What to take with creatine for best results?

Count doses, not days: how the muscle store fills and empties, why the first thing to take with creatine is the next dose, and the result a saturated store actually produces

What to take with creatine for best results is a question that assumes the result is improved by adding something, and the first correction is that creatine's result is produced by a count. Creatine works by raising the muscle's store of phosphocreatine, the molecule that regenerates energy in the first seconds of a hard effort, and the performance effect appears when that store is saturated and not before. The saturation study that set the protocols found two routes to the same ceiling: a loading dose of around 20g a day split into four, which filled the store in about six daily doses, or a steady 3g a day, which arrived at the same ceiling after around twenty-eight daily doses, with no difference in where the two routes ended up. After saturation, 3 to 5g a day replaces the small daily loss and holds the store, and stopping lets it drain back to baseline over a similar count of days without. The whole mechanism is a count of doses taken and doses missed, which is why the first and most important thing to take with creatine is the next dose, on a rest day as on a training day, because a store that is allowed to fall on rest days is a store that is never quite full on training days.

The count has three consequences for a lifter who wants the best result. First, the loading phase is optional and buys only time: a lifter who wants the store full in a week loads, a lifter who does not mind waiting takes 3 to 5g from the first day and arrives at the same place after the longer count, with less stomach disturbance and the same ceiling. Second, timing around the session is irrelevant once the store is full, because the dose taken today is replacing yesterday's loss rather than fuelling today's session, and the trials comparing pre- and post-session timing found differences too small and inconsistent to act on; the dose is taken at whatever mealtime it will not be forgotten. Third, missing doses matters more than any mixer, any stack or any timing, because each missed dose is a step back down the count, and the lifter who takes creatine on the four days they train and not on the three they do not is running the store at a permanent deficit.

The result a saturated store produces is worth stating in numbers so that the buyer can judge it and so that the stack products in the next section can be judged against it. The meta-analyses of creatine with resistance training find around one to two kilograms more lean mass over a training block than training alone, and a few percent more on strength measures, with the effect larger in people with low starting stores, vegetarians and vegans especially, and smaller in people who eat a lot of meat and fish. That is a real and repeatable effect, the largest of any legal supplement, and it is also a modest one: it is the difference between a good block and a slightly better block, not a different person. Everything that follows about what to take with creatine is about whether the slightly better block is realised, and none of it is about making the effect larger than the trials found, because nothing does.

A count of doses and a result in kilograms, and the three things outside the tub that turn a full store into that result, which is the next section.

The three things that turn a full store into a result, none of them in the tub; the caffeine hour; the stack products that add nothing; the worked example in the same daily count; and the verdict

The first thing to take with creatine, after the next dose, is a progressive training programme. Creatine does not build muscle, it lets a muscle do slightly more work in the seconds that matter, an extra repetition on the last set, a slightly heavier top set, a shorter recovery between efforts, and the extra work is what builds the muscle. In a programme where the load, the repetitions or the sets rise as the lifter adapts, that extra capacity is converted into extra overload and the one to two kilograms appear; in a programme where the same weights are lifted for the same sets indefinitely, the store is full and the capacity is unused, and the lifter concludes that creatine did nothing for them. The hypertrophy research is clear that progressive overload, adequate volume and proximity to failure are the inputs that drive muscle growth, and creatine is an aid to applying them rather than a substitute for any of them. A lifter who wants the best result from creatine takes it with a programme that asks for more over the block.

The second is protein. The material the extra work is built from is dietary protein, and the lifting guidance's recommendation is around 1.6g per kilogram of body weight a day, spread across three or four meals, with intakes beyond about 2.2g per kilogram adding nothing further in the trials. A saturated creatine store in a lifter eating half that intake is a full fuel tank with no building material, and the protein comes first in every sense, as food wherever possible and as a powder for the shortfall. The third is a meal with the dose: the uptake studies found that creatine taken with carbohydrate and protein is taken up by the muscle more completely than creatine alone, through insulin's effect on the transporter, and a meal supplies both without the large sugar dose the early trials used, so the daily 3 to 5g goes into the drink or shake that accompanies breakfast or dinner, which also makes it hard to forget, serving the count.

Caffeine keeps its own hour. The interaction between the two is disputed and small if real, one early study finding that daily caffeine blunted creatine's effect and later work not reproducing it consistently, with stomach discomfort the one reliable finding when both are taken in a single large dose; the lifter uses caffeine before the session for its own well-evidenced effect and takes creatine with a meal hours away, and both work. The stack products sold alongside creatine add nothing to the count. Beta-alanine has evidence, but for a different energy system in efforts of one to four minutes, and a powerlifter or bodybuilder gains little from it while a rower might. HMB has small effects in untrained or older people and little in trained lifters. The proprietary creatine blends, monohydrate mixed with buffered forms, hydrochloride, nitrate or amino acids at several times the price, dilute the one form with all the trials with forms that have fewer or none, and a lifter who buys plain monohydrate at pence a dose and spends the difference on food has bought the better stack.

The worked example sits in the same daily count: {FL}, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, two capsules with the evening meal every day alongside the creatine dose, with authorised claims for normal muscle function, normal protein synthesis and electrolyte balance, taken for a plate the survey finds a share of young men short of rather than for any effect on creatine, with no interaction between them, batch tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium, UK made, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: take the next dose, every day, until the count is reached and then to hold it. Take it with a programme that asks for more over the block, with protein at around 1.6g per kilogram a day, and with a meal. Keep caffeine to its own hour, buy plain monohydrate rather than a blend, and expect one to two kilograms of lean mass and a few percent on strength over the block, which is what the trials found and what a full store, properly used, produces.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What should I take with creatine to see the best results?

The next dose first, every day including rest days, because creatine works from a saturated muscle store filled by a count of around twenty-eight daily doses at 3g or six at 20g and held by 3 to 5g a day; then the three things outside the tub, a progressive training programme that converts the extra capacity into extra overload, protein at around 1.6g per kilogram a day as the material, and a meal with the dose for uptake; caffeine kept to its own hour before the session, and plain monohydrate rather than a blend.

Do I need to load creatine?

No; loading buys time and nothing else, since a loading dose of around 20g a day split into four fills the store in about six daily doses while a steady 3g a day arrives at the same ceiling after around twenty-eight, with no difference in where the two routes end up and less stomach disturbance on the steady route; after saturation 3 to 5g a day holds the store, and what matters more than loading is never missing the daily dose, because each missed one is a step back down the count.

How much muscle will creatine add?

The meta-analyses of creatine with resistance training find around one to two kilograms more lean mass over a training block than training alone, and a few percent more on strength measures, with larger effects in people with low starting stores such as vegetarians and vegans and smaller ones in people eating a lot of meat and fish; it is the largest effect of any legal supplement and a modest one, the difference between a good block and a slightly better one, and it is realised only when the programme asks for more over the block.

Does creatine timing matter, before or after a workout?

Not once the store is saturated, because the dose taken today replaces yesterday's small loss rather than fuelling today's session, and the trials comparing pre- and post-session timing found differences too small and inconsistent to act on; the dose goes at whatever mealtime it will not be forgotten, with a meal for the uptake effect, and the thing that does matter is the daily count, taken on rest days as on training days so the store never runs at a deficit.

Should I take creatine with protein powder or beta-alanine?

With protein, yes, as part of reaching around 1.6g per kilogram a day, the material the result is built from, and a shake with the dose serves the uptake effect as a meal does; beta-alanine has evidence for a different energy system in efforts of one to four minutes and adds little to a lifter's creatine result, HMB has little effect in trained people, and the proprietary blends that mix monohydrate with other forms at several times the price dilute the one form that holds all the trials, so plain monohydrate and food are the better stack.

Sources

1. The muscle creatine saturation study: a loading dose of 20g a day for about six days or a steady 3g a day both raise muscle creatine to the same ceiling, the steady dose taking around twenty-eight daily doses to arrive, after which 3 to 5g a day maintains it and stores return to baseline over roughly a month of stopping. PubMed record
2. Rawson ES, Volek JS. Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2003;17(4):822-831: creatine with resistance training produced around 8 per cent greater gains in maximal strength and around 14 per cent greater gains in repetitions at a given load than training alone. PubMed record
3. The resistance training hypertrophy literature: muscle growth tracks weekly set volume with diminishing returns beyond around ten to twenty hard sets per muscle, progressive overload, proximity to failure, protein around 1.6 grams per kilogram and adequate sleep, with creatine the one supplement adding measurably to lean mass gains. PubMed record
4. The creatine with carbohydrate studies: taking creatine with a large carbohydrate dose increased muscle creatine accumulation in early trials through an insulin-mediated effect, a smaller carbohydrate and protein mix produced a similar effect, and the practical conclusion in the reviews is that taking the daily dose with a meal captures most of the effect without extra sugar. PubMed record

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