What is the Maintenance Dose?
The maintenance dose is the daily amount of creatine taken to keep intramuscular creatine stores at their saturated maximum.
The standard recommendation is 3 to 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per day, taken consistently.
This dose replaces the approximately 1.5 to 2 grams of creatine that the body degrades daily into creatinine and excretes through the kidneys.
Whether you reached saturation through a loading phase or through gradual daily supplementation, the maintenance dose remains the same.
The goal is simply to maintain the elevated creatine pool that provides performance and health benefits.
Relevance to Creatine Supplementation
The maintenance dose represents the long-term, sustainable approach to creatine use.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) position stand confirms that 3-5 g/day is effective for maintaining elevated creatine stores indefinitely.
There is no need to cycle off or periodically increase the dose.
Body weight can influence the optimal maintenance dose. A common guideline is 0.03 to 0.05 g per kg of body weight per day.
A 70 kg individual would need about 2.1-3.5 g/day, while a 100 kg athlete might benefit from 3-5 g/day.
In practice, 5 g/day is a simple, effective recommendation for most adults.
Related Terms
- Loading Phase — The initial high-dose period before transitioning to maintenance
- Muscle Saturation — The state the maintenance dose preserves
- Creatine Monohydrate — The recommended form for daily maintenance
- Ergogenic Aid — The performance category creatine belongs to
Sources & References
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