I started taking a scoop of the Creatine Hydrate from Costco every afternoon because why not. Wife had bought it and the bag was sitting right there.
I honestly don't know whether it made a difference. Sleep didn't get worse, no noticeable metabolic effects. Possibly the "perma tired muscles" I've been suffering from increasingly since about age 57 (I'm an active cyclist) have gotten a bit better, with <50% of days affected rather than >90% last year, but even that is subjective.
If "taking the stuff" means "more uptake" (does it?) and there are other beneficial effects, bring it on.
It sounds you have the hardest part of it underway - consistency.
There's lots of studies - if you can get over 20g per day it is noticeable to the brain and energy. Adding a few grams a week until you're up there I found it noticeable. 20-30g seems to be a noticeable range.
Supplements aren't always like a coffee spike, they build up and sustain quite well.
20g is a loading dose (typically for a week), then it's 3-5g daily for maintenance. But I've seen studies that 5g daily catches up to the 20g loading dose after about a month.
I've taken creatine for 20+ years, nobody does the "loading" dose anymore, or shouldn't be if they still do. Maybe it stills says it on the jars but there was tons of information a decade or more ago that it was deemed as a way to get you to blast through your jug faster. 5g is the normal dose. You're always taking in creatine eating normal meat added meals.
This is giving me flashbacks to using bodybuilding.com forums.. man, long time ago.
It is my 100% always buy supplement. I only have 2 of those now, protein the other. It absolutely helps me think better and feel better throughout the day. Noticeable when I stop taking it. And its dirt cheap. If I had more disposable income I'd have a few others but I went from tons of supplements to basically nothing. I never use PWOs or anything now, even when I do have money.
I haven't seen the 20g loading dose recommendation on anything recently either. Everything I've seen just recommends 5g/daily.
My regular supplements that I've noticed made any difference is: creatine, vitamin D, and fiber. With vitamin C and protein being situational as needed.
I feel the same way about creatine (and increasingly protein).
One thing that might help me notice creatine more is that I haven't drank much caffeine for some reason.. and the longer I've been able to put it off or minimize it, the more of an unfair advantage it has become when I've started.
> bodybuilding.com forums.. man, long time ago.
while they had notable misses like 20g to load, they weren't terribly wrong either, and the forums were -- for a while, anyway -- pretty positive, helpful places.
early internet meant the worst idiots hadn't gotten there yet.
Yeah pretty much this. I took creatine back in high school/college to build muscle mass. In those days we would load with 20g for a week -> then do 5g for 8 weeks -> cycle off for two weeks -> repeat.
I'm back on it now for endurance sports (trail running + cycling) and the advice is to just take 5g a day and don't worry about cycling off. At 5g/day it takes 4-6 weeks to saturate your muscles.
It does have a noticeable impact on water retention, so this year I cycled off six weeks away from my "A" race and lost 5lbs of water weight. It was a 100 mile mountain ultra so I thought the extra pop on the climbs probably wasn't worth the extra weight over the entire course (but probably was worth it while doing hill reps in training). Next year I'm sticking to shorter stuff where I'll run up more climbs. For those I don't plan to cycle off.
MarkusWandel · · focus · HN ↗
I honestly don't know whether it made a difference. Sleep didn't get worse, no noticeable metabolic effects. Possibly the "perma tired muscles" I've been suffering from increasingly since about age 57 (I'm an active cyclist) have gotten a bit better, with <50% of days affected rather than >90% last year, but even that is subjective.
If "taking the stuff" means "more uptake" (does it?) and there are other beneficial effects, bring it on.
j45 · · focus · HN ↗
It sounds you have the hardest part of it underway - consistency.
There's lots of studies - if you can get over 20g per day it is noticeable to the brain and energy. Adding a few grams a week until you're up there I found it noticeable. 20-30g seems to be a noticeable range.
Supplements aren't always like a coffee spike, they build up and sustain quite well.
Yajirobe · · focus · HN ↗
kenhwang · · focus · HN ↗
swozey · · focus · HN ↗
This is giving me flashbacks to using bodybuilding.com forums.. man, long time ago.
It is my 100% always buy supplement. I only have 2 of those now, protein the other. It absolutely helps me think better and feel better throughout the day. Noticeable when I stop taking it. And its dirt cheap. If I had more disposable income I'd have a few others but I went from tons of supplements to basically nothing. I never use PWOs or anything now, even when I do have money.
kenhwang · · focus · HN ↗
My regular supplements that I've noticed made any difference is: creatine, vitamin D, and fiber. With vitamin C and protein being situational as needed.
j45 · · focus · HN ↗
One thing that might help me notice creatine more is that I haven't drank much caffeine for some reason.. and the longer I've been able to put it off or minimize it, the more of an unfair advantage it has become when I've started.
red-iron-pine · · focus · HN ↗
while they had notable misses like 20g to load, they weren't terribly wrong either, and the forums were -- for a while, anyway -- pretty positive, helpful places.
early internet meant the worst idiots hadn't gotten there yet.
sh-run · · focus · HN ↗
I'm back on it now for endurance sports (trail running + cycling) and the advice is to just take 5g a day and don't worry about cycling off. At 5g/day it takes 4-6 weeks to saturate your muscles.
It does have a noticeable impact on water retention, so this year I cycled off six weeks away from my "A" race and lost 5lbs of water weight. It was a 100 mile mountain ultra so I thought the extra pop on the climbs probably wasn't worth the extra weight over the entire course (but probably was worth it while doing hill reps in training). Next year I'm sticking to shorter stuff where I'll run up more climbs. For those I don't plan to cycle off.
ffsm8 · · focus · HN ↗
If you're only after the lifting benefits, 3-5g/day is sufficient.
Sammi · · focus · HN ↗
j45 · · focus · HN ↗
Dosing for gym exercise is different than dosing for excess creatine to reach the brain.
Well studied, checked with my doctor, including for TBI. Obviously everyone should check for themselves.
j45 · · focus · HN ↗
Cerebral Creatine levels seem to be a different thing.
Creatine and TBI:
<a href="https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Publications/2025/09/25/TBICoE-Information-Paper-on-Creatine-and-TBI" rel="nofollow">https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Publications/2025/09/25/...
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209321/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209321/
Creatine supplementation for naturally declining creatine levels:
<a href="https://jpbs.hapres.com/htmls/JPBS_1766_Detail.html" rel="nofollow">https://jpbs.hapres.com/htmls/JPBS_1766_Detail.html
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10526554/" rel="nofollow">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10526554/