Okay Princess when it comes to creatine, its pretty simple .First of all you do not need to load on creatine .That was a marketing ploy Bill Philips came up so people would use more creatine.So for the first week everbody who loaded on creatine, had an upset stomach or it went right through them.A man under 200 lbs only need 5 grams of Kre-Alkalyn and 10 grams of any other form of creatine.A man who weighs 200-250 lbs needs 7.5 grams of Kre-Alkayln or 15 grams of any other form of creatine.If a man weighs 250 lbs of more he can take up to 10 grams of Kre-Alkalyn or 20 grams of creatine
As far as when to take creatine 30 minutes before training on an empty stomach .This way it can get into the blood stream and increase your ATP levels.I know alot of companies tell you to take creatine after training, but it should be taken before training.Then after training take L-Glutamine .Never take creatine and L-Glutamine at the same time because they compete for the same cell receptor, and will cancel each other out.Taking creatin and L-Glutamine together is like workinbg on your car, and driving it at the same time, its foolish.They both increase cell volume, but one gives explosive energy (atp) and the other repairs broken down muscle cells.
Types of creatine The best by far is Kre-Alkalyn because it has a ph( parts hydrogen ) of 12-14 so its at an alkalyn levle so it never converts to creatinine.A nasty by product of creatine that is toxic, and causes, bloating cramping .There are other forms of creatine , such as Creatine Malate, Creatine bonded to Malic Acid.Creatine Citrate, Creatine bonded to Citric Acid,Creatine Ester, creatine bonded to a Lipid or a fat molecule,Creatine Ethyl Ester ,Creatine bonded to Ethyl ( alcohol) Ester ( lipid or fat ),
Creatine Pyruvate, creatine bonded to Pyruvic Acid ,Micronized Creatine, creatine that has been milled to a finer powder,Evervescent creatine, creatine that is a sodium bicarbonate ,creatine Anhydrous, creatine, that has been has been dried longer so it has less water weight.Creatine Serum, creatine in a liquid for usually in aloe vera, or some form of sugar water.thats pretty much covers 99% of the cratine thats out there.
As far as taking things with creatine, depends on how extravagant you want to go.You have the basics, creatine with Dextrose, or another simple sugar.The main thing is never take creatine with protein powder.Because protein is the hardest thing to digest there for the creatine never gets into the muscle cell..If you can try to use only Kre-Alkalyn products if posible, because you dont need to use as much, and your body abosorbs it so much better.Even women can take Kre-Alkalyn and not hold water.But there are some other decent product out there like BSN no eXPLODE, Labrada Recharge, Gaspari , Super Pump 250 just to name a few.If you want Kre-Alkalyn there is ALL American Pharm. Sci Fit, Ultra Labs, Higher Power, and Extreme labs.
As far as cycling creatine, I would suggest 8 weeks on and 2 weeks off .
The most important thing to do if your taking creatine is to drink 1 to 2 gallons of water per day.This way you wont have water retention and it will be alot easier on your kidneys and liver
