Click Here for Free Bodybuilding and Fitness Magazine Subscription
Creatine Cycle
Click Here for the Best Creatine Cycle
Should You Cycle Creatine?
There are many different creatine products on the market these days and one needs to make sure that you are getting good quality and you need to make sure that the creatine that you are using is actually the real thing and not some poor copy.
If you are using the real thing you will more than likely see that it recommends on the pack that you cycle three months on and 6 weeks off or something like that. Although no side effects or problem have been shown when you stay permanently on creatine it has now been shown that you can gain by stopping or cycling just like it recommends.
After some study has been done it is now recommended that you should go for two to three months on a cycle of creatine and to then stop taking it completely. When stopping it you will notice a difference in your energy levels and strength levels that will drop over a period of about a month.
Your body produces it's own creatine and when you take creatine as a supplement it gets lazy and stops producing its own creatine. This feeling of a loss of strength and energy will diminish with time as your body gets used to producing it's own creatine again.
If you have been on it for a very long time (over a year) without a break, try going on and off it a few times to ease the transition, e.g. go off for two weeks, back on for two weeks, off for two more, on for one more, off for two. This will help your body get its own creatine production started again.
The main advantage of cycling your creatine intake is that you can reload and take advantage of the extra water weight and strength that comes with reloading. Often it will help to break through a training plateau that you might have reached.
For example if you are simply unable to get stronger in a particular movement and you then stop taking creatine for a month and at the same time stick to that sticking point that you have reached. You will then find that when you re-start taking your creatine supplement again you will notice a big surge in your energy and strength gains.