Creatine
Cycling Schedule
If you're not making the gains you want on creatine, give this advanced
cycle a try. Many people find that after a few weeks, the gains they make
on creatine monohydrate begin to taper off or even disappear altogether.
There's an increasing belief among hardcore trainers that cycling creatine
intake may help one experience continued progress with this proven supplement.
Here's
a typical creatine cycle you might try adding to your supplement program:
-
week 1: load (20 g / day)
-
week 2-4 : maintenance (10 g / day)
-
week 5: load (20 g / day)
-
week 6-8: OFF
-
Repeat Cycle
You're basically "on" for 5 weeks (higher than average doses), then "off"
completely for 3 weeks. This seems to work well and can help give you continual
progress with creatine supplementation. Of course, another important factor
is what type of creatine you're using. ASN American
Creatine has really worked well for me. Other people see good results
with Prolab
Creatine Monohydrate. And at 10 grams creatine per dose, MuscleTech's
Cell-Tech is very popular. With creatine it's best to avoid generic
powders (the cheap stuff), as its purity is often in question and it doesn't
seem to work nearly as well as the quality formulas on the market.
Creatine Q &
A
Q. Is there a difference between
types of creatines that are currently available?
A. As some people are aware, you
can now find creatine on the market in three forms: phosphate, citrate,
and monohydrate. My feeling is that the phosphate variety is not easily
absorbed by the body and for this reason will not yield effective and substantial
results. The citrate variety seemed to be catching on for a time, but again
the research is sketchy here. In fact, nearly all the positive clinical
studies that have been done on creatine have utilized the monohydrate form,
and this is the only form that I currently recommend.
Q. Should you use creatine monohydrate
and an ECA Stack together?
A. Depending on your training and
physique goals, doing so may be counterproductive. You see, one of the
primary ways creatine works is by loading the muscles with water—this is
why consuming large amounts of water is such a critical part of effective
creatine supplementation. On the other hand, the caffeine included in the
typical ECA Stack has a diuretic effect—it draws water out of the muscles
and the body. So if you take your creatine simultaneous with your ECA Stack,
or with a cup of coffee for that matter, you’ll tend to cancel out the
cell-volumizing effects of the creatine.
Q. Is all creatine monohydrate alike,
or are the name brands really better?
A. There’s a ton of cheap, generic
creatine monohydrate on the market (especially on the web), but I’m convinced
that most of it is of significantly lower quality than the reputable brand
name versions. Supplement companies and distributors in the U.S. currently
get their raw creatine from two primary sources: China and Germany. The
creatine that comes in from China is almost always less expensive, but
it’s also much more likely to be impure. Typically, it’ll be cut with the
complex carb maltodextrin. This is the dirt cheap “creatine” that many
wholesalers offer. No wonder some people don’t see any results. Reputable
creatine suppliers prefer the German version, which is a bit more expensive
but tests out at a significantly higher level of quality. With creatine
you really do get what you pay for.
Q. Is micronized creatine just hype
or is it really better?
A. Micronized creatine is very interesting.
Basically, it’s produced through a process that finely grinds or “micronizes”
the creatine particles themselves into particles that are 10, 15, even
20 times smaller than regular creatine particles. There’s no doubt that
micronized creatine dissolves better in liquid—this just makes sense. It’s
also theorized that the smaller particle size leads to easier and faster
digestion and uptake into the blood. Individuals who report stomach upset
with regular creatine intake almost always find the problem alleviated
by switching to the micronized version. Many of the top creatine monohydrate
products on the market - including AST’s
Creatine HSC - have already switched to using micronized particles.
This trend is likely to continue and accelerate in the near future.
From MuscleSurf.com |
