While the optimum duration of a creatine cure is 4 to 6 weeks, to maximize benefits and limit health risks, it's essential to follow a strict protocol.
Creatine reaches the muscles via thediet and through endogenous synthesis. Once in the muscle cells, it becomes phosphocreatine and acts as a supplier of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, our muscle fuel. It therefore plays a key role in sport, particularly in short, intense disciplines, as its available stocks are limited in quantity.
This white powder provides long-term energy support and gives the body the ability to repeat intense efforts. It is this repetition which is at theorigin of mass gain and the development of muscular strength (within the framework of bodybuilding exercises). But how do you take creatine? How long does a course of treatment last? All the information you need to start your protocol is here.
How long does a creatine cure last?
Creatine is widely used in bodybuilding and by top-level athletes in their quest for performance. Its proven effects on muscle volume and power, as well as on recovery, have long been demonstrated in scientific literature¹.
What is a creatine cure?
Thisamino acid derivative improves muscle contraction capacity in one of the metabolic pathways known asanaerobic alactic. This pathway provides energy for very short exercises, such as a scrum in rugby or a sprint start in soccer.
The advantage of a creatine cure is also toincrease training loads on the muscle, hence the notion of the muscle's adaptive response to effort.
A cure lasts 4 to 6 weeks, but above all, it's designed to meet a specific sporting objective: a period of physical preparation, a final or a tournament, for example. The aim is to saturate reserves over a period of time.
What's the difference between taking creatine continuously and taking it as a course of treatment?
A cure-by-cure approach is systematically recommended, both to avoid overloading the kidneys and to optimize performance.
In fact, intermittent work with supplementation gives longer-lasting results. Why? Because the body is an adaptive machine. Because the body is an adaptive machine.
The aim is to make the body work at higher intensities via creatine supplementation and to stimulate adaptive physiological responses. When you stop the treatment, you continue to maintain your performance levels, but with lower levels of muscle creatine; you stabilize your performance.
At a later stage, we can resume a course of treatment and re-increase capacities in order to stimulate new adaptive responses, to be stabilized in the off-cure period. This can be compared to a "staircase" system.
We also avoid the long-term (several months/years) continuous supply of a substance naturally produced by the body, to avoid diminishing the body's capacity to produce it endogenously.
The phases of a creatine cure and their duration
Under normal circumstances, an adult needs to supply 2 grams of creatine a day to his or her body, which synthesizes part of it while the rest comes from the food consumed.
In the case of a creatine cure, we generally begin with a so-called loading phase, in which we maximize creatine reserves over a relatively short period (5 days). We then move on to themaintenance phase, which aims to maintain stock levels at their maximum.
The charging phase: to be skipped or not to be skipped?
This is the first stage of the creatine cure.
For 5 to 7 days, the person will consume large doses of creatine monohydrate, the only form recommended and recognized in scientific literature².
Professor Roger Harris, researcher and specialist on the subject, recommends taking 20 grams a day for a week, divided into 4 or 5 doses.
This phase is not compulsory, since another researcher, Professor Eric Hultman, suggests ingesting 3 to 5 grams of the substance daily. 4 weeks later, the consumer will also have reached his or her maximum reserves.
The choice can be made according to the athlete's schedule and objectives.
How long does the interview phase last?
The loading phase is followed by the maintenance phase. The daily dosage proposed in studies is 0.03 g/kg, which maintains creatine levels at their highest. This equates to 2 to 3 grams of creatine absorbed per day.
This second phase is therefore specific to each athlete, and the dosage is not fixed from one person to the next, since it depends on the individual's weight. In any case, this dosage is sufficient to maintain the degree of creatine saturation in the muscles.
Once again, the duration of this phase depends on the objective to be achieved and the individual's response to the treatment, hence the importance of being accompanied. In most cases, this phase lasts between 30 and 45 days.
How long is the break between two treatments?
The benchmark to keep in mind is to take a break equivalent to the duration of the cure, which can vary between 4 and 6 weeks depending on the individual. These breaks are necessary to avoid overload and stagnation of performance, as mentioned above.
When to take creatine
There is some debate as to the ideal time to take your shaker of powder. At the risk of disappointing you: there is no absolutely perfect time to consume creatine.
The only two imperatives are:
- to take the product regularly over the weeks;
- to take it in portions throughout the day.
In all cases, it's important to remember that creatine is continued on rest days.
Similarly, taking it just before a big workout will not have any specific effect during it. The only advantage of opting for post-workout rather than pre-workout consumption lies in the fact that the body is more receptive to nutrients post-exercise. Thus, the portion of creatine incorporated into a Whey or other protein shaker will be better absorbed.
Ideally, you should take your portion with carbohydrates, to facilitate absorption, and with proteins, for better muscle recovery.
Creatine Creapure®
The best for maximizing muscle power in a healthy way and optimizing intensive performance
- Standardised without doping substances
- No additives, no sweeteners
- Made in Germany, packaged by Protéalpes in Albertville
How long does it take to see the effects of a creatine cure?
What to expect in the short term
The benefits of creatine only start to show after 5 to 8 days (loading phase). The effect is not immediate, so it's important to continue the treatment to maintain your reserves at their highest level, with or without training. We detach these effects from the intake to see the cure as a whole. We aim for saturation of reserves and, once reached, we maintain it.
In the short term, we can already see results in terms of endurance and strength. For example, we can see an improvement in times on sprint repeats in swimming.
Long-term results
In the longer term, muscle responds to training and increases in volume during bodybuilding exercises. Greater strength and power lead to improved performance.
Moreover, a creatine cure is only worthwhile over time, with the need to take breaks between two protocols to protect your metabolism.
Inter-individual variability comes into play
The effects of a creatine cure vary from one subject to another according to different criteria:
- The influence of genetics;
- The body's ability to respond to training;
- Diet, as vegetarians sometimes have lower natural creatine levels because creatine is derived from animal proteins;
- The individual's water intake, as dehydration affects sporting performance;
- Compliance with protocol, starting with the right dosage.
Common mistakes during a creatine cure
The 3 most common mistakes
First mistake: wrong dosage, with either too much or too little creatine daily. Adherence to the indicated protocol is fundamental to maximizing results.
Second mistake: neglectinghydration during the cure. Generally speaking, water is a key factor in sports performance, and this is even more true when taking creatine, which tends to retain water inside the muscle.
Third mistake: using the cure for unsuitable objectives. There's no point in taking creatine in preparation for a pure endurance effort such as a marathon, just as there's no point in taking a cure without first optimizing your diet and lifestyle.
Supplementing with creatine or any other dietary supplement is not harmless. Make sure you always consume products of impeccable quality and follow the protocol indicated by the product manufacturer, and if necessary seek the advice of specialists in the field.
Believing in potential risks
There are many misconceptions about creatine.
One of the most well-known is that creatine can affect kidney function. While creatinine levels (the organic waste product of creatine filtered by the kidneys) in the blood naturally increase during a course of treatment, there is no scientific evidence that this poses any risk to the individual.
Similarly, creatine is still confused with steroids. Yet the former is an authorized dietary supplement, while the latter is a doping product. A creatine cure is not doping. Because some dubious laboratories cut products, certain production lines may have been contaminated with steroids. That's why it's important to choose pure creatine manufactured in compliance with European standards. Today, the Creapure® label is the only one to guarantee truly pure creatine, manufactured in a dedicated factory in Germany.
Finally, despite what you may sometimes read, creatine does not make you fat, or lose weight for that matter. It is one of the safest dietary supplements, monitored by researchers, and for the moment, all the indicators are green.
Creapure® Creatine 100% VEGAN
The best for maximizing muscle power in a healthy way and optimizing intensive performance
- Standardised without doping substances
- No additives, no sweeteners
- Made in Germany, packaged by Protéalpes in Albertville
Several sizes available: 250 g, 500 g or 1 Kg
Just don't take it if you're pregnant, have kidney or cardiovascular disease, or if you're under the age of puberty. In all cases, medical advice is never too much to ask before starting a creatine cure.
Conclusion
Although the scientific literature shows no risk in consuming creatine monohydrate, taking a dietary supplement is never harmless. Before starting supplementation, it's essential to know how long a creatine cure lasts, and which protocol is best suited to your sporting objective. This article gives you the basics, but you'll find many more (some of them below) on the subject of creatine.
