“How Much Creatine Should I Take?” goes the question

And the most common response you’ll get even from the product instructions is usually…

“5 g per day is good.”

While that usually fits the bill for most people, there is a much better method for determining how much creatine you should take per day for optimal effectiveness based on research studies. Here’s how to calculate your personal dose of creatine specific to your body weight.

To calculate your creatine dose according to the original research, you’ll first need to convert your body weight to kilograms. This will not require a degree in mathematics. If I did I wouldn’t be able to post this or even explain it!

Simply divide your current body weight in pounds by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms. For example, if you weigh 190 pounds, then your weight in kilograms is ~86 kilograms (190 / 2.2 = 86).

Next, multiply your weight in kilograms to get the proper dose.

Loading dose:

The recommended loading dose is 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Maintenance dose:

The maintenance phase is even less with only 0.03 grams of creatine per kilogram of body weight.

Example: An 86kg person starting a loading phase would need 25.8 grams of creatine per day for 5 days divided into 4 equal parts throughout the day. The maintenance phase for an 86kg person would be 2.58g of creatine per day thereafter.

Your personal creatine dosage calculator:

Step 1: Your body weight in pounds

Step 2: Body weight in kilograms

body weight in pounds divided by 2.2

Step 3: Find Your Loading Dose

body weight in kilograms multiplied by 0.3

divide into 4 equal parts; take 1 part every 4 hours

Step 4: Find your maintenance dose

body weight in kilograms multiplied by 0.03

It seems that the loading phase will saturate your muscle stores with creatine faster, but there is little difference in a person who does or doesn’t do the loading phase. Except that it may take longer to reach full muscle saturation. Many current references (2008) report that the loading phase is unnecessary or not required.

The loading phase can be done or not, it does not seem that there are differences in the final result.

The general maintenance phases of Creatine Monohydrate are between 3-5 grams. The references above will give you a more personalized approach to your creatine dosage vs. just the recommendations based on the average person.

To get the most benefits from creatine supplementation based on research, you need to optimize your personal dosage based on those studies. With the creatine dosage calculator above, you can find the perfect amount of creatine to take to optimize results. You don’t want to take too little and you certainly don’t want to take too much. While 5g might cover most of us, you can see precisely how close you are and get the specific dosage for you.

Remember that while creatine supplementation has been shown to be safe, you will want to be adequately hydrated to optimize results. Creatine needs a hydrated body to function, so if you’re not willing to hydrate and maintain your hydration status, creatine may not be for you.