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Can you take creatine, protein, and caffeine together or should you space them out?
In this video, expert nutritionist Dr Richie Kirwan explores the science behind combining three of the most popular sports supplements: creatine, protein, and caffeine.
You'll learn whether taking them together affects muscle growth, strength, recovery, or performance, and if there's an optimal way to use them.
Dr Richie Kirwan answers some of the most common questions, including: Does caffeine reduce the benefits of creatine? Should you take protein and creatine at the same time? Is there a best time of day to take each supplement? And can combining all three improve your workout results?
Whether your goal is building muscle, increasing strength, improving recovery, or getting more from your training, this evidence-based guide breaks down the latest research so you can use creatine, protein, and caffeine with confidence.
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0:00
If you take protein, creatine, and
0:01
caffeine all at the same time, will you
0:03
actually explode? Let's talk about that.
0:07
>> [music]
0:10
>> How's it going, guys? My name is Richie
0:11
Kirwan. I'm a registered nutritionist, a
0:13
nutrition researcher, and a university
0:15
lecturer in nutrition. Today, we're
0:17
talking about the big three supplements:
0:20
protein, creatine, and caffeine. These
0:22
are probably the three most commonly
0:24
used supplements in the fitness world,
0:26
and they are without a doubt the
0:28
supplements with the most research
0:30
proving they work. Despite their
0:32
popularity, some of the most common
0:33
questions I get are, "Can I take them
0:35
together? Does timing matter? Am I
0:37
canceling out the benefits if I mix
0:39
them? And more importantly,
0:41
>> [music]
0:41
>> am I about to create some kind of
0:43
biochemical disaster in my shaker
0:44
bottle?" The short answer is no, you'll
0:47
live.
0:48
Probably. But the longer answer is a bit
0:50
more interesting because protein,
0:52
creatine, and caffeine all work in
0:54
completely different ways. And because
0:57
they work differently, timing matters
0:59
differently for each one. So, in this
1:01
video, I'm going to explain when you
1:02
should take your protein, when you
1:04
should take your creatine, when caffeine
1:06
actually matters, and whether stacking
1:08
them together makes sense if your goal
1:10
is [music] making some real gains.
1:12
Before we talk about timing, we need to
1:14
understand one really important
1:16
principle. Protein, creatine, and
1:18
caffeine don't work in the same way.
1:21
They don't affect the same systems in
1:23
the body. They don't operate on the same
1:25
timeline, and they don't need to be
1:27
taken at the same time to be effective.
1:30
Protein works by stimulating something
1:31
called muscle protein synthesis. That's
1:33
the process your body uses to repair and
1:35
build new muscle tissue. When you lift
1:37
weights, you create the stimulus. When
1:40
you eat enough high-quality protein, you
1:41
provide both the signal and the building
1:43
blocks needed to actually grow. Creatine
1:46
works in a very different way. It
1:47
doesn't acutely switch on muscle growth.
1:50
Instead, it increases the amount of
1:52
phosphocreatine stored inside your
1:53
muscles. That helps you regenerate ATP
1:55
faster during short, high-intensity
1:57
efforts like lifting weights or
1:58
sprinting. But, here's the key point.
2:01
Creatine works by building up in your
2:03
muscles over time. It's about getting
2:04
your levels high and keeping them there,
2:07
which we call muscle saturation.
2:09
So, it's not about acute timing. And
2:12
then, there's caffeine. Caffeine works
2:14
primarily on your nervous system. It
2:16
blocks adenosine receptors in the brain,
2:18
reduce the perception of fatigue,
2:19
increases alertness, and can improve
2:21
strength, power, and endurance in the
2:23
short term. But, caffeine works acutely.
2:26
It's about when you take it or relative
2:28
to your training session. So, already
2:29
you can see the difference. Protein is
2:31
about consistent intake and
2:32
distribution. Creatine is about daily
2:34
saturation. And caffeine is about
2:36
strategic timing. And once you
2:38
understand that, the whole can I take
2:40
them together question becomes much
2:42
easier to answer. Let's start with
2:44
protein.
2:45
If you're training regularly and trying
2:47
to build or maintain muscle, protein is
2:49
the foundation. But, when it comes to
2:51
timing, people tend to overcomplicate
2:53
things. The first thing that matters
2:55
most is your total daily intake. Large
2:58
meta-analyses looking at resistance
3:00
training studies show that somewhere
3:01
around 1.6 g of protein per kilogram of
3:04
body weight per day seems to maximize
3:06
muscle growth for most [music] people.
3:08
Now, some individuals may benefit from
3:10
slightly more, but that's a very solid
3:13
target to aim for.
3:14
If you want more, go for it. Just don't
3:16
expect miracles. But, here's where
3:18
timing starts to matter a bit. Muscle
3:20
protein synthesis or MPS is stimulated
3:22
when you eat protein,
3:24
especially protein that contains enough
3:25
leucine, like all high-quality proteins
3:27
do. Research suggests that roughly 0.3
3:29
to 0.4 g of protein per kilogram of body
3:32
weight per meal is enough to maximally
3:35
stimulate muscle protein synthesis in
3:37
most young, healthy people. So, for a
3:39
70-kilo person, that's around 25 to 30 g
3:41
of protein in a meal. If you spread that
3:43
across four meals per day, you naturally
3:45
end up close to that 1.6 g per kilogram
3:47
of body weight per day total. Now,
3:49
here's the important part.
3:51
Resistance training itself increases
3:52
muscle protein synthesis and makes your
3:54
muscles extra sensitive to protein for
3:56
up to 24 to 48 hours after a session.
3:59
That means you don't need to panic about
4:01
a 30-minute anabolic window right after
4:04
training. As long as you're eating
4:05
enough protein across the day and you've
4:08
trained properly, your body has plenty
4:10
of opportunity to build muscle. So, when
4:12
should you take protein?
4:14
The honest answer is regularly. Ideally,
4:16
[music]
4:17
spread across the day in sensible doses.
4:20
Having protein within a few hours before
4:21
or after training is a good idea, but
4:23
obsessing over the exact minute doesn't
4:25
make much sense if your total daily
4:27
intake is too low. Now,
4:29
>> [music]
4:30
>> here's the important part for this
4:32
video. There is absolutely no problem
4:35
taking protein with creatine. There is
4:37
no problem taking protein with caffeine.
4:39
Protein is just food. It doesn't
4:41
interfere with either of them. So, if
4:44
you want to put your protein, creatine,
4:45
and pre-workout all in the same shaker,
4:48
nothing bad is going to happen.
4:50
Protein's job is just to support muscle
4:51
repair and growth across the day. It
4:53
doesn't need to be separated from the
4:55
other supplements in this video. Now,
4:57
let's move on to creatine.
4:59
Creatine works very differently from
5:01
protein. It doesn't switch on muscle
5:03
growth directly, and it doesn't give you
5:04
an acute boost the moment you take it.
5:06
Instead, creatine increases the amount
5:09
of phosphocreatine stored inside your
5:10
muscles.
5:11
That allows you to generate ATP faster
5:14
during short, high-intensity efforts
5:16
like heavy lifting, sprinting, or
5:18
explosive movements. But, here's the key
5:20
point.
5:21
Creatine works by building up in your
5:23
muscles over time. Once your muscles are
5:25
saturated, which usually happens after a
5:27
few weeks of taking around 3 to 5 g per
5:29
day, timing doesn't really matter very
5:31
much at all. You can take creatine in
5:33
the morning. You can take it after
5:35
training. You can take it before bed.
5:36
You can take it with a meal. And to be
5:38
honest, you're probably better off
5:39
taking it with food as it reduces the
5:41
chances of an upset stomach, which only
5:42
happens in very few unlucky folks. As
5:45
long as you take it consistently every
5:47
day, you'll maintain saturation and get
5:49
the performance benefits. Now, you might
5:51
have heard that creatine should be taken
5:53
with carbohydrates or protein to
5:55
increase uptake. There was some early
5:57
research showing that insulin could
5:59
enhance creatine transport into the
6:00
muscle, and some studies suggested
6:02
combining creatine with carbs might
6:05
slightly increase muscle creatine
6:07
content. In practice, though, if you're
6:09
eating a normal mixed diet, you're
6:11
already getting enough insulin response
6:13
from your meals for creatine uptake to
6:15
happen efficiently. You don't need to do
6:17
anything special. Now, let's address the
6:19
elephant in the room. In 1996, a study
6:22
by Vandenberg and colleagues suggested
6:23
that taking caffeine together with
6:25
creatine might blunt some of creatine's
6:28
performance [music] benefits. The study
6:30
showed that when participants took both
6:31
together, the expected improvement in
6:33
muscle function from creatine wasn't
6:35
seen. But since then, multiple studies
6:37
and positions have looked at the same
6:39
issue more closely, and the overall
6:41
conclusion is that there's no strong
6:43
evidence that caffeine meaningfully
6:45
cancels out the benefits of creatine in
6:47
real-world training. In fact, many
6:49
athletes use both together without any
6:52
loss of strength or power improvement
6:53
over time. The only practical issue some
6:55
people might notice is stomach
6:57
discomfort. Both creatine and caffeine
6:59
can, in some cases, cause mild
7:02
gastrointestinal symptoms in some
7:04
individuals, especially at higher doses.
7:06
So, if you're sensitive, you might
7:08
prefer not to take large amounts of both
7:10
at exactly the same time. But from a
7:12
physiological standpoint, there's no
7:13
good reason to separate them. So, when
7:16
should you take creatine? The simple
7:18
answer is whenever you'll remember to
7:20
take it consistently. Want to take it
7:22
with protein? Fine. Want to take it with
7:24
caffeine? Fine. In the same shaker? Also
7:27
fine. Remember, creatine is about daily
7:30
saturation, not acute timing. Now, let's
7:34
talk about caffeine. Unlike protein and
7:36
creatine, caffeine works acutely, which
7:39
means you feel its effect pretty much
7:41
right away, and they last for a few
7:43
hours. You take it, it enters your
7:45
bloodstream, it reaches your brain and
7:47
it changes how your nervous system
7:49
responds to fatigue. Most of the
7:51
research we have suggests that a dose
7:52
around 3 to 6 mg per kilogram of body
7:55
weight is effective for improving
7:56
strength, power, endurance and reaction
7:58
time. So, for a 70 kg person, that's
8:01
roughly 200 to 400 mg of caffeine. And
8:04
timing with caffeine actually does
8:07
matter. [music] After you take caffeine,
8:08
it usually takes somewhere between 30
8:10
and 60 minutes to reach what we call
8:11
peak blood concentration. That's why the
8:14
standard advice is to take caffeine
8:16
about 45 to 60 minutes before the
8:17
hardest part of your training session.
8:19
So, if you smash a pre-workout as soon
8:21
as you walk into a gym, chances are the
8:22
caffeine won't fully kick in until
8:24
you're halfway through the session or
8:26
driving home. That said, timing isn't
8:28
too [music] rigid. Some forms of
8:30
caffeine, like caffeine gum, can act
8:31
faster because they get absorbed from
8:33
your mouth directly into your
8:34
bloodstream. And for long sessions or
8:35
competitions that last several hours,
8:37
some athletes split their dose taking
8:39
some before and more during the session.
8:41
This is a really popular strategy for
8:43
endurance athletes like runners or
8:44
cyclists. What about mixing it?
8:47
Caffeine can absolutely [music] be taken
8:49
with protein and it can absolutely be
8:50
taken with creatine. There's no
8:52
biochemical conflict between them. The
8:54
only [music] real consideration, like I
8:56
mentioned before, is possible stomach
8:58
discomfort. If you're someone who gets a
8:59
sensitive stomach from taking high doses
9:01
of caffeine, combining it with a large
9:03
dose of creatine all at once might not
9:05
be the best move. But, and it's a big
9:07
but, this only happens in a small amount
9:10
of people. The majority people who take
9:12
caffeine or creatine have no issues
9:14
mixing them.
9:15
How do you find out if you're sensitive
9:16
or not? Easy. Try it and see. Just don't
9:19
try it for the first time before a
9:21
personal best attempt or a competition.
9:23
Now, we also need to talk about sleep.
9:25
Caffeine has a half-life of roughly 3 to
9:27
7 hours and in some people it's even
9:29
longer. That means if you take a large
9:31
dose at 6:00 p.m., you could still have
9:34
a significant amount circulating in your
9:36
bloodstream at midnight. Even if you
9:38
feel fine, your sleep quality might be
9:40
reduced.
9:41
And if your sleep suffers, your recovery
9:43
suffers. And if your recovery suffers,
9:45
your gains suffer. Caffeine timing isn't
9:48
just about when to take it before
9:49
training, it's also about when not to
9:52
take it. For most people, keeping
9:54
caffeine earlier in the day and using it
9:56
strategically for harder sessions makes
9:58
far more sense than relying on it every
10:01
single workout. So, protein and creatine
10:04
support adaptation over time. Caffeine
10:06
supports performance in the moment. And
10:08
performance only turns into progress if
10:10
recovery is in place. So, let's bring
10:13
all this together. Can you stack
10:14
protein, creatine, and caffeine? Yes,
10:17
absolutely. Because they work through
10:19
completely different mechanisms, they
10:21
don't interfere with each other in
10:22
[music] any meaningful way. So, if you
10:25
want to mix creatine into your protein
10:26
shake, that's completely fine. If you
10:28
want to take caffeine before training
10:29
and then have a protein shake
10:31
afterwards, also completely fine. And if
10:33
all three end up in the same shaker
10:35
bottle or alongside a meal before a
10:37
workout, they're still going to be okay.
10:39
You definitely don't need to worry about
10:42
mixing them and creating some kind of
10:44
biochemical weapon in your shaker.
10:46
Consistency with protein intake, daily
10:48
creatine use, and strategic caffeine
10:50
timing will do far more for your results
10:52
than trying to micromanage every gram
10:55
and every minute. And remember, if
10:57
you've any questions, drop them in the
10:58
comments below.
10:59
And remember to like and subscribe to
11:00
the Myprotein YouTube channel for more
11:02
great evidence-based nutrition
11:04
information.
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