Creatine is a compound your body makes from three amino acids, and most of it is stored in your muscles.1 The liver, kidneys and pancreas make some every day, and a typical diet adds about 1 to 2 g, mostly from seafood and red meat. Mayo Clinic adds that the body replaces about 1 to 3 g a day to keep its usual stores.1 Many people take creatine around a workout, so when to take creatine is a fair question: before the session, after it, or at some other time.
What creatine does in the muscle
Muscle holds much of its creatine as phosphocreatine, which is used to make energy quickly during short bursts of activity, such as lifting a weight or sprinting.1 Mayo Clinic notes that creatine supplements, especially when combined with resistance training, can lead to greater gains in muscle strength, muscle size and athletic performance.1 That link with training is why people take creatine for strength, and why the timing question comes up at all.
Creatine before or after a workout
The research on timing is thin. A 2021 review in the journal Nutrients found no agreement yet on the ideal time to take creatine around exercise. It reported emerging evidence of greater benefit when creatine is taken after exercise rather than before. It also said the studies have limitations that rule out firm conclusions.2
If you have the choice, taking creatine after a workout has slightly more support behind it, and taking it before is not ruled out. Neither option has strong enough evidence for the timing to be the main thing to get right.
One detail matters if you train with coffee or a caffeinated pre-workout drink. Mayo Clinic notes that taking caffeine and creatine together might reduce how well creatine works, though it adds that more research is needed.1 If your routine before training already includes caffeine, taking creatine after the session sidesteps that question.
How much creatine and how often
The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), in its position stand on creatine, describes two ways to raise the creatine stored in muscle. The quicker one is about 0.3 g per kg of body weight a day for 5 to 7 days, split into smaller doses. After that, 3 to 5 g a day keeps the stores up.3 The slower one is 3 g a day for 28 days, which raises stores gradually.3
For someone who weighs 65 kg, 0.3 g per kg comes to about 19.5 g a day during the quicker phase, which is close to four doses of 5 g. After that week, the daily amount drops to the 3 to 5 g range.
Both plans build up muscle stores over days or weeks of daily intake. That is why a daily habit, at a time you can stick to, counts for more than the exact hour around one session. The position stand also says that taking creatine with carbohydrate, or with carbohydrate and protein, has been reported to help muscles hold on to more of it.3 In everyday terms, that points to taking it with a meal.
The best time for creatine on rest days
The best time for creatine on a day off is whenever you will remember it. Once muscle stores are full, the 3 to 5 g a day in the position stand is what keeps them there, and that need carries on through days without training.3 The same paper notes that raised stores generally take 4 to 6 weeks to fall back to where they started, so a missed day or two makes little difference.3
Creatine and a Horlicks Protein drink on the same day
Creatine and protein are counted separately. Creatine is measured in grams of creatine, while the protein you eat counts toward the day's protein. ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, put the day's protein at about 54 g for a 65 kg adult, and the figure holds regardless of physical activity.4
A Horlicks Protein sachet, mixed into 200 ml of cold water or milk, gives 24 g of protein, and the 240 ml milkshake gives 20 g. Neither number changes because creatine was taken earlier or later in the day.
Summary
Creatine is made in the body and found in seafood and red meat, and most of it sits in muscle, where it helps supply energy for short bursts of effort. The best time to take creatine is not settled, although a 2021 review found slightly more support for after a workout than before. The ISSN position stand puts the weight on daily intake: a short loading phase, then 3 to 5 g a day, or 3 g a day for four weeks. Taking it with a meal is reported to help muscles hold on to more of it. Protein is counted separately, and a Horlicks Protein sachet adds 24 g toward the day's 54 g.
Sources
1. Mayo Clinic. Creatine. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-creatine/art-20347591
2. Ribeiro F, et al. Timing of creatine supplementation around exercise: a real concern? Nutrients, 2021. PubMed 34445003. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34445003/
3. Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine, 2017. PubMed 28615996. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5469049/
4. ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024. https://nin.res.in/dietaryguidelines/pdfjs/locale/DGI_2024.pdf