Morning, noon or night? When should you take creatine
Taking creatine is not as straightforward as blasting a Berocca because someone in the office had one on their desk. If you’re sold on the benefits (more energy, please), found the right one (ours? Good), but are now freaking out about the bloat-vom horror stories the algorithm has been flooding your socials with. Rest assured, we needed to do our own self-directed research (thank you, Izzy, for testing the waters for us), and we have created our very own “taking creatine, for dummies” guide to untangle the creatine confusion.
What exactly is creatine again?
Creatine is the most researched nutrient in the world. Likely because the fact that it helps your body use energy more efficiently, it supports everything from physical performance to cognition and sleep. Creatine is a compound of three amino acids (glycine, arginine, and methionine) that your body uses to quickly regenerate the energy in your cells, which fuels your body. A bit like a fast-charging power pack.
Why does it make some people feel rank?
Real talk: you could feel a bit bloated at first. In the first couple of weeks of taking creatine, some people might feel a bit bloated or even slightly nauseous. This is normal. Creatine draws water into your muscles and cells, which, on the one hand, will give you the definition you came here for, but can feel uncomfortable for some if they have sensitive tummies or dose up too quickly.
Why does this affect your tummy, though, you say?
When creatine is taken in large single doses, especially during loading phases (scroll down for more on this), it increases cellular hydration in muscle. That slight muscle swelling is thought to act as a signal involved in muscle protein synthesis (how muscles get stronger). In your gut, creatine has a different effect.
If you go hard and fast with creatine, it’s likely that not all of it will be diluted and absorbed straight away. Creatine acts a bit like salt (it’s osmotically active), and can draw extra water into the intestine itself, which can increase the amount of water in your stool (diarrhoea, boo).
Taking creatine on an empty stomach can amplify this. Without food to help activate absorption, undissolved creatine can irritate the stomach lining, which may cause you to feel nauseous, or get an upset tummy.
If you’re prone to tummy issues, we’d recommend taking creatine with a meal or in a shake, especially during higher-dose phases. Nutritional neuroscientist Dr Rhonda Patrick also suggests pairing creatine with carbohydrates to support absorption. Above all, go gently. Onboarding creatine isn’t a race. Take it slow, listen to your body, and do what feels comfortable.
Pre-workout vs. post-workout: Timing explained
Getting into the habit of taking creatine consistently is more important than getting into the weeds of precision timing. Once you have that nailed, it depends on what your day looks like. If you're training, travelling, or have a lot of stress, you might benefit from considering timing your doses.
If you're taking creatine to support muscle strength and definition, there is some science to suggest that taking your dose within an hour before or after training could slightly enhance uptake (speed it up), as blood flow and insulin sensitivity increase around exercise.
For all the other benefits related to cognition, hormone or bone health, focus on taking it as regularly as possible and stick to times that fit your routine and feel good with your body.
Do I need a loading phase?
‘Cycling’ protocols are a bit of a hangover from the professional sport research studies that were popular in the 90s. Fitness pros, and gym bros (historically) obsess over the perfect time of day to take creatine, which is part of the method of ‘loading’, aka taking a lot of creatine to saturate your muscles for performance.
More recent research suggests that consistency over specific timings is the best way to keep your body at ‘optimum’ levels. So, should you take creatine on rest days? The answer is: yes. Keep up with the creatine if you are on a ‘rest’ day from the gym, because all of the benefits for your bones and cognition won’t thank you for a ‘rest’ even if your muscles do.
Getting into the habit of taking creatine consistently is more important than precise timing. You don’t need to cycle on and off. Keeping a steady maintenance dose of 3–5 grams per day is considered safe, helps maintain muscle saturation, and supports the ongoing benefits of creatine without adverse effects. Consistency wins over timing.
What should you not mix creatine with?
Creatine increases hydration in your cells. Despite the popular myth that creatine is linked to dehydration, there’s plenty of research to suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, staying hydrated is important, and combining creatine with dehydrating substances is not a good idea for getting the most out of it.
Alcohol is likely to be a strict no-no, which should be a surprise to noone looking to improve their performance in the gym or cognition. Alcohol intake is even associated with a decline in creatine levels in the body. See Andrew Hubermans damming wrap up of what alcohol does to the body (sadly). Alcohol is a diuretic and dehydrates the body. Creatine pulls water into your cells. The opposing effects of combining the two are not a great combination for enhancing performance.
If you’re a huge coffee drinker, you might want to consider timing daily caffeination. Emerging research suggests that higher doses of caffeine may effect how your muscles contract, which could limit how effective creatine is for you if you’re specifically focused on the performance effects of creatine. Here’s a great snippet featuring Rhonda Patrick and Dr Darren Candow, discussing caffeine intakes of over 250mg (about two lattes) with creatine. The moral of the story is, try not to combine the two in one hit. Space them out and you’ll probably be fine.
NSAIDs, ibuprofen and the like, are great for managing inflammation but studies show that ibuprofen has a ‘blunting’ effect on muscle growth (a simple summary from Rhonda Patrick here). This doesn’t mean that taking the odd ibuprofen will totally counteract creatine’s benefits. It’s just something to consider if you are regularly taking NSAIDs.
Whatever your goal. If you’re on medication or managing a health condition, it’s always a good idea to speak to your doctor before kicking off with creatine.
Tips for women getting started with creatine
Fear not, it is possible to begin your creatine journey without feeling rank. If you’re starting out, we recommend taking it slow and not overloading your body with creatine to begin with. This will hopefully help you avoid some of the potential negative effects that the interwebs loves to scare you about. Don’t worry, you will still be able to get the same results. It just might take a little longer than if you go in hard.
Dosage and simple routines
There are two main ways to reach muscle saturation, both backed by over a decade of research. Unless you’re an athlete or working with a health expert to quickly increase your creatine levels for medical reasons, we recommend going low and slow with a maintenance dose.
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Maintenance dose. Go gently with a dose of around 2.5g per day, and gradually build up to a regular 5g daily dose. Taking 1-2 weeks to slowly saturate your muscles helps minimise bloating, and you should still see results without upsetting your system.
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Performance loading. This is not for everyone. It involves a 7-day loading phase of up to 20g per day, split into four 5g doses, before returning to a regular maintenance dose of 3-5g a day. Although creatine is one of the most researched and safest nutrients available, it can take time for your body time to adjust, especially at higher doses.
In the first couple of weeks, you might feel a bit bloated or even slightly nauseous. This is normal. As creatine draws water into your muscles, which, on the one hand, will give you the definition you came here for, it can feel uncomfortable for some at first.
Creatine does come with some ‘care instructions’, but really, if you only took one nugget of intel from this guide, it would be to simply: start low and slow.
The payoff, as our Izzy says, might be the shift you’ve been looking for:
“The mental clarity is really, really great! Worth the period of bloating for sure. “ - Izzy, Bare Biology
