that case you may
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want to think about whether the
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performance benefits of creatine
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are worth the extra weight and here's
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everyone's favorite question
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how long can you stay on creatine i've
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heard people talking about needing to
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cycle on and off creatine the only
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reason people say this is because they
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mistakenly associate creatine with
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steroids here's the real
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short answer you don't need to stop
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it's safe for long term
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use there are studies of creatine doses
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30 grams per day for up to five years
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without any problems at all long term
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use doesn't even lead to kidney problems
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which is what everybody likes to again
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and one final note the vast majority of
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research for the benefits of using
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is based on creatine monohydrate which
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and cheapest form available no need to
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worry about different forms or speed of
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or bioavailabilities creatine
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exactly what it says on the tin and has
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research behind it so did that answer
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your questions as always if you have any
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more let me know in the comments
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and remember to like and subscribe to
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the my protein youtube channel
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for more great evidence-based nutrition