Should You Take Creatine Before or After a Workout?

Creatine is one of the most researched and widely used dietary supplements in the strength sports world, credited with boosting strength, power output, and muscle growth. However, there’s ongoing debate about the optimal timing for consuming the best creatine supplements: Should you take creatine before or after a workout? 

Are you thinking about consuming creatine with pre-workout to prime your muscles for maximum workload during all those heavy barbell exercises? Or, maybe you want to toss some creatine powder into your post-workout shake to replenish those creatine stores. Whether you’re a weightlifting veteran or someone just starting on their fitness journey, understanding when to take creatine can help you maximize its benefits surrounding building muscle and recovery in order to achieve your performance goals. 

Key Takeaways:

• Creatine is a natural source of energy, we get half of the body’s creatine from our diet and the other half is produced naturally in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. (8)
• Creatine might be more beneficial taken after working out, however, there is little evidence that suggests the timing of intake has a significant impact.
• The maintenance dosage of creatine is 3 to 5 grams per day. (1)(3)(5)
• A “creatine loading phase” is where you take 20 to 25 grams per day for five to seven days, spread out into 4 to 5 grams throughout the day. (5)

Editor’s Note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. When starting a new training regimen and/or diet, it is always a good idea to consult with a trusted medical professional. We are not a medical resource. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional.

What Is Creatine? 

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made of the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. Your body produces it naturally, and though it’s primarily found in skeletal muscles, small amounts are also stored in the brain, heart, liver, and kidneys in the form of creatine phosphate. 

You can also consume this important compound by eating foods with creatine like red meat or fish or by using creatine supplements typically found in powdered, capsuled, or gummy forms. (1)(2)

Creatine works by playing a role in energy metabolism for multiple organs. In the context of exercise and athletic performance, it serves as a rapid but limited source of energy for high-intensity exercise, particularly short-duration activities like sprinting or hitting a one-rep max. It does so by donating its phosphate group to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), converting it back to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — the “energy currency” of the cell. (1)(2)

Creatine supplementation saturates muscle cells with creatine, which increases the cell’s capacity to regenerate ATP and therefore perform better when energy demands are high for short bursts of time. (1)(2)

Should You Take Creatine Before or After a Workout? 

Unlike many of the best pre-workout supplements that work within a specific period of time after ingestion, creatine can boost your performance no matter when you take it. There are still a few considerations, though. 

Since caffeine might diminish the ergogenic effects of creatine, it may be better to take your creatine post-workout if you like to caffeinate before you hit the gym. There’s also some evidence that creatine can enhance glycogen restoration when taken with carbohydrates after a workout. (3)(4) On the other hand, taking your creatine two hours before your workout — without caffeine — could facilitate better absorption. (3)(4)

That being said, these minor differences in absorption have little impact on the benefits of supplementation, so it’s best to simply take it at the time you’re most likely to remember it. That will always be superior to forgetting to take it at all. (3)(4)

How Much Creatine Should You Take? 

While you don’t need to be too concerned about creatine timing, you definitely want to ensure that your creatine intake is dosed properly. The general dose of creatine recommendation is simply to take 3 to 5 grams per day, but you can get more specific to maximize your results. (1)(3)(5)

A creatine loading phase is an efficient but optional way to fill your creatine phosphate stores. It involves supplementing with large doses for the first few days before switching to a smaller maintenance dose. (3)(5) 

A six-day loading phase with daily doses of 20 grams of creatine (broken into two 10-gram servings) can raise muscle creatine concentrations by 20 percent. Achieving the same result with a daily intake of 3 to 5 grams could take up to 28 days. (3)(5) Alternatively, creatine dosage can be tailored to body weight. In this breakdown, the loading phase would involve around 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, followed by a reduced maintenance dose of approximately 0.1 grams per kilogram. (3)

Why Take Creatine?

Given the wide range of studies conducted on the compound, we understand that creatine benefits extend far beyond just muscle strength and athletic performance. Of course, maximizing your creatine stores can help improve your energy levels for short-duration, high-intensity exercise leading to more completed reps and better performance, but creatine can be beneficial outside of the gym, too. (9)

Studies report that creatine can be helpful in limiting muscle damage, thus influencing your muscles’ ability to function post-workout. (10)(11) Creatine can also influence your glycogen levels for more efficient muscle recovery, leading to the supplement’s popularity as a post-workout essential. (3)(4)

In addition to the above perks, creatine can also be beneficial for cognitive function. Studies report that supplementing with creatine can increase your brain creatine content by up to 15 percent, which could help improve ATP levels for better mental clarity and cognition. (12)

How to Take Creatine

Creatine can be mixed into a variety of foods and beverages. One interesting study compared the absorption of creatine in a liquid, gel, hard candy, or red meat, and found that it was absorbed more rapidly in liquid form. However, they all led to significant elevations in circulating creatine levels. (6)

If you’re trying to saturate your creatine stores as quickly as possible, it’s probably best to mix your creatine into a beverage. That said, if you prefer mixing it into your morning oats or the milk for your cereal, you’ll still benefit just as much. Plus, many creatine supplements come in an unflavored form, meaning you can add your dosage without fear of interfering with your beverage or meal’s present taste.

Because creatine is hydrophilic — meaning that it attracts water — large doses can retain too much water in the intestine. So, if you decide to opt for a loading protocol, it’s important to break that large 20- to 25-gram dose into two or three smaller doses of 7 to 10 grams in order to prevent bloating or other gastrointestinal distress. (3)(5)

Essentially, the only wrong way to take creatine is to “dry scoop” it, or to ingest the powder dry without anything to facilitate swallowing or prevent choking. This recent social media trend is based on clout, not science, and is generally quite dangerous. (7) 

[Related: Dry Scooping Pre-Workout]

What Form of Creatine Is Best?

Creatine monohydrate is considered to be the most bioavailable form of creatine, and it’s often the most cost-effective and shelf-stable method. In fact, other types of creatine often have less of an impact than creatine monohydrate. (3)

Take Your Creatine

For bodybuilders and other strength athletes aiming to increase strength and lean muscle, creatine can be a powerful ally. Post-workout creatine and pre-workout creatine can both be helpful in this process. You can take creatine before or after your workout for maximum gains, so load up whenever you’d like, and enjoy your muscle growth.

FAQs: Creatine Before or After a Workout

References

1. Forbes, S. C., Candow, D. G., Ostojic, S. M., Roberts, M. D., & Chilibeck, P. D. (2021). Meta-analysis examining the importance of creatine ingestion strategies on lean tissue mass and strength in older adults. Nutrients, 13(6), 1–14.
2. Mills, S., Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Neary, J. P., Ormsbee, M. J., & Antonio, J. (2020). Effects of creatine supplementation during resistance training sessions in physically active young adults. Nutrients, 12(6), 1–11.
3. Antonio, J., Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Gualano, B., Jagim, A. R., Kreider, R. B., Rawson, E. S., Smith-Ryan, A. E., VanDusseldorp, T. A., Willoughby, D. S., & Ziegenfuss, T. N. (2021). Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show? Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 18(1), 1–17.
4. Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Roberts, M. D., Roy, B. D., Antonio, J., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Rawson, E. S., a, B., & Roschel, H. (2022). Creatine O’Clock: Does Timing of Ingestion Really Influence Muscle Mass and Performance? Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 4(May), 1–8.
5. Feurebacher, J., & Schumann, M. (2021). Short-Term Creatine Loading Improves Total Work and. Nutrients, 13. 
6. Harris, R. C., Nevill, M., Harris, D. B., Fallowfield, J. L., Bogdanis, G. C., & Wise, J. A. (2002). Absorption of creatine supplied as a drink, in meat or in solid form. Journal of sports sciences, 20(2), 147–151. 
7. Lin, A., Chow, N., O’Connor, M., Mehta, S., Behnam, R., Pham, D., Hatef, C., Rosenthal, H. E., & Milanaik, R. a2022). Dry scooping and other dangerous pre-workout consumption methods: A quantitative analysis. Pediatrics, 149(1 Meeting Abstracts February 2022), 204.
8. Kraemer, W. J., & Volek, J. S. (1999). Creatine supplementation. Its role in human performance. Clinics in sports medicine, 18(3), 651–ix.
9. Kreider, R. B., Kalman, D. S., Antonio, J., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Wildman, R., Collins, R., Candow, D. G., Kleiner, S. M., Almada, A. L., & Lopez, H. L. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469049/
10. Hall, M., Manetta, E., & Tupper, K. (2021). Creatine supplementation: An update. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 20(7), 338–344. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/fulltext/2021/07000/creatine_supplementation__an_update.3.aspx
11. Wax, B., Kerksick, C. M., Jagim, A. R., Mayo, J. J., Lyons, B. C., & Kreider, R. B. (2021). Creatine for exercise and sports performance, with recovery considerations for healthy populations. Nutrients, 13(6), 1915. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8228369/
12. Forbes, S. C., Cordingley, D. M., Cornish, S. M., Gualano, B., Roschel, H., Ostojic, S. M., Rawson, E. S., Roy, B. D., Prokopidis, K., Giannos, P., & Candow, D. G. (2022). Effects of creatine supplementation on Brain Function and Health. Nutrients, 14(5), 921. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912287/