general creatine quesstion

d2wrestler · 02-23-2006, 11:00 PM

i know this is probably a dumb question to ask, but how much muscle/strength do you lose if you stop taking creatine alltogether. say i were to go through a couple cycles in the next 5 or so months. if i were to stop taking creatine for a longer period of time(6-7 months), would i lose a lot of the strength i gained while on creatine?

pu12en12g · 02-24-2006, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2wrestler

i know this is probably a dumb question to ask, but how much muscle/strength do you lose if you stop taking creatine alltogether. say i were to go through a couple cycles in the next 5 or so months. if i were to stop taking creatine for a longer period of time(6-7 months), would i lose a lot of the strength i gained while on creatine?

If you are still eating and lifting the strength loss should be minimal... maybe something like 5 to 10%

meetusmykweetus · 02-24-2006, 02:46 AM

I think 5 months should yield maybe one optional cycle.

pu12en12g · 02-24-2006, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meetusmykweetus

I think 5 months should yield maybe one optional cycle.

of creatine ? ? ?

meetusmykweetus · 02-24-2006, 02:52 AM

heh i had a feeling you might rip into me. Yeah i cycle creatine about every 2.5 months. This seems to work with me. Now i know some people that have been taking creatine since the dawn of time and have never cycled off of it! They have seemed to make consistant gains although cycling would probably provide OPTIMAL gains....

pu12en12g · 02-24-2006, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meetusmykweetus

cycling would probably provide OPTIMAL gains....

I like that theory, but your "off time" doesn't appear to be optimal, IMO.

It only takes around a month for creatine levels to return to baseline, and only a few days to saturate.

wanabeebig · 02-24-2006, 03:00 AM

how long do you cycle off for???

ffeettuuss · 02-24-2006, 03:19 AM

After 2 months of creatine supplementation, i have been off cycling for about 3-4 weeks. If someone said that they were gonna cut creatine after 5 months, i would say that they might as well only do one cycle.

pu12en12g · 02-24-2006, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanabeebig

how long do you cycle off for???

Cycling and loading are optional for pure creatine

NukeDukem · 02-24-2006, 03:30 AM

Cycling creatine is like cycling water because you don't want to get too used to the benefits. As long as it is there, it is helping.

schroeder84 · 02-24-2006, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pu12en12g

If you are still eating and lifting the strength loss should be minimal... maybe something like 5 to 10%

i never lost a beat.....i've been off creatine for 3 weeks and my lifts have remained constant. i lost 3-4 pounds of water...but i'm also not half as bloated.....VERY fair trade-off IMO

meetusmykweetus · 02-24-2006, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pu12en12g

I like that theory, but your "off time" doesn't appear to be optimal, IMO.

It only takes around a month for creatine levels to return to baseline, and only a few days to saturate.

Hmm maybe you misread my post. I use creatine for about 75 days. I guess i didnt specify my off time but yeah 30 days (not 2.5 months!). Do you think this is a decent cycle? Am i supplementing too long?

thanks again

meetusmykweetus · 02-24-2006, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schroeder84

i never lost a beat.....i've been off creatine for 3 weeks and my lifts have remained constant. i lost 3-4 pounds of water...but i'm also not half as bloated.....VERY fair trade-off IMO

When i cycle off creatine, i highly doubt i lose muscle mass as well. But i do notice my ability to put up weight (my strength i guess) very slightly drop at first. This usualy means maybe one or so less reps.

pu12en12g · 02-24-2006, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meetusmykweetus

Hmm maybe you misread my post. I use creatine for about 75 days.

Ok.. totally misunderstood you above... damn internet

schroeder84 · 02-24-2006, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meetusmykweetus

When i cycle off creatine, i highly doubt i lose muscle mass as well. But i do notice my ability to put up weight (my strength i guess) very slightly drop at first. This usualy means maybe one or so less reps.

chances are if the rumors of losing strength after dropping creatine never existed you'd get those last few reps....

meetusmykweetus · 02-24-2006, 04:01 AM

Life is all mind matters; apparently, i lose!

hah

d2wrestler · 02-24-2006, 12:36 PM

ok, so if i were to take creatine for 5 or so months, most would recommend only one cylce. can someone give me an example of a basic cylce. is it something like, load for week 1, and maintain for the next 3 weeks, then stopping? or is it longer than that? i'm looking into some no-xplode. any advice?

davedepezio · 02-24-2006, 12:56 PM

Don't get any NO-Xplod if you want creatine that stuff only has like 1 gram of creatine per serving. I would also not load creatine there is no need to do this at all. And for a cycle I would say do like 8 weeks on and then 1 off or something like that you don't have to cycle but some people do just play with it and see what works best for you.