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
What can you use for the four weeks you come off creatine?
You could structure the time off from creatine such that you’re taking beta-alanine during that time. That would help quite a bit.