4 Important Things About Creatine You Should Know

By Author: Peter Roseberg
Total Articles: 79
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Creatine is popular among bodybuilders for two main reasons. It is effective and it doesn't have any side effects on healthy individuals. Both reasons are proven by countless studies, so creatine supplement products don't really need any advertisements filled with magic words to entice buyers. This doesn't necessarily mean anyone can pick up creatine and start writing their bodybuilding success stories. There are a lot of things about creatine that people need to know. Here are four of the more important ones.

Recommended Dosage
Creatine is relatively safe, and most products have recommended dosages on their labels. If you're someone who can't wait to get results and want to binge on creatine, you're going to be in trouble. Creatine has no side effects as mentioned above, but only due to correct usage. Abusing creatine just for the sake of seeing quicker results will do more harm than good. You may feel dizziness, extreme thirst, feeling weak, and the like. It's not recommended to go over the usual dosage of legit medicine. What more if you go over the recommended dosage of a supplement like creatine?

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... Maintaining and Cycling off
As long as you abide by the recommended amount of creatine for your daily routine, you can use it freely. For most people, though, there are three phases. The first is the loading phase, where you pump your creatine intake so your body gets used to it. After a week or two, you start using the standard amount of creatine for maintenance. Then in a few more weeks, you stop creatine intake entirely and abruptly. The stoppage is for your body to not grow too fond of creatine to the point that it no longer does anything beneficial for your bodybuilding needs.

Water
Creatine improves bodybuilding by storing water in your muscles, which aids in building mass. This results in water going straight to your muscles leaving little to nothing for the rest of the body. This fact also contributes to the bloated appearance that most creatine users have before their cycle-off phase.

At any rate, that being said, you'll need to drink a lot of water if you're using creatine. If you're dehydrated, you experience the same symptoms described if you go over the recommended dosage. Simply put, the more creatine you consume, the more water you need to drink. As long as you stay hydrated the whole time, you can take as much creatine as you like.

Not Working
If you've gone for a few weeks with creatine and see no result, chances are your body isn't reacting to it at all. If this is the case, you can try other creatine products. There are supplement products that combine creatine with BCAA or nitric oxide. If these still don't work for you, you can find alternatives for creatine.

The bottom line is that creatine works. It just has a lot of things that you need to keep in mind. Once you've mastered it, you're on your way to getting the body build that you're after so go on and learn more about creatine.