Creatine Cycling Necessary??

Feel like trying out creatine, currently on no other supplements aside from BSN Syntha (only because I got 3 free tubs otherwise wouldnt waste money on something I could get from milk). Ive been lifting for just about two years now and my progress has finally come to a halt.

Im 5’7 180 pounds with a 335 BP, 450 SQT, and a 495 DL, and those main lifts have been stuck at those numbers or right around for a few months now. Just changed up my routine as Im getting ready for spring tryouts at my D 1 school, and even though Im a kicker I still feel the need to keep in top shape and strength for personal reasons.

Anyway, I feel like adding some supplements to my regimine might as well see if they give me a boost, Im used to not using them so if they work Im sure Ill feel the difference. Its mainly the BP I want to improve so I can get up to twice my BW (no I dont pause during the lift I do it as fast as I can without bounce and with explosion Im a football player not a BB).

Anyway I feel like adding a few pounds to my lifts before spring ball and creatine is the supplement that has the best rep if used right. Anyway Im choosing a brand to go with right now, but I want to know if cycling it is really necessary? One of the reasons I never wanted to use it is that I knew that weight and strength taper off slightly once its stopped being used and since I like making progress without falling back I figured Id wait. Now I want to try it, I know it will probably help but I want to know two things from experienced lifters, is it necessary to cycle and what brand would you guys recommend? Price not an issue, would appreciate feedback!

Thanks.

I just have 5g before workouts, don’t cycle off at all. I’m not sure if there is benefit to cycling on/off, but if there is, I doubt it is significant.

Just watch out for ‘Candy creatine’; also good job on the lifts.

Edit: As for recommendations, if you take creatine with something like sugar / protein (Insulinogenic agents) then you can just get some micronized creatine and not think twice about it. Don’t want to be a Biotest peddler, but the micronized creatine on this site is damn cheap.

thanks lol yeah everyone here talks about Biotest. I guess theres no point to cycling off it as long as I train right.

Interesting question and there is a lot of conflicting information on this. I usually just use a plain powder and have 3-5g before and after workouts. I generally don’t cycle it because creatine seems to work well for me so I do not see the point of coming off it.

I don’t think there is issues either way. From the point of view of $$$ vs performance then cycling may well be a sensible thing to do.

There’s info pertaining to creatine and it’s effects on health that you might not necessarily consider such as it’s correlation with increased rates of conversion of T to DHT (which might not a good thing in some men)but nothing concrete and nothing glaring.

I have to admit the androgen conversion angle is new to me and I’m reading up on it now.

[quote]Drew Price wrote:
I don’t think there is issues either way. From the point of view of $$$ vs performance then cycling may well be a sensible thing to do.

There’s info pertaining to creatine and it’s effects on health that you might not necessarily consider such as it’s correlation with increased rates of conversion of T to DHT (which might not a good thing in some men)but nothing concrete and nothing glaring.

I have to admit the androgen conversion angle is new to me and I’m reading up on it now.[/quote]

Financially, cycling would be more cost-effective; but you’d save about 3 dollars a month or so, maybe less. If you are that strict on money then maybe buying supplements wouldn’t be a priority.

Interesting about the possibility of the DHT conversion, never even considered that; have the preliminary sources shown anything significant?