Get Hardcore Muscle Building Legal Anabolic Supplements Here
Powered by MaxBlogPress  

Legal Steroids | What Is A Good Creatine Level?



What Is A Good Creatine Level?

The creatine level in your muscles can make a big difference in your performance in the gym. That’s why so many bodybuilders, both professional and amateur supplement with it. About half of our creatine comes from meat and fish sources, but the body can also make creatine itself from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine.

The daily amount of creatine from natural sources is 1-2 grams. Half of that is from food sources and half the body makes itself. But, we can safely take in 5 and possibly even 10 grams per day. Some bodybuilders are known to take 20-30 grams a day for years with no negative side effects. That is where creatine supplementation plays its part. Increased creatine in our bodies leads to increased strength and muscle mass. See the effects of creatine.

When starting creatine some recommend a one week loading phase where you take in 2-3 times the normal amount of creatine. While this will saturate your muscles more quickly it is really not necessary. A maintenance dose will create the same amount of creatine in the muscle within 4 weeks.

Recommended doses per bodyweight follow:

  • Less than or equal to 140lbs = 5-6grams per day
  • 141lbs to 170lbs = 6-7.5 grams per day
  • 171lbs to 200lbs = 8 grams per day
  • 201lbs to 240lbs = 8-10 grams per day
  • 241lb and up = 10-12 grams per day

Daily doses of creatine should be taken immediately following training as the muscles are most depleted at this time and will literally “soak up” the creatine.

Initially it was thought that creatine should be taken with a simple sugar (usually fruit juice). The idea was that the sugar would create an insulin spike which would push the creatine into your muscles. While studies have found this to be true there is much debate concerning the benefits of pushing creatine into your muscles like this vs. the effect of such an insulin spike because insulin also has the effect of causing your body to store fat. This combined with the usually high levels of cortisol in your system post-training have made it questionable whether the gain outweights the negatives. My suggestion is that you take your creatine with lukewarm water and then have a post-workout shake or meal containing 40g protein and 80-100g complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal.

Be careful and read the ingredients when you buy your creatine as many of the creatine monohydrate powders also contain dextrose to promote the insulin spike. If you do choose to go this route make sure you only use the dextrose added creatine after training. Get a straight creatine for off days. A creatine ethyl ester will work well here.

Related posts:

  1. Creatine Ethyl Ester – the Other Creatine
  2. Creatine Supplement for Big Mass Gains
  3. Creatine Monohydrate – Everyone’s using it!
  4. The Effects of Creatine on the Body
  5. Creatine Facts & Creatine Myths Exposed

Filed Under creatine | 1 Comment

Tagged With , , , , , ,

Comments

One Response to “What Is A Good Creatine Level?”

  1. The Effects of Creatine on the Body | Legal Steroids on October 14th, 2008 4:51 pm

    [...] is also no need to cycle creatine or stop using it. Nor does it become necessary to increase your dose. If you do choose to stop you will likely experience a small drop in weight as some water leaves [...]

Leave a Reply