Creatine loading phase question??

[jerichoy2j]

Hi,

I read that you should mix Creatine with grape juice, how much grape juice should I mix it with and should I drink the grape juice with Creatine for all 4 (5g doses) during the 20g loading phase for 5 days??

[MarkVI]

Hi,

I read that you should mix Creatine with grape juice, how much grape juice should I mix it with and should I drink the grape juice with Creatine for all 4 (5g doses) during the 20g loading phase for 5 days??

No need for grape juice or loading, just take 3-5 grams pre and post Workout.

[Dom_88]

Only difference I saw when I loaded was that my creatine was gone more quickly. It's a pretty good gimmick; buy 500g, use 1/5th in 5 days!

[Enneagram1]

I recently started taking creatine and I spent quite a bit of time reading about it first.

I didn't do a loading phase and I don't take it with grape juice or dextrose or anything like that. I just take 5g of Creatine Monohydrate (micronized) with my post-workout meal or shake (depending on what time my training is). I make sure that I have some carbs in that meal to stimulate an insulin response to maximize the uptake of the creatine into the muscle.

Seems to be working for me.

Good luck with it

[snorkelman]

No sugar is needed for uptake, so you don't even need grape juice if you don't want it. You can just take it with water or a pre/post w/o shake if you use either.

I make sure that I have some carbs in that meal to stimulate an insulin response to maximize the uptake of the creatine into the muscle.

Although coincident ingestion of carbohydrate with creatine may increase muscle uptake, this basically requires a large amount of carbohydrate. How large? We are talking about 100 grams of carbs. Since this really only even matters during a loading phase, rather than maintenance, it would be limited to a one-week period. So, if you wanted to increase the uptake of creatine and you were loading, you would be dosing at 20 grams a day, probably broken into four dosings of 5-grams each. This would mean that you would need to basically add 100 grams of simple carbs at each of those 5-gram dosings in order to reach these levels required for substantially augmenting creatine accumulation. That is a minimum of about 400 grams of simple carbs per day in addition to one’s regular dietary intake. Not many people will find that palatable or within their daily total calories/carb macronutrient targets. You need to ask yourself whether it is really that important that you maximize uptake during that one week period.

[jerichoy2j]

No sugar is needed for uptake, so you don't even need grape juice if you don't want it. You can just take it with water or a pre/post w/o shake if you use either.




Although coincident ingestion of carbohydrate with creatine may increase muscle uptake, this basically requires a large amount of carbohydrate. How large? We are talking about 100 grams of carbs. Since this really only even matters during a loading phase, rather than maintenance, it would be limited to a one-week period. So, if you wanted to increase the uptake of creatine and you were loading, you would be dosing at 20 grams a day, probably broken into four dosings of 5-grams each. This would mean that you would need to basically add 100 grams of simple carbs at each of those 5-gram dosings in order to reach these levels required for substantially augmenting creatine accumulation. That is a minimum of about 400 grams of simple carbs per day in addition to one’s regular dietary intake. Not many people will find that palatable or within their daily total calories/carb macronutrient targets. You need to ask yourself whether it is really that important that you maximize uptake during that one week period.

So how much grape juice would 100g be?

[snorkelman]

about 28 ounces of juice would give you 100 grams of carbs and remember that you would need that during each of the 4 times that you ingest your creatine per day during the loading phase, which is 112 ounces of juice per day during that week.

[jerichoy2j]

about 28 ounces of juice would give you 100 grams of carbs and remember that you would need that during each of the 4 times that you ingest your creatine per day during the loading phase, which is 112 ounces of juice per day during that week.

Thats insane, does anybody do this? what else do you do when loading?

[always_sunny]

Thats insane, does anybody do this? what else do you do when loading?

Only an uninformed person would do this. Did you read the other posts in this thread?

No sugar is needed for uptake, so you don't even need grape juice if you don't want it. You can just take it with water or a pre/post w/o shake if you use either.

[desslok]

about 28 ounces of juice would give you 100 grams of carbs and remember that you would need that during each of the 4 times that you ingest your creatine per day during the loading phase, which is 112 ounces of juice per day during that week.

Hey snorkelman, is it true that you get the same effect from 50 g of carbs and 50 g protein at the same time vs 100 g of carbs? I read that somewhere, but not sure.

[snorkelman]

Hey snorkelman, is it true that you get the same effect from 50 g of carbs and 50 g protein at the same time vs 100 g of carbs? I read that somewhere, but not sure.

I remember that also. I don't remember what study was the foundation for that, but maybe someone else can provide the citation. Maybe check with in10city

[desslok]

I remember that also. I don't remember what study was the foundation for that, but maybe someone else can provide the citation. Maybe check with in10city

I think this was what I read, interesting read, especially towards the end they say that taking with 100 g of carbs, or with 50/50 carb/prot is most effective only on the first day.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/anssi1.htm


But I guess basically, if you are taking a PWO that has carbs and protein, younmay as well throw it in there since you are taking it anyways, no need to buy any other fancy creatine uptake drinks.

[jerichoy2j]

So as long as you take the creatine post workout with say 100g carbs and a protein shake after that. Would it be good to take the creatine with gatorade powder? and other carbs such as honey and a banana.

[GabrielLegato]

just read the instructions and do what it says :P

[snorkelman]

So as long as you take the creatine post workout with say 100g carbs and a protein shake after that. Would it be good to take the creatine with gatorade powder? and other carbs such as honey and a banana.

First off, you do not need to worry about 100g of carbs. That is simply a way to maximize creatine uptake. However, 99% of the people here will not have any legitimate need to try and maximize uptake. Do you have some photoshoot or will you be on stage on a timetable? If not, then the couple extra days will make zero difference. The key is that enhancing creatine uptake via carbs only even is relevant during the loading period (given the standard loading dosage, this would be limited to a week) and even then, just really the first day or two of that. This is all a bunch of stuff that most people don't need to worry about, and certainly nobody here needs to worry about it after they have reached saturation and all that is going on is maintenance of high creatine levels.

So, just add a scoop of creatine to EITHER your pre or post workout shake, as that is the simplest way to take it. If you prefer whole food over a shake, that is fine too, just dump it into a glass of water that you will drink accompanying your meal.