Not Vishal, but I briefly tried capsules. Downsides:
- The ones that are easy to find for sale are very large. If you find it difficult or unpleasant to swallow very large pills, these are basically very large pills.
- Even in the "very large pill" size you have to take like 5 of them.
- You might end up burping up creatine powder, which is pretty unpleasant.
The last one may or may not be an issue with dry scooping (haven't tried) but I think it's probably less likely to be an issue, since I think the burping is largely an artifact of swallowing air alongside the capsules, and you probably aren't going to be swallowing air when dry scooping.
Seems good to me! Taking 4-7 pills a day seems a little annoying though. Also I guess you pay a bit of a premium (briefly skimming some prices on Amazon it looks like 3x per serving).
Do you have a trick for shooting the powder into your mouth? To me it seems like that's going to get my saliva on the scoop (maybe not every time, but often). Then if the scoop goes back into the bag that seems bad for the rest of the creatine in there, or if I wash it that adds a bunch of time to the process.
I put my free index finger vertically across my mouth, so the handle of the scoop hits my finger and the powder flings into my mouth.
Edit: I should add, the goal is that the creatine forms a little pile which sits on the tongue. This keeps the surface area (and therefore the taste and irritation) small.
Thanks. First attempt: I got creatine powder all down my top. Second: it all went in (I think; my top was already very powdery) but was mildly unpleasant in the back of my throat. So far I prefer "put powder in a small amount of water, drink it, and refill 1-2 times to get the dregs".
This is totally new to me and seems like it deserves a video or separate post? Getting the creatine in is intimidating and why I haven't tried it already
Don't overthink it, really. I don't even bother with the scoop and just use a kitchen tablespoon. After use just stick it in the dishwasher along with the other cutlery.
You can practice a couple of times to eyeball how much powder you get in a "heaped" spoonful. Rough quantity is perfectly fine -- as the OP said nothing bad will happen if you consume 3.5g some days instead of 3g.
I do the same thing with protein powder and (when I need it) Metamucil. Dry scooping is so much more convenient. Just make sure to have a big glass of water to wash it all down afterwards.
I just put the creatine in a cup, add an ounce or two of coldish water, stir it with a spoon for five seconds, drink it, add one more ounce of water to get most of the dregs, drink that. 30 seconds total.
Glad to see this, I do this when taking magnesium powder. Hadn't occurred to me that I could also do this with creatine (for which building a habit is harder). Thanks!
Just tried this — I expected it to be pretty unpleasant, but it was... fine??
I usually have creatine with Huel, but I don't have Huel every day (so then I don't have creatine every day). Mixing it in water sucks so I never do it. Tysm for this life-changing tip.
So creatine monohydrate supplementation is extremely well studied, and has several modest positive effects (roughly a 5% gain in hypertrophy when strength training and a 5% increase in muscular endurance, allowing you to exercise a little bit longer). There are also some more recent studies pointing at cognitive benefits, but I'm not sure these matter that much. To a first approximation, the only supplements worth taking (given that you have a good diet) are protein powder and creatine.
Some people get indigestion from creatine consumption, so that's a reason to not do it. Also, since the effects are small, you really shouldn't feel any different taking it.
Conspicuously missing: dissolving in a small amount of room temperature water and drinking that quickly! I do this with my creatine via Bryan Johnson’s “Longevity Mix”.
Also small concern, but it looks like the drink might be acidic due to the Vitamin C, so it's possible that will cause the creatine to break down a bit in solution (as discussed in the first study I link to in the post).
I wouldn't buy the product for other reasons (price, among other things), but if you like it that's good. I'd just add more creatine to the solution.
Just putting it out there, it works substantially better to dissolve in a few tablespoons of warm-hot water and down it directly - most if not all the powder dissolves, it's a very small drink so you can knock it back immediately, there's little enough thermal mass that you can add water hot enough to dissolve all the powder and if you swish the cup a few times it cools enough to drink like a shot, and the flavor and texture is much better than straight powder. If there's sediment repeat with another 1/4 cup / one mouthful of water to "rinse" the rest of the cup and down whatever's left.
What about capsules?
Not Vishal, but I briefly tried capsules. Downsides:
- The ones that are easy to find for sale are very large. If you find it difficult or unpleasant to swallow very large pills, these are basically very large pills.
- Even in the "very large pill" size you have to take like 5 of them.
- You might end up burping up creatine powder, which is pretty unpleasant.
The last one may or may not be an issue with dry scooping (haven't tried) but I think it's probably less likely to be an issue, since I think the burping is largely an artifact of swallowing air alongside the capsules, and you probably aren't going to be swallowing air when dry scooping.
I buy capsules and fill them myself.
seconded, i also have this question for vishal!
Seems good to me! Taking 4-7 pills a day seems a little annoying though. Also I guess you pay a bit of a premium (briefly skimming some prices on Amazon it looks like 3x per serving).
Do you have a trick for shooting the powder into your mouth? To me it seems like that's going to get my saliva on the scoop (maybe not every time, but often). Then if the scoop goes back into the bag that seems bad for the rest of the creatine in there, or if I wash it that adds a bunch of time to the process.
I put my free index finger vertically across my mouth, so the handle of the scoop hits my finger and the powder flings into my mouth.
Edit: I should add, the goal is that the creatine forms a little pile which sits on the tongue. This keeps the surface area (and therefore the taste and irritation) small.
Thanks. First attempt: I got creatine powder all down my top. Second: it all went in (I think; my top was already very powdery) but was mildly unpleasant in the back of my throat. So far I prefer "put powder in a small amount of water, drink it, and refill 1-2 times to get the dregs".
This is totally new to me and seems like it deserves a video or separate post? Getting the creatine in is intimidating and why I haven't tried it already
Don't overthink it, really. I don't even bother with the scoop and just use a kitchen tablespoon. After use just stick it in the dishwasher along with the other cutlery.
You can practice a couple of times to eyeball how much powder you get in a "heaped" spoonful. Rough quantity is perfectly fine -- as the OP said nothing bad will happen if you consume 3.5g some days instead of 3g.
I do the same thing with protein powder and (when I need it) Metamucil. Dry scooping is so much more convenient. Just make sure to have a big glass of water to wash it all down afterwards.
I just put the creatine in a cup, add an ounce or two of coldish water, stir it with a spoon for five seconds, drink it, add one more ounce of water to get most of the dregs, drink that. 30 seconds total.
Glad to see this, I do this when taking magnesium powder. Hadn't occurred to me that I could also do this with creatine (for which building a habit is harder). Thanks!
Just tried this — I expected it to be pretty unpleasant, but it was... fine??
I usually have creatine with Huel, but I don't have Huel every day (so then I don't have creatine every day). Mixing it in water sucks so I never do it. Tysm for this life-changing tip.
hell yeah brother
Good post! That's the conclusion I arrived at too, with a stop at the "making my own gummies" (sugar free syrup, water, gelatine, in ice cube trays).
> Basically everyone should take 5 grams of creatine every day for their lives entire
mind sharing a few links/thoughts as to why?
Oh yeah for sure.
So creatine monohydrate supplementation is extremely well studied, and has several modest positive effects (roughly a 5% gain in hypertrophy when strength training and a 5% increase in muscular endurance, allowing you to exercise a little bit longer). There are also some more recent studies pointing at cognitive benefits, but I'm not sure these matter that much. To a first approximation, the only supplements worth taking (given that you have a good diet) are protein powder and creatine.
A study here: https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
A video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSPmsqYRL2Y
Some people get indigestion from creatine consumption, so that's a reason to not do it. Also, since the effects are small, you really shouldn't feel any different taking it.
thanks!
what, in your view, are the strongest reasons not to take creatine?
Conspicuously missing: dissolving in a small amount of room temperature water and drinking that quickly! I do this with my creatine via Bryan Johnson’s “Longevity Mix”.
Is this omitted because it’s less alpha?
Looking at longevity mix (https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/products/longevity-blend-multinutrient-drink-mix-blood-orange-flavor?variant=47190798696733). 2.5 grams of creatine is a half dose, especially for a tall male.
Also small concern, but it looks like the drink might be acidic due to the Vitamin C, so it's possible that will cause the creatine to break down a bit in solution (as discussed in the first study I link to in the post).
I wouldn't buy the product for other reasons (price, among other things), but if you like it that's good. I'd just add more creatine to the solution.
I stir it into a glass of cool water when I first wake up, and that works great
Just mix it in your coffee. Coffee is good for you and your going to end up addicted to it so you'll drink it every day.
Just putting it out there, it works substantially better to dissolve in a few tablespoons of warm-hot water and down it directly - most if not all the powder dissolves, it's a very small drink so you can knock it back immediately, there's little enough thermal mass that you can add water hot enough to dissolve all the powder and if you swish the cup a few times it cools enough to drink like a shot, and the flavor and texture is much better than straight powder. If there's sediment repeat with another 1/4 cup / one mouthful of water to "rinse" the rest of the cup and down whatever's left.
I'd worry about inhaling small amounts of powder, which is bad for you to do every day for the rest of your life.