Creatine day of powerlifting comp?

[StevieBrown]

Hey all! I have my first powerlifting competition coming in 2 months, and have a question regarding creatine. Essentially, how long does it take to have results/effects off of it? I've been researching like crazy, and it seems some people take creatine the day of the competition only. I'll be dehydrating myself in advanced for weigh ins, so if I take creatine only the day of my lifts, will it still help at all?

[eatyourspinach]

If you take 3-5g it will take a few weeks for your muscles to be saturated, if you load it at 10g or higher you would become saturated quicker but it would still take some time. Taking it for one day one don't anything.

[Misctake7]

Takes a couple weeks to saturate. Imo you won't want to load Creatine in an attempt to become saturated sooner because that's what leads to water retention and bloating.

[kbayne]

Won't do much if you take it one time prior to your comp.

Also, dehydrating yourself isn't very smart.

[VO2Maxima]

Creatine takes about a month to reach saturation, so if you're expecting to take it the day of a meet and actually derive benefit from it, that's not how it works.

That said, I have heard of powerlifters doing a water cut to make weight, and then using creatine during their rehydration on the day of the meet. Creatine stores water intramuscularly, but as stated previously, it doesn't reach saturation immediately, so I have trouble believing this actually works better than, say, Pedialyte and waxy maize or HBCD.

[changemyoil66]

Its never a good idea to try something new on the day of an event.

[TPAYNTER]

If you aren't using creatine in training it wouldn't be a good idea to add it in on the day of the meet. However taking creatine during your meet prep is unlikely to cause so much weight gain or bloating that can't be taken care of easily with the dehydration process that we go through to make weight. I'd suggest you start using 5 grams daily now until the meet.

[Big.Jazayrli]

Hey all! I have my first powerlifting competition coming in 2 months, and have a question regarding creatine. Essentially, how long does it take to have results/effects off of it? I've been researching like crazy, and it seems some people take creatine the day of the competition only. I'll be dehydrating myself in advanced for weigh ins, so if I take creatine only the day of my lifts, will it still help at all?

It won't help with your lifts if you only take it on meet day, though it's cheap enough that you should be using it regularly anyway. You could stop taking it a few days before your competition in accordance with your water cut goals and still be fine. Maybe take a maintenance dose the night before the meet and one on the morning of. Keep it simple, though.

[XCriticalBenchX]

I wouldn't change anything up right before a meet. If you take it, continue taking it, if you don't, don't start now. The end is not the time to start.

Mike

[KimJong-il]

Takes a while to build up in your system. You can take it before your competition as a placebo effect. Sometimes it just helps knowing you took something.

[IlliniTrack800m]

takes like up to 4 weeks to reap the benefits of creatine via full saturation. taking it the day of your meet wouldn't benefit you much unless as a placebo. don't deviate from habit though before a comp.