Cycling Creatine

Q: I’ve heard that you should cycle creatine?  But someone else at the gym said you don’t need to cycle creatine.  Now I’m confused.  Should you cycle creatine or not? 

Adam  J. / Eugene, Oregon 

A: In my opinion (and that of most of the top sports nutritionists), yes.  You should cycle creatine, at least to some extent. 

It seems that taking “off” creatine for a while will make it more effective once you resume taking it.  Or you could say that it may begin to lose some of its’ effectiveness after being on it for a while.

Likewise, I feel that almost any supplement should be “cycled” for health purposes.  Admittedly, this is a “just in case” kind of thing.  I even cycle my multi-vitamins.  A nutrient toxicity is as bad if not worse than a deficiency, which is the reason I don’t take multi-vitamins / multi-minerals 365 days per year.

Though there’s not hard ‘n fast rule, I tend to take creatine for about 8-10 weeks, then come off of it for 4-5. 

So, although there’s no real scientific data that says you should cycle creatine, I would recommend doing so… just in case.

Dr Clay