Creatine is a miracle drug for people who lose energy when they work out hard. Creatine is the best supplement you can take to give yourself the extra power you need for long, strenuous workouts. Creatine is something that our bodies make on their own. But because our bodies don’t make enough of it, we take it as a supplement.
When we work out, our muscles use up creatine. This increases muscle strength and lets your body lift more for a longer time. So, now that we know for sure that creatine powder works, you might ask:
How should creatine be used? Or should you also take creatine on days when you don’t work out? What will happen if you don’t do it on your days off? All of your questions will be answered in the article. Read on to find out why it’s important to take creatine on days when you’re not working out.
Should I Take Creatine on Off Days?
No is the most straightforward answer to your question. On rest days, you do not have to take creatine. Creatine won’t hurt you if you don’t take it on rest days, but skipping it may change how creatine works in your body.
Taking creatine on days when you don’t need it keeps its level in your body steady. When taking creatine, you usually follow a “loading” phase to fill the empty spots in your muscle cells with creatine. If you skip it for a day, your muscle cells won’t be able to fill in the gaps. Even worse, some of the holes filled before may become empty again.
Because of this, creatine may take longer to start to work. But that doesn’t mean you have to take 20 grams every day. You can cut back to 5 grams daily when you don’t work out. By doing this, you can at least ensure that the amount of creatine in your body doesn’t drop.
Now, you have to take creatine on rest days even if you are in your maintenance phase or skipped the loading phase altogether. If you’re taking 3–5 gm of creatine daily, it’s best to keep doing so even when you’re not working out. This will keep the right amount of creatine in your muscle cells.
What happens if I don’t take creatine on my rest days?
You now know why you should take creatine on days when you don’t work out. Now, it’s also important to know what happens if you don’t take creatine on your rest days. Knowing how creatine works in the most basic way will be much easier to understand. Your body only makes about 1 or 2 grams of creatine per day, so if you don’t take a creatine supplement, your muscle cells will have a lot of empty creatine spots.
When you take creatine at a standard dose, you will take between 2 and 5 grams daily. This much creatine is needed to keep the level of creatine in your muscle cells steady. So, if you don’t take it for a day, some of the creatine gaps your supplement fills may open up again.
That was about how you shouldn’t take creatine on days when you’re not working out. But things get a little more complicated if you are in your loading phase. During the loading phase, you need to take anywhere from 5 to 20 grams of creatine per day, depending on how quickly you want to see results. The faster you’ll feel better, the more you take.
So, if you don’t take creatine on a day off while you’re in the loading phase, even more of the spaces you filled with a higher dose earlier will empty again. This can change how well your loading phase goes.
Even so, not eating it won’t hurt you in any way, but it will slow down the rate at which your body gets used to it. Taking creatine powder on days when you don’t work out helps keep the creatine in your muscles. So, try taking it on days when you don’t work out, at least in smaller amounts.
Do you have to take creatine when you’re resting?
First, you don’t have to take creatine on your rest days; if you don’t, it won’t hurt you in any way. But if you want to get the most out of your workouts, you should take it both on days when you work out and on days when you don’t. If you don’t stick to a particular cycle of loading creatine, you won’t get the desired results.
Creatine powder is also a supplement that helps build strength and speed recovery. So, taking creatine on days, you don’t work out will help your body heal and prepare for the next workout. But make sure you drink enough water so you don’t get dehydrated, bloated, have headaches, or anything else that could happen.
On your days off, we suggest you do things that aren’t as hard on your body. At the very least, don’t just sit around on your rest days if you’ve taken creatine.
Conclusion
No doubt, creatine is a great supplement that will help you keep your energy up during your hard workouts. And this will help you do better in the long run. But creatine works in a way that is different from most other supplements. That means you won’t get the best results unless you take it every day.
The most important thing to remember is to take creatine on rest days. But you can take a lower dose than usual these days.
