Creatine & Caffiene

[chuck]

Hey - I have read all the studies and have a good idea of how much caffiene I can take b4 it effects my creatine. But I was taking creatine in the evening, the farthest point of my caffiene intake which is all in the morning. Now I read that creatine should be taken right after you workout. That would mix my creatine & caffiene. What do you think? Morning? Night? Thanks.

[Anubis]

You should take your creatine after your workout along with some PWO carbs and protein. How much caffeine are you taking in? I wouldn't worry about it if it isn't a significant amount. Caffeine has a half-life of 4 hours. Meaning half of the drug is excreted from your system in 4 hours. This basically means it will be in your system for 8 hours. You may not be wired for 8 hours, but there will still be trace amounts.

[SoontobeTrainer]

Anubis...why is it necessary to take creatine after lifting? I thought creatine was necessary to support energy needs for lifting and thus taken prior to lifting. Appreciate your reply.

Also, I am taking a vasodialator (Super Charge...L-arginine + 3g of creatine) powder mix prior to lifting. You have any opinions on this. I'd appreciate it.

[ichbinba]

it's not that it is nessessary to take it after lifting, you will just most likely have better results. with creatine you want to build up the amounts in the muscles. taking it before the workout and expecting results to show in that particular workout is sketchy at best. taking it after the workout with carbs goes under the same principal as taking your protein with carbs after workouts. After working out your muscles take on an insulin like effect and are much more receptive to uptake of nutrients. The carbs, in addition, produce an insulin release which will help drive the protein, and in this case creatine into the muscles. This allows for maximal uptake of creatine into the muscles helping build up an adiquate supply. Once you've built up creatine stores (couple weeks maybe) don't worry, the creatine you took after yesterdays workout will be there for the next one!

Hope that helped and was clear

[Brian A.]

Originally posted by ichbinba:
it's not that it is nessessary to take it after lifting, you will just most likely have better results. with creatine you want to build up the amounts in the muscles. taking it before the workout and expecting results to show in that particular workout is sketchy at best. taking it after the workout with carbs goes under the same principal as taking your protein with carbs after workouts. After working out your muscles take on an insulin like effect and are much more receptive to uptake of nutrients. The carbs, in addition, produce an insulin release which will help drive the protein, and in this case creatine into the muscles. This allows for maximal uptake of creatine into the muscles helping build up an adiquate supply. Once you've built up creatine stores (couple weeks maybe) don't worry, the creatine you took after yesterdays workout will be there for the next one!

Hope that helped and was clear

You can also take R-ALA, a partitioning agent that will help drive more nutrients into the muscle cells. The combo of a high glycemic sugar and R-ALA in a creatine suppliment is what constituted Cell Tech's "delivery system".

[rem1956]

Hey SoontobeTrainer....a question for you about the Supercharge...I was taking it briefly and noticed that every morning I was waking up with super hard wood. The L-arginine is a vasiodilator and seemed to have a very pronounce effect on willie. Ever notice it?