"Well your in luck then, because you shouldn't be mixing it with water in the first place"
Right on brother!
You don't want to combine your creatine with anything, including water. Rather, scoop the creatine directly into your mouth and swallow it with water. Why you ask? Well, creatine is unstable in water and will turn into creatinine (creatine's waste product)
Quote from Joe Yu King (2005)
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The Stability of Creatine
The stability of creatine is an important subject for athletes looking to get the most out of their supplementation protocol. Based on the available research, creatine is best absorbed when the creatine powder is scooped directly into the mouth and swallowed with a few small sips of water. This insures minimal conversion of creatine to creatinine (Myers, 2000). Dash et al. (2002) further investigated this phenomenon. The crystal structure of creatine monohydrate has previously been reported. However, little information is available on its solid-state properties. Guo et al. (2003) suggests that oxidization of creatine readily causes the conversion to creatinine. Ganguly (2003) dissolved creatine effervescent powders in deionized water and stored them at room temperature and in a refrigerator over a period of several weeks. Creatine concentration was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. Intrinsic dissolution and saturated solubility of creatine, creatine monohydrate, and di-creatine citrate in water were determined and compared. Crystal growth was detected only in the refrigerated samples on the seventh day of storage. Ninety percent creatine degradation was observed within weeks. However, at refrigerated condition this degradation was 80% within the same time period. Di-creatine citrate used in effervescent formulation dissociates to creatine in aqueous solution and eventually crystallizes. Significant decrease in solubility and effect of pH contribute to this crystallization process.
Sakata et al. (2004) set out to understand the dehydration behavior of creatine monohydrate at various temperatures. The dehydration of untreated and pulverized creatine monohydrate was investigated at various storage temperatures, and the results indicated that untreated and pulverized creatine monohydrate were transformed into the anhydrate at more than 30 degrees C. After dehydration, the particles of untreated and pulverized creatine anhydrate had many cracks. Dehydration of untreated creatine monohydrate had a pronounced effect on the particle size of the powder. Compared with pulverized creatine monohydrate, the particle size of untreated creatine monohydrate was significantly decreased by dehydration.
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Quote from OldSchool (2004)
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I don’t recommend mixing the creatine directly into the shake(water). Simply spoon it into your mouth and drink it down with your shake(water).
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Retroeric, next time you decide to use a supplement make sure you read/understand how to supplement it correctly and effectivley.
CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION TIPS
<ul type="square"> Make sure it has the creapure logo tatooed on it. That gurantees quality. Creapure - A process that was developed in Germany for yeilding the highest quality creatine current available.
Make sure you load it ( this will saturate your muscles with creatine ) The loading phaze should consist of 20-25 grams a day spread throughout the day in 4-5 servings for 5 days.
After the loading phaze you should maintain with 5-10g a day.
When maintaining, on workout days consume 5 grams in the morning and 5 grams post-workout. On non-workout days consume 5 grams in the morning.
Drink plenty of water. Take you bodyweight ( lbs ) x 0.66 and that's how much water you should be consuming a day ( ounces ) Remember, this does not include shakes.
Simply spoon it into your mouth and drink it down with some water.[/list]
MUST READS (for creatine and creatine supplementation)
Creatine Myths And Facts (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/creatine%20myths%20and_facts.php).
CREATINE ANSWERS - For all questions. (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=870836&an=0&page=0#870836).
Creatine: A Meta Analysis (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/CreatineMeta-analysis.php).