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If you’re not sure how to take your creatine to reap the full benefits, along with when to take it and the best type of creatine to take, this post will tell you how, when and which we take for improved workout performance, enhanced body composition…
Plus it doesn’t do your libido any harm either!
If you’re taking your creatine the traditional way, that is with a simple carbohydrate source like glucose or dextrose powder you may be missing out on the full benefits of this amazing supplement.
You may even be working against yourself.
Using simple carbs to facilitate creatine uptake does have its drawbacks.
If you’ve experienced bloating, water retention, cramps, or weight gain you’ll know what we’re talking about.
What Exactly Is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance found in muscle cells.
It’s also found in foods such as red meat and fish, however, you would have to eat more than is realistically possible to get the amounts found in a creatine powder supplement.
As well as being found in these foods, creatine is also a popular ingredient in pre-workout supplements as well as in mass gainer supplements.
Basically, creatine works by allowing your muscles to draw in more water allowing them to repair and grow better after exercise.
It also provides an energy and performance boost allowing you to train harder for longer for maximum results.
And when used in conjunction with a quality whey protein powder can help crank your muscle-building up a notch or two.
Herbal Hack For Enhanced Uptake…
A short while ago we came across a simple way to maximize creatine uptake, without any of the drawbacks just mentioned, and get a boost in free testosterone and a reduction in body fat at the same time.
And all you need to do to get these benefits is instead of taking your creatine with glucose or another simple carb source, take it with fenugreek extract.
Taking it this way has been shown to have a significant impact on strength and body composition.
Fenugreek can also boost your testosterone levels by 46% which means more muscle mass and less body fat.
We’ve been using fenugreek ourselves for our last 3 creatine cycles, which is around 6 months, and find it to be way better than using glucose or dextrose powder as we experienced a positive effect on strength and libido.
We also noticed muscles appeared fuller looking in the mirror after 10 days or so too.
You can see the exact fenugreek extract capsules we are using right now here.
Here’s How We Take Them…
Loading phase:
Workout days…
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule in coffee after breakfast.
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule after training.
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule mid-afternoon.
On non-workout days…
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule in coffee after breakfast.
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule mid-afternoon.
- 5g creatine with 1 capsule after evening meal.
We do this for 10 days to saturate muscles with creatine.
Maintenance phase:
-
5g creatine with 1 capsule in coffee after breakfast.
Taken every day for the remainder of the 8-week cycle which is 46 days/6.5 weeks.
Then we take 2 weeks off and repeat the whole cycle.
Of course, there are other times of day and ways you can take your creatine so experiment a bit and find what works best for you.
Other Times To Take…
You can take your creatine at any time of the day.
Some prefer to take it pre-workout, others swear by taking it post-workout, in our experience it doesn’t make any difference.
The thing with creatine is that you need to get enough into your system to saturate your muscles with it.
You can do this by…
Creatine loading…
You can load up on creatine by taking a 5g dose 4 times per day for 5 days, or you could try our preferred method of taking a 5g dose 3 times per day for 7 days.
Obviously, the 5-day method will load you up a couple of days faster but other than that they both work just as well as each other.
Without loading…
Alternatively, you can just take 5g per day continuously and in 3-4 weeks you will achieve the same level of saturation.
As long as your muscles end up being saturated it doesn’t matter which method you use.
Which Type Of Creatine To Take…
As you probably know there are a number of different types of creatine on the market today, each claiming to give better results than the rest.
The truth is, and it’s not just us saying this, Creatine monohydrate is the widest studied and the one that is shown to consistently produce the best results and outperforms the rest.
There are, however, 2 types of creatine monohydrate.
First off there’s regular creatine monohydrate which is the most common and least expensive.
And then there’s micronized creatine monohydrate, which is also known as Creapure, which is specially formulated to be better absorbing and purer than regular creatine.
Which One Is Best?
To be honest, we’ve used both types over the years and can’t tell the difference between them, apart from the price that is with Creapure being the more expensive of the two as you may expect.
Recommendations…
Here are the 3 creatine monohydrate powders that we use the most and which we recommend you take a look at if you’re thinking of supplementing with creatine, plus the Fenugreek Extract Capsules we use for maximum uptake and a boost in free testosterone…
Bodybuilding Warehouse Pure Creatine Monohydrate Powder.
It’s effective, we like the price and it gets delivered quickly too.
We’re not saying it’s any better, or any worse than any others we’ve tried, it just works for us so we keep on using it.
Here’s an overview…
- 100 percent pure, ultra-premium quality Creatine Monohydrate powder
- Increase muscle volume, endurance, and explosiveness
- Research proven from over 20 years of scientific study
- Easy to mix into your pre-workout drink, protein or fruit juice
- Made in the UK and available in a variety of sizes
- Packaging may vary
Click here to check it out on Amazon…
Click here to compare prices on eBay…
Grenade Creatine Monohydrate Powder.
The reason we never used it again is that it costs around twice the price as BW Pure for no extra benefits.
Here’s an overview of it…
- Grenade Creatine Monohydrate is 100% pure (no added fillers or bulking agents)
- Extensively studied and widely recognized for enhancing strength, recovery, anaerobic capacity, and lean mass
- Essential for athletes who want to maximize their high-intensity exercise performance, muscle mass, and physical recovery
- Grenade Creatine is unflavoured, so is perfect to mix with the rest of our supplement range
- Informed-Sport approved
Click here to check it out on Amazon…
Click here to compare prices on eBay…
PSN Creapure Creatine Monohydrate Powder.
As far as we can see there isn’t.
That being said, to be perfectly honest, we didn’t rake this one with fenugreek extract, however, we may order some more at some point in the near future and see how it works out for us.
We will update this post accordingly when we do.
Here’s an overview…
- The Purest, Safest, & Most Effective Creatine
- Rapidly Absorbed Creapure Creatine
- Support Increased Training Capacity
- No Excess Water Retention
- 100% Pharmaceutical Grade
Click here to check it out on Amazon…
Click here to compare prices on eBay…
5 Greens 100% Natural Fenugreek Extract 10:1 500mg Capsules.
These are the only fenugreek extract capsules we’ve used so far and we’ve only been able to find them on eBay.
They are also the only ones we’ve come across with enough active ingredients to effectively maximize creatine uptake.
An added bonus is that they also seem to do a pretty good job at boosting testosterone and we noticed positive improvements in body composition in the mirror so we’ll be sticking with them.
Here’s a quick overview…
- Each Capsule Equivalent to 5g of Raw Powder
- Best Fenugreek Capsules
- High Strength Extract Not Powders
- Designed to be effective
- Trusted Brand 10000s of Positive Reviews
- Clean with no extra fillers or chemicals
- One of the Best Value
- Eco-Friendly packaging
- Ethical Company
Click here to check them out on eBay…
Thanks for reading and we hope you found this post helpful.
Creatine monohydrate is a really effective supplement for helping build strength and muscle mass when used properly so we highly recommend taking a bit of time and experimenting with it to find out what works best for you.
We’ve every reason to believe you’ll find our method above every bit as effective as we have…
See you in the next one.
