Creatine Every Other Day: Should You Do It? Pros & Cons

While daily creatine supplementation has been well studied for its safety and efficacy, many people wonder whether they can take creatine using a “ one day on”, “one day off” approach.  And if they do, how that may impact their results.

Key Takeaways

• There is no inherent benefit of taking creatine less often using a “one day on”, “one day off” schedule.

• If you supplement with creatine every other day, you’ll need to take a dose that continues to maintain full creatine stores in your muscles (up to 10g).

• However, high amounts of creatine dosing in a single-serve may lead to stomach upset. 

If you simply missed a day of creatine, learn more about what to do to get back on track.

Creatine Every Other Day: Benefits & Drawbacks

Taking creatine every other day isn’t necessary or likely to lead to increased benefits vs taking creatine every day. 

The effects of creatine use are not felt immediately, as you must ingest creatine over time to build it up in the muscle. 

Once creatine is built up and the muscle is full (i.e., saturated), surplus energy stores exist in the muscle, allowing you to work harder during exercise and increase strength and performance. 

With that said, let’s explore some potential benefits of taking creatine every other day.

• Related: Types of Creatine.

Benefits of Taking Creatine Every Other Day

Just as creatine doesn’t build up in your system immediately, it will not deplete immediately by opting for an ‘every other day’ approach to your intake.

Here are some benefits of taking creatine every other day: 

• Studies have shown that a low dose of creatine can manage fatigue during higher-intensity training. So, consuming creatine on other days may be sufficient to support this activity. 

• In instances where you aren’t in intense training periods focused on performance outcomes or muscle building, like an extended holiday or a training break, an ‘every other day’ approach to creatine may be suitable because the demands on your creatine stores are less. 

Now, onto some of the drawbacks.

Drawbacks of Taking Creatine Every Other Day

A couple of the cons to using the “creatine every other day” approach are: 

• Dosing creatine every other day could diminish creatine stores (albeit probably unlikely). 

Using creatine daily means maintaining your creatine muscle saturation is guaranteed, so available energy is always ready to be used and provides you with a performance boost during training. 

Moving to every other day, your creatine stores could slowly decrease because you aren’t constantly replenishing what you use.

As a result, this could impact the benefits and sustained results many have come to enjoy through using creatine. 

With that said, you can mitigate decreasing your creatine stores if you take creatine every other day if you take the proper dosing (explained later).

• You may feel sick or unwell using the “creatine every other day” approach.

This is because of the dosing required when taking creatine on alternating days.  

As I’ll discuss in the next section, if you want to maintain your creatine stores, you will need to take more creatine on the days you do take it than you otherwise would if you were to take it every day.  

The result is that some people experience sickness with higher serving amounts of creatine.  

Let’s discuss creatine dosing now.

• Related: Should Beginners Take Creatine?

Creatine Every Other Day vs Every Day: Are There Differences?

The biggest difference in using creatine every day versus every other day is how much you need to consume. 

Whether you choose to take creatine every day or on alternating days, the amount you’re having should be at a level that maintains creatine saturation in your muscles otherwise, you won’t be benefiting from its use.

Factors like training activity, training goals, and possible side effects will influence the amount of creatine you consume daily or on every other day. 

Let’s take a quick look at how to dose your creatine intake.

Training Activity And Goals Influence Daily Vs Every Other Day Creatine Servings 

An average serving of creatine is 3-5g per day. 

However, people lighter in body weight or with lower lean muscle usually consume 2-3g per day with some elite strength athletes consuming up to 10g per day.

When considering whether to take creatine every day or on ‘other’ days, know the purpose of creatine supplementation in the context of your training goals because dosing levels for creatine will be different for endurance goals compared with strength. 

First, let’s take a look at a few studies:

Study #1: 2g Of Creatine Per Day Did Not Change Strength Or Fat-Free Mass

A study of adult men and women covering a 6 week period, indicated that low dosage levels of creatine, at around 2g per day, assisted in minimizing levels of fatigue during high-intensity efforts, however, strength and fat-free mass in participants were largely unchanged. 

Study #2: 2g-3g Of Creatine Per Day Improved Muscle Power Output

Another study undertaken on soccer youth with an average age of 17 where creatine was dosed at 0.03g per kilo of body weight, showed positive impacts of muscle power output. 

Muscle power was assessed through loaded and unloaded 30s cycling attempts. 

The dosing scheme, when considering the average body weight of a 17-year-old youth, would be around 2-3g of creatine a day. 

Study #3: 5g Daily Intake Of Creatine Showed Increases In Strength And Lean Muscle.

Research discussing creatine impacts on muscle mass showed using 20g of creatine daily during a loading phase for 5 to 7 days and then moving to a maintenance amount of 5g daily increased strength in max 1RM ranges by 8%.

Key Takeaways: How Much Creatine Should You Consume When Taking It Every Other Day?

• When training for strength and muscle improvements, evidence suggests around 5g per day is required to maintain creatine stores in the muscle and see results. If you take creatine on alternating days, you will need to dose at a relative level, possibly up to 10g, to ensure the same effect and outcome. 

• When training for high-intensity bursts of performance, you’ll recover quickly and keep performing at a high capacity when taking 2-3g daily. However, when taking it every other day, this would need to increase to 4-6g on those days. This intake of creatine is unlikely to support the development of lean muscle mass, though. 

With that said, there are some consequences that you need to consider if you are taking upwards of 10g of creatine every other day.  

• Related: Do You Need to Cycle Creatine?

Feeling Unwell Using Higher Serves Of Creatine On ‘Other’ Days

While studies of creatine confirm its high safety profile, some people have anecdotally reported feeling unwell when consuming higher doses of creatine. 

Taking a ‘one day on’ and ‘one day off’ approach to creatine supplementation may mean a higher consumption of creatine on the days you consume it. This high consumption could cause you to feel dizzy or stomach discomfort. 

If you’re someone who has experienced these side effects before or with other supplements, consider whether isolating your creatine intake to certain days is going to be best for you.

Side effects you may experience are individual, so there is no ideal amount of creatine to take every day or every other day to stop side effects. 

Having said that, though, on the days you do take creatine, you can split your serves across the day and ensure you are having them with food to minimize feeling unwell. 

Recommendations For Using Creatine Every Other Day Use

If you are choosing to dose ‘every other day’ consider the following:

• If your goal is performance-based (i.e. running longer in a soccer match), you could do it at a lower level every other day and still get results. This could be around 3-4g every other day.

• If your goal is strength-based (increasing your 1 rep max), you may need a higher dose every other day to ensure you are getting enough creatine to support muscle development. This could range from 6-10g every other day. 

• If higher amounts of creatine cause gastrointestinal issues, you may need to split your creatine serves across the day.

• Consider a creatine loading phase before moving to an ‘every other day’ dosing approach.

Other Considerations For Taking Creatine Every Other Day 

Another worthwhile consideration is taking your creatine close to your training times. 

Studies have shown positive results in having your creatine very close to your training start or finish times. 

By taking creatine every other day and consuming it close to your training time this may assist in ensuring you are maintaining creatine stores in your muscles and able to benefit from its use.

Other Creatine Resources

• Can You Dry Scoop Creatine?
• This Is Why Your Creatine Is Not Dissolving
• Can You Take Creatine Forever?
• Can You Take Creatine Before Bed?
• Creatine On An Empty Stomach

References

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Yáñez-Silva, A., Buzzachera, C.F., Piçarro, I.D.C. et al. Effect of low dose, short-term creatine supplementation on muscle power output in elite youth soccer players. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 5 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0162-2

Antonio, J., Candow, D.G., Forbes, S.C. et al. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 13 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w

Rawson ES, Stec MJ, Frederickson SJ, Miles MP. Low-dose creatine supplementation enhances fatigue resistance in the absence of weight gain. Nutrition. 2011 Apr;27(4):451-5. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.04.001. Epub 2010 Jul 1. PMID: 20591625.

Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012 Jul 20;9(1):33. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-9-33. PMID: 22817979; PMCID: PMC3407788.

Antonio J, Ciccone V. The effects of pre versus post workout supplementation of creatine monohydrate on body composition and strength. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013 Aug 6;10:36. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-10-36. PMID: 23919405; PMCID: PMC3750511.