Building muscle involves a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week commitment to steering your physiology towards anabolism and away from the catabolic responses activated by intense exercise. Supplementation with nutrients that maximize anabolism and help reduce catabolism are an incredibly important part of this.
Most bodybuilders don’t realize that although a workout increases muscle anabolism, it also stimulates a tremendous increase in muscle protein breakdown. The catabolic effect of intense training can last for up to 48 hours, and wipe out the anabolic response of the workout.
Creatine monohydrate is one of very few nutritional supplements consistently shown in research to promote muscle anabolism and reduce catabolism. Bodybuilders often ask me if they should use creatine on their non-training days.
For bodybuilders, it’s imperative to follow my Creatine Cycling strategy to the letter, regardless of whether or not its a training day. That is, be sure to supplement with creatine monohydrate three days-on/three days-off regardless of whether or not it is a training day. Creatine cycling is based on a ton a research, its designed specifically to maximize the anabolic effect of creatine and speed results from weight training.
