An elite lifter asks whether creatine or caffeine would be a higher priority for off-season strength development and competition-day performance. Which recommendation best reflects evidence and periodization principles?

• A. Use high-dose caffeine year-round to build muscle mass and replace the need for progressive resistance training because caffeine stimulates hypertrophy directly
• B. Implement anabolic steroid use in off-season because they are the only way to substantially increase strength, and avoid creatine and caffeine because they have no effect on competition performance
• C. Prioritize creatine during off-season strength development for chronic gains in lean mass and repeated-power capacity, while reserving caffeine as an acute, competition-day ergogenic for reducing perceived effort and transient arousal as needed
• D. Avoid any supplements and instead rely exclusively on prolonged low-intensity cardio during the off-season to maximize strength gains

Answer: (C)