February 2005

The question-of-the-month for February comes from Louis in Virginia who wants to know if a loading or maintenance phase is more efficient when using creatine, and if I recommend creatine in capsule or powder form.  His question is:

Dear Mike: 

I recently started using creatine and have two questions.  First, which is more efficient, the loading or maintenance phase, and second, do you recommend pure powder creatine/creatine capsules or Cell-Tech powder?

Dear Louis: 

Thank you for submitting a great question.  Creatine is one of the few supplements that has truly worked well for bodybuilders and athletes in general (please see these articles on my web site).  When I used creatine while competing, I used the pure creatine formula only.  I am familiar with the creatine that doesn’t need to be loaded, however I haven’t personally used it so I don’t know if it works or not.  I will admit that I am not sure why a loading phase is not needed with certain types of creatine.  My suggestion would be to use one type for an 8-week cycle, go off for 4 weeks and then try the other type for the same amount of time and see which works better for you.  

As far as creatine capsules or powder, I always used the pure powder formula (if available, I always used the powder formula for all the supplements I took, for example amino acids). 

Good luck with your training and thanks for visiting my site and submitted a great question.  If I come across some information on why a loading phase is not needed for some types of creatine, I will surely post it to my web site.  Creatine is a very popular supplement and I’m sure many people have the same questions that you do.

As always, don't forget to visit the Past Qs & As and my Training Tips section for more great tips and training info.

Until next month, train hard and stay healthy.

Mike Francois

Do you have a training question for Mike?  If so, visit our Ask Mike section and submit your question.

Note: Before embarking on any nutrition, supplementation, and/or training program, consult with your physician or other licensed health-care professional.