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Creatine loading phase: do you need it, or is it just faster?

· 7 min read

A creatine loading phase means taking about 20 g of creatine a day, usually as four doses of 5 g, for 5 to 7 days, then dropping to 3 to 5 g a day. It fills your muscle creatine stores in about a week. Skip it and take 3 g a day from the start, and you reach the same level in about four weeks.1 So loading is a speed setting. It does not buy you a bigger tank.

We compare prices, not health. Below: what the studies found, and what the faster week costs. Prices for every tub are on our creatine price comparison per 100 g.

What a creatine loading phase is

Your muscles store creatine mostly as phosphocreatine, a quick reserve for rebuilding ATP (the fuel of each contraction) during short, hard efforts. Supplementing raises that store by about 20 to 40%, up to a ceiling.2 Loading is the fast way there.

The ISSN position stand describes it as 5 g of creatine monohydrate four times a day, or about 0.3 g per kg of body weight, for 5 to 7 days. Then 3 to 5 g a day keeps stores up.2 At 80 kg, that is about 24 g a day. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) lists the same two routes.3

Where the loading idea comes from

It started with a 1992 study in which Harris, Söderlund and Hultman gave 17 people 5 g of creatine four or six times a day and measured, by biopsy, how much ended up in their thigh muscle.4 Muscle creatine rose, by as much as 50% in people who started low, but in three people on 6 × 5 g a day the kidneys also excreted between 40% and 68% of the dose over the first three days.

Do you need a creatine loading phase?

No. In 1996 Hultman and colleagues compared both routes in 31 men.1 Loading with 20 g a day for 6 days raised muscle creatine by about 20%, and 2 g a day kept it there. Another group took 3 g a day with no loading. After 28 days they had the same rise of about 20%, just reached more slowly.

The ISSN adds the fair caveat. The slow route fills the muscle gradually, so it may have less effect on performance until stores are full.2 After about four weeks, that difference is gone.

RouteDaily amount used in studiesTime to full storesSource
Loading, then maintenanceabout 20 g (0.3 g/kg) for 5 to 7 days, then 2 to 5 gabout 1 week1 2
No loading3 g (studies used 3 to 5 g)about 4 weeks1 3

The one EU health claim for creatine is built on the low daily amount, not on loading: "Creatine increases physical performance in successive bursts of short-term, high intensity exercise". It may only be used for foods that provide a daily intake of 3 g of creatine, aimed at adults doing high intensity exercise, and the label must say that the effect is obtained with 3 g a day.5

Where loading may still matter: older adults

One meta-analysis complicates the speed-only story, so we show it. In older adults who strength-trained, creatine added lean mass whatever the dosing. But the strength benefit over placebo disappeared once loading studies were left out.6 Each route was compared with placebo, not with the other. A reason to keep watching, not proof the slow route works less.

Side effects of loading: weight and your stomach

Weight. The ISSN calls weight gain the only consistently reported side effect of creatine.2 The AIS puts it at about 1 to 2 kg at most, mostly water in the muscle, fading over 4 to 6 weeks after you stop. That matters in a weight class.3

Stomach. Big single doses are the problem. In a trial with 59 male soccer players, 55.6% of those taking 10 g in one go reported diarrhoea, against 28.6% of those taking two 5 g doses and 35.0% on placebo.7 That is why loading protocols split the 20 g into four, and why the AIS suggests skipping loading if your gut objects.3

Safety overall. The 2017 ISSN position stand concludes that short and long term use, at amounts as high as 30 g a day for 5 years, is safe and well tolerated in healthy people.2 If you are pregnant, under 18 or have kidney disease, the doctor goes first and the tub second.

What a creatine loading phase costs

Over the first four weeks, loading uses about 170 g (5 days at 20 g, then 3 g a day). The slow route uses about 85 g (28 days at 3 g). With 5 g maintenance the gap is similar: 215 g against 140 g. So loading costs roughly 75 to 85 g of extra creatine in month one, and Harris already measured a good share of it leaving in urine.4

On Supzie today (31 Oct 2026), 100 g of creatine costs between €1.00 and €84.83, depending on the form and the shop. Here is what those extra grams cost:

Price per 100 g on Supzie (31 Oct 2026)Extra cost of loading in month one
€1.00 (Firm Foods Creatine 1000 g)€0.75 to €0.85
€1.60 to €4.80 (OstroVit Creatine Monohydrate 500 g across five shops)€1.20 to €4.08
€84.83 (creatine gummies, top of today's range)€63.62 to €72.11

About €70 to be full three weeks sooner.

The middle row is our favourite. The same OstroVit tub triples in price per 100 g depending on the shop, before you even pick a protocol. And on a 1000 g tub like BulkLab Nutrition micronized monohydrate at €1.20 per 100 g, a 5 day load costs about €1.20.

Prices come from the shops' listings and update daily. Where shipping is unknown we show the item price, and the shop's own price always wins. Compare every creatine tub per 100 g or read how we rank offers.

ProductPer 100 g creatine
Firm Foods Creatine 1000 gZumub€1.00
Firm Foods Creatine 500 gZumub€1.20
BulkLab Nutrition 100% Creatine Monohydraat Micronized 1000 gBulkLab Nutrition€1.20
Zumub Creatine 1000 gZumub€1.30
Zumub Creatine 500 gZumub€1.40

Prices as of 31 Oct 2026, 13:54.

Compare all 352 creatine products

Can you skip loading and still get results?

Yes. The muscle ends up just as full after about four weeks of 3 g a day.1 Loading makes sense if you want the effect within a week, before a competition. Skipping it makes sense if you are in no hurry or want to spare your stomach and the scale.

Want more on forms, doses and safety? Read our complete guide to creatine.

Further reading

Written by the Supzie editorial team. We read the labels and the studies so the price per dose means something.

Sources

  1. Hultman E, Söderlund K, Timmons JA, et al. Muscle creatine loading in men. Journal of Applied Physiology. 1996;81(1):232-237. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1996.81.1.232 ↩

  2. Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2017;14:18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z ↩

  3. Australian Institute of Sport. Sport supplement fact sheet: Creatine. Last updated March 2021. https://www.ais.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1000501/Sport-supplement-fact-sheets-Creatine-v4.pdf ↩

  4. Harris RC, Söderlund K, Hultman E. Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation. Clinical Science. 1992;83(3):367-374. https://doi.org/10.1042/cs0830367 ↩

  5. Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 of 16 May 2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims made on foods, as amended. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2012/432/oj ↩

  6. Forbes SC, Candow DG, Ostojic SM, et al. Meta-analysis examining the importance of creatine ingestion strategies on lean tissue mass and strength in older adults. Nutrients. 2021;13(6):1912. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061912 ↩

  7. Ostojic SM, Ahmetovic Z. Gastrointestinal distress after creatine supplementation in athletes: are side effects dose dependent? Research in Sports Medicine. 2008;16(1):15-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438620701693280 ↩