When it comes to building strength and muscle, few supplements have the pedigree of creatine. It’s well researched, widely available and requires very little effort beyond remembering where you put the tub each morning. So naturally, the internet has found a way to make taking it more complicated.
Enter the ‘creatine washout’. Neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman says he takes a break from creatine every four months, ‘just to see what effect it continues to have over time’.
Fair enough. But does that mean the rest of us should be scheduling time away from the supplement cupboard? Or is this another case of turning a personal preference into a protocol?
What Is a Creatine Washout?
A washout is simply a period without supplementation, allowing elevated creatine stores to gradually return towards their usual levels. It’s a term used in research, where scientists need to allow the effects of one intervention to subside before testing another.
The operative word here is ‘gradually’. Stopping your daily scoop doesn’t mean your muscles are dry by Friday.
A 2004 case study found that muscle phosphocreatine – the stored form that helps rapidly replenish energy during hard efforts – remained above its starting level after 30 days without supplementation.
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‘Four to six weeks is a typical response and depends on dietary creatine, response to supplement, etc.,’ exercise scientist Eric Rawson, a co-author of the 2004 study, told Men’s Health US more recently.
Do You Need to Cycle Creatine?
For healthy adults, the evidence doesn’t suggest that taking scheduled breaks is necessary. Research supports the safety of longer-term supplementation, with no real evidence that routinely cycling off makes it any safer or more effective.
‘There appears to be a lingering concern about long-term creatine supplementation that is not supported by data,’ Rawson told MH US.
That being said, there is a difference between needing some sort of ‘physiological reset’ and simply wanting to take a break from the admin fuss of trying to optimise everything.
If remembering your supplements has become another job on an already brimming to-do list, taking a break is a perfectly legitimate choice. You don’t have to dress it up as a biological necessity.
What Happens When You Stop Taking Creatine?
The above science gives us some useful clues, but ultimately it’s in the laboratory of your own lived experience where you need to decide what works in practice.
Some people report bloating or stomach discomfort when taking creatine; others barely notice anything beyond the benefits in their training. If you’re in the former camp, changing the dose or taking a break to see whether symptoms settle makes sense. Change one thing at a time, though, or you’ll struggle to know what made the difference.
Dose size can matter, especially if you’ve been trying to hop on the super-dosing trend. In one trial, taking 10g in a single serving caused more diarrhoea than splitting the same daily amount into two 5g servings.
For most people, 3–5g daily is enough to maintain elevated muscle stores. Some larger athletes may need 5–10g. If your current dose suits you, there’s no established requirement to cycle off simply because a certain number of months has passed.
As with your training and diet, pay attention to the signals your body is sending you. Notice what happens when you make changes, without assuming every change needs to become a lifelong rule.
For us, running out of creatine and forgetting to restock for a few weeks provides enough of an occasional break from the routine. A full physiological washout? No. But given there’s no established need for one, we’re comfortable skipping this particular protocol.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
