yeah, 5 before and 5 after....post workout, I throw it in my protein shake....in the morning, I just use water or (alot of guys will like this) koolaid. Sometimes juice. Really, whatever I'm drinking to swallow my vitamines. Dextrose will help creatine to shuttle or load better, so if you have some, you can use it. All of these dextrose loaded creatines didn't hit the market till a few years after I started working out, so I've always stuck with pure creatine. I have used the other forms, and I've found I get pretty much the same results from both. But, again, thats me...hope I've helped