Creatine Timing

Is it better to take creatine before or after workouts?

Written By Jim Stoppani, PhD

Updated May 16, 2019

I've recommended taking creatine BOTH before and after workouts for over a decade. It simply works the best in the gym and research also backs up this practice.

However, there is debate still going on out there amongst the other experts on whether it is best to take creatine preworkout or postworkout. Well, for those who for some reason only want to take creatine once a day, a recent study by a colleague of mine, Dr. Jose Antonio, may have the answer for you: or not. They gave recreational male bodybuilders (basically guys like you and me), either 5 grams of creatine monohydrate immediately before they worked out for four weeks, or 5 grams of creatine monohydrate immediately after they worked out for the four-week period. On non-training days the subjects were allowed to take the creatine whenever they desired. They reported in a 2013 issue of the Journal of The International Society of Nutrition that there really wasn't any difference between the two groups for lean mass gains, body fat, or muscle strength. However, when they ran some much weaker statistics there was evidence that POSSIBLY taking creatine postworkout was more effective on lean muscle gains and muscle strength.

Jim's take-home points:

I want to first be clear here that I am NOT bashing Dr. Jose Antonio. Dr. Antonio is someone that I consider a friend and someone I regard as a very smart person. He stated in the paper that there were no significant differences between taking creatine preworkout or postworkout. And only when they used magnitude-based inference was there any evidence that postworkout MIGHT be better than preworkout. However, the media is going to jump on this, as well as all the pseudo-scientist bodybuilding "experts" who do not read these studies in their entirety, and say that taking creatine postworkout is far superior than taking it preworkout. Not so fast.

I admit that there has yet to be a study published that compares taking creatine both pre and postworkout to taking it just preworkout or just postworkout. But the results that I have seen in thousands of people switching from either taking creatine just preworkout or just postworkout to taking creatine both pre and postworkout are very significant. Plus, a study done by Australian researchers reported that weight-trained subjects taking a protein, carbohydrate and creatine shake immediately pre and postworkout for ten weeks experienced an 80% greater increase in lean muscle mass and about a 30% greater increase in muscle strength than subjects taking the same supplements in the morning and at night. They also lost body fat while taking the supplements pre and postworkout, while the group taking the supplements in the morning and night lost no body fat. The pre and postworkout supplement group also had significantly higher muscle glycogen levels, which is critical for performance and muscle growth. Many people would argue that because the subjects were taking a protein shake and fast-digesting carbs (glucose/dextrose) that it does not truly tell you how effective the creatine was. While it is hard to tweeze out what benefits were due to creatine versus the protein and carbs, that is precisely the way you want to take creatine. Taking creatine alone by itself is not half as effective as when you take it with protein and carbs. In fact, the recent study comparing preworkout to postworkout creatine supplementation had subjects take just creatine and nothing else. I would argue that since that is a very ineffective way to take creatine, it negates any findings of the study. But since there weren't any real findings of the study, it doesn't really matter.

Now when you hear people talking about this study in the gym, or you read discussions about it online and the people are claiming that taking creatine postworkout is far superior than taking it preworkout, you can have a laugh knowing that a) they didn't actually read the study despite acting like they did, b) they don't know what they are talking about, and c) you are way ahead of them because you already got the real truth on the matter. So do what you and I both know works best when it comes to supplementing with creatine – take it both preworkout and postworkout and also take a pre and postworkout shake. If you use creatine monohydrate or most other forms of creatine, then go with 5 grams both pre and post. If it's creatine HCL (the Con-Cret® patented form), as I have in my Pre JYM and Post JYM (both 2 gram doses) then use 1.5-2 grams pre and postworkout.

References:

Antonio, J. and Ciccine, C. The effects of pre versus post workout supplementation of creatine monohydrate on body composition and strength. Journal of The International Society of Nutrition 10:36, 2013.

Cribb, P. J. and Hayes, A. Effects of supplement timing and resistance exercise on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Nov;38(11):1918-25.

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