Guide
How much creatine should you take a day?
Our label directs a 5-day loading phase at 20,000 mg (four scoops) a day, then one or two 5,000 mg scoops daily after. The research base most commonly uses 3-5 g/day for maintenance; a lower daily dose still raises plasma creatine without loading.
Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate directs one scoop (5,000 mg) in 8 oz of water or juice, four times a day, for the first five days — a 20,000 mg (20 g) daily loading phase. After that, the label calls for one or two scoops a day (5,000-10,000 mg). That loading dose sits inside the range reviewed in the sports-nutrition literature; the maintenance range sits at or above the 3-5 g/day most commonly used in the research.
The two-phase protocol, and where the numbers come from
The 2017 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand describes the standard protocol as roughly 0.3 g per kilogram of body weight a day, split into 4 doses, for 5-7 days — for a 70 kg (154 lb) person, that's about 21 g a day, close to what our label's four-scoop schedule provides. After loading, it describes a maintenance dose of 3-5 g a day (about 0.03 g/kg/day) as enough to keep muscle creatine stores elevated. Our label's maintenance range of one or two scoops (5-10 g) sits at or above that most-studied range, not below it.
Do you need to load at all?
No trial establishes that loading is required. A 6-week trial gave a lower daily dose — about 0.03 g/kg/day, roughly 2.3 g a day for an average participant — with no loading phase at all, and still found plasma creatine rose 182% and fatigue resistance improved during repeated high-intensity contractions, with no measurable change in body weight or body composition. Loading gets muscle stores up faster (days instead of weeks); skipping it gets to a similar place more slowly. Our label uses the loading version.
How much is too much, and what about kidneys
A review of 19 clinical and experimental studies on creatine and kidney safety found doses from 5 to 30 g a day, taken anywhere from 5 days to 5 years, showed no known harmful effect on kidney function — including glomerular filtration rate — in healthy people without pre-existing kidney disease. The same review advises against creatine use in people who do have kidney disease or a known risk of kidney dysfunction; see who should not take creatine. "Too much" in the research above is a question of existing kidney health more than a specific number below 30 g/day for people without it.
Splitting the dose
Our label splits the loading phase into four 5 g servings a day, which is standard practice for the loading protocol described above — smaller, spread-out doses are generally easier to tolerate than one large one. After loading, whether one or two scoops a day are taken together or apart isn't something the maintenance-dose research specifically tests; take it however fits your day.
Questions people ask
How much creatine can I take?
Our label directs 20 g a day for the first five days (one scoop, four times daily), then 5-10 g a day (one or two scoops). The literature above reviews doses up to 30 g a day for as long as 5 years without a known effect on kidney function in healthy people, but our label's own directions are the ones we can actually speak to.
How much creatine per day for building muscle?
The dosage question and the muscle-outcome question are separate; see creatine benefits: what the research does and doesn't show for what specific doses were tested in the strength and muscle-mass research, and where the evidence is thinner.
How much creatine is safe for kidneys?
The review above found no known effect on kidney function at doses from 5 to 30 g a day in people without pre-existing kidney disease. If you have kidney disease or reduced kidney function, ask your doctor before taking any dose.
Is there a different amount for women?
Neither the loading-and-maintenance protocol nor the kidney-safety research above is broken out by sex on the dose itself — the difference researchers have found is in how much lean mass or strength a given dose produces on average, not in what dose is considered safe. See creatine benefits for that distinction.
Should I take creatine on rest days too?
The maintenance dose works by keeping muscle creatine stores elevated day to day, not by timing around a single workout, so the protocol above applies daily, training day or not. See when is the best time to take creatine? for what the timing trials specifically compared.
Sources
- International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine A 2017 position stand from the International Society of Sports Nutrition describes how creatine is stored and used by muscle, and concludes it's safe and well tolerated across the doses and durations tested in the literature it reviewed.
- Low-dose creatine supplementation enhances fatigue resistance in the absence of weight gain A 6-week trial found a low daily creatine dose (about 2.3 g/day, no loading phase) raised plasma creatine substantially and improved fatigue resistance, without changing body weight or body composition.
- Potential Adverse Effects of Creatine Supplement on the Kidney in Athletes and Bodybuilders A review of 19 studies found doses from 5 to 30 g a day, taken for anywhere from 5 days to 5 years, showed no known harmful effect on kidney function in healthy people without existing kidney disease, while advising against use in people who do have kidney disease.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
