should creatine be cycled?

[seriousnewbie]

i was wonderin if i should cycle my creatine.. heard from some peeps it loses its effectiveness after taking it for too long.. any advice?? also.. i cant seem to eat solid foods in the mornin and was thinking of makin a protein shake the night before, store it in e refrigerator and consume it e next morning.. is this ok? thanx..

[clubtest]

Cycle creatin. Don't use over 60 days without a decent break. A study out of England recently showed great benefits using creatine, but after 60 days a certain percentage of users had problems with their sugar - insulin balance.

[lartinos]

I have never seen ONE study that says cycling works with creatine. IMO it is garbage.

[Philiagorillia]

I totally agree with lartinos on this one, i have tried taking creatine several times over the cource of several years and it did nothing but waste my money and time, better off just spending your money on a good protien supplement and extra food, thats just my opinion though.

[tattoojr]

I've used creatine and not noticed anything, but evryones different so it might work for you. If you don't notice a real improvement after say 3 weeks then I'd use the rest and never buy it again. Just my .02 J.R.

[seriousnewbie]

well thanx guys.. i think ill observe myself first to see if theres any changes b4 makin my decision.. as far as i know, many studies state creatine works.. and its safe..

[IvyLeagueHealthNut]

A few years performed a meta-analysis (review of multiple studies) while writing a research paper on creatine.

Of the 250 or so studies that I reviewed none recognized benefits to cycling it; however, I theorize that a placebo effect can occur for "cyclers" which could lead to cycling benefits ... on the other hand, I never personally experienced benefits to cycling.

[bigrussianbull]

In the january issue of flex they handle this issue. Apparently a new study shows that consistantly running 3-7 grams of creatine a day for an extended period of time has neither any adverse effects nor does it lose it's effectiveness among people taking it. From my own experiences I cant say i have noticed much from creatine supplementation, maybe slight weight gain due to water retention (a lb. or 2) im not totally sure as far as energy or strength increases, nothing too noticeable.

[beefy]

when i took creatine alone no other supplements i noticed significant strangth increases over a period of about 4 weeks. this was the first supplement i had ever taken beside mass shakes of 2000 plus calories. i was platueing with my size and strength, but creatine got me stronger.