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Cycling is a commonly used practice where you consistently use a supplement for a period of time, but then go off of it for a period of time. A lot of people question whether this is really necessary. To answer this question, let’s talk about why you should do this with certain supplements and which supplements you should do it with.

What is Cycling All About?

So if using body building supplements can help you get a better physique, why should you cycle them? The problem is that if you have used certain supplements for a long period of time you may have noticed that they tend to have less effect as more time goes by.

You can limit this effect by cycling. By cycling your supplement intake you can keep your body from building up a tolerance and reliance on the supplement. In other words, you’ll get more benefit from the supplement for a longer period and you won’t become fully dependent on the supplement to maintain your physique. Sounds great right!

Supplements that You Don’t Need to Cycle

Before we talk about ideas on cycling, let’s talk a little bit about the supplements that you don’t need to worry about cycling. These would include multivitamins, antioxidants, fish oils, and protein. Glutamine is another supplement that falls into this category. So don’t worry about cycling these, just take them consistently for their benefits.

Supplements That Should be Cycled

While there are some supplements that don’t need cycling as mentioned above, there are plenty of others that will work better long term if you cycle them. These would include (but are not limited to) creatine supplements, NO2, and fat burners.

Creatine Cycling Ideas

There are a couple of standard strategies suggested for cycling creatine. One is the standard loading phase followed by a maintenance phase, hen go off completely after 6-8 weeks, then start the cycle again. Another idea is to load for 3 days, don’t take any for 3 days, repeat. And a third technique is to take 10g per day for 6 weeks, then take 2 weeks off. Different people feel different effects with different techniques. Experiment a bit and see what works best for you.

NO2 Cycling Ideas

As I’ve been searching around for a technique to cycle NO2 I haven’t found any great advice on it. It seems that some people (and apparently books) suggest that you don’t have to cycle it at all, but you’ll also find that a lot of people have found the effect wearing off over prolonged use.

I have seen a few suggestions to use NO2 for no more than a month, and I think that this makes good sense. Use it for a month, and then go off for 2-4 weeks. This will keep your body developing a tolerance for the NO2 supplement.

Cycling Fat Burners

Don’t take thermogenic products or other fat burners for a long period of time. It would be a good idea to follow a similar routine as recommended for NO2 of one month on and then a few weeks off on this one as well. Using the amount of caffeine in these products for a long period of time can’t be good!

Final Thoughts

To get the most out of some body building supplements for a longer period of time you really should cycle them in one way or another. You’ll find that there are a lot of different ways that people do this and so the best thing you can do is to try different cycling techniques to see what your body reacts to the most. Do this effectively and you’ll continue to reap the benefits of your favorite supplements!