I have my doubts about this though. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I'd be curious to see what happens if you take 2 months off creatine altogether. My theory is that you'll lose just like I did. I think the reason you are not losing the strength during your 3 days off is b/c the creatine has not totally left your body yet. So you are never really "off" creatine. It's just my theory though and I was wrong one other time in my life
Yeah, this is basically the point. I never have a decrease in strength because I always have enough enough creatine available in my muscles to make a difference. When I've gone off creatine for longer, I lose about 3 pounds of water weight by about day 5 and have a noticeable decrease in strength probably in week 2 or so. So this method is ideal because I always have an effective amount of creatine in my muscles, but I also don't get "burnt out" on creatine by taking a high dose for too long.
So, this is basically an answer to your original question. Yes, you can take CM for your whole life (at least until you stop weight training) and this is an effective method for avoiding the decrease in strength. Don't take my word for it. Here's an extract from an article by Dr. Paul Cribb at
www.ast-ss.com:
a scientific study was with a 2week loading phase then 8 weeks 3-5g maintenance dose... after 8 weeks creatine levels were lower than before the men started the trial!!
Achieving a high concentration of creatine within muscle is essential to triggering a powerful anabolic effect at the cellular level. However, it is clear that the traditional dosage pattern fails to maintain high muscle creatine concentrations over a longer period of time (6 to 12 weeks).
1. Volek et al. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 31: 1147-1156, 1999.
2. Cribb et al. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 35: S400, A2239, 2003
3. Cribb et al. Presented at The Australian Association of Exercise and Sports Science Conference, April, 2004
Excessive loading (the traditional way) may cause creatine saturation outside the cell that prevents effective muscle uptake for weeks or even months! [4]
4. Guerrero-Ontivers, M.L. and Wallimann, T. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. 184: 427-437, 1998.
A small maintenance dose is futile at maintaining high muscle creatine concentrations. Using a small dose after loading ensures that high muscle creatine concentrations disappear within 6 weeks![5]
5. Van Loon et al. Clinical Science 104:153?162. 2003
For more on that, go to their website and search "creatine cycling." Good luck Ninja.