# Creatine: before workout or after?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 23, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316 "2005-01-23T23:36:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/1 "2005-01-23T23:36:03Z")

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Some say before, some say after. Anyone wish to share their experiences?

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/2 "2005-01-23T23:43:41Z")

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Well, my experience with Mr. Athena taking Creatine was that he puffed up and gained a bunch of weight. NOT muscle weight. His face especially looked fat.

He gave up the creatine after that.

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**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/3 "2005-01-24T00:15:16Z")

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My husband used to take this before working out. Until he started becoming violently ill (explosive diarrhea, throwing up) from it. Take it…puke. Don’t take it…feel great.

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**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/4 "2005-01-24T00:32:13Z")

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For me, approximately 4 hours before a workout. It didn’t really seem to make much of a difference to me when I took during the day, just as long as I did.

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/5 "2005-01-24T02:47:31Z")

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Given its role in the metabolic pathways, it makes sense to take it before. But I’ve also heard people suggest taking it afterwards for recovery. Probably six one way, half a dozen the other.

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**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatine-before-workout-or-after/286316/6 "2005-01-24T15:39:34Z")

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I’ve always heard before. And cycle it, for God’s sake.