SportLegs

[meridian]

SportLegs, shortly after my first reply post here I decided to dig around a little bit and do some more extensive research before ordering to see if there was a less expensive alternative to SportLegs which would be just as effective.

While I do believe the calcium/magnesium combo of ingredients aids in minimizing ‘the burn’, which in turn leads to performance gain, I have done my research and disagree with your stance on the lactate forms of these ingredients being vastly superior in effect to other forms of calcium and magnesium.

The difference between the lactate forms of these ingredients versus other forms isn’t all that vast. 1. Lactate form provides higher solubility and dissolution rates, which simply means it breaks down easier and faster during digestion than some other forms. 2. Lactate form is often contained at smaller density, which means you often must consume a higher dosage of lactate form versus another form to acquire the same amount of supplement.

I believe plain old calcium carbonate or calcium citrate + magnesium supplements taken at the right time and in the right dosage could exhibit the same results as your product, which some athletes have tried and attested toward. (Also, if someone wishes to use faster dissolving calcium lactate, this form of calcium can be found much cheaper elsewhere.)


As a side note, during my research on your product I have seen you post on several cycling forums attesting to somewhat peculiar claims about both the performance gains of your product and also how it works. Personally, I don’t believe all the hype you’ve posted on the other boards and forums I have come across, and from what I’ve read, neither did many other readers.

Ultimately, while your product has worked for me in the past, I'll be using alternative supplements of cal/mag/d for aiding performance and after-ride recovery. Why? 1. I believe this product is overpriced. 2. While I understand that your #1 goal is to market, push, and sell your product, I don't really agree with the marketing tactics and misinformation exhibited on the forums I have visited.

[equus123]

to step away from the current topic of this particular product and switch gears (no pun intended :-p) to other remedies for similar results....

if you guys are looking for better results, less dead legs, and better recoveries after rides - do you know the power of carbohydrates? since i couldn't add anything to the SportsLegs discussion, i can add some here....

taking in the correct amount of grams of carbohydrates per day is crutial for endurance athletes. the coach that is helping me out says that he sees all too often that people feel they're overtrained or performing badly for various reasons but can be boiled down to not getting enough grams of carbohydrates per day. it's something that's very easy to overlook that results in major reprocussions. i mention this because it was my problem recently. i felt progressively tired/blah/unmotivated over a few weeks, brought this up to him, and he said i'm prob not eating correctly. he recommended adding an additional 1/2 scoop of mix into my bottles, have a recovery drink after every ride (i had just been doing the long or hard ones), eat on most rides whether it be a gel or clif bloks (i hadn't been eating anything really), and modify my meals - all of this to increase the grams of carbohydrates consumed per day. long story short after several days of doing this, i began to feel awesome on and off the bike. i had a lot more spunk while on the bike whereas before i was a little on the dead side. it was also nice because it eliminated the necessity to eat a large meal immediately after riding to replenish the energy stores and aid in recovery. with eating more appropriately, i'm already doing that without having to stuff my face after a ride.

so i'm wondering if you all are getting enough carbs in if you're serious riders? (i'm hopefully upgrading to a Cat 3 racer at the end of this season) since i am still relatively new at all this, i don't know the extent (re: intensity and volume of your training) to which consuming more carbohydrates greatly enhances your performance. for example i try to get a bear minimum of 6 hrs on the bike per week and aim for 7-10 (including 2 rest days). i generally do some form of structured "work" each time i get on the bike in the form of different kinds of intervals. on the weekend i'll try and get 3.5-5 hours of riding time in and my season is many weekends between Apr 1 - Aug 31. so that's what i do and consuming more (not necessarily calories but grams of carbohydrates) and having something while out on the bike helped me tremendously with improving my performance, feeling better, feeling more spunky, and having more energy throughout the day and after a ride.

that's my $.02.

[Starfish]

Equus, I think what you say makes a lot of sense. In my case, I believe the soreness and fatigue are the result mainly of too many, or too hard, efforts well up into my red zone for HR. But, I have been experimenting with really counting my grams of carb intake, especially on the bike. Oddly enough, I have been making sure I don't take in too many per hour. It was causing me intestinal distress. Now, I'm eating more often on the bike, but smaller amounts, and it seems to help regulate my energy and digestion.

But, I do support your point. Last year, during the winter, I was doing some dieting and training at the same time. I finally got quite run down, and realized that for me, hard training and too severely restricted calorie intake just don't mix. Duh. But, for awhile, it was fun to have some weight drop off!

[equus123]

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[Running Mommy]

This thread really took a hard left turn!!
Personally I have found that sports legs work for me. I suppose I could go buy a bottle of cal, a bottle of mag, and yet another bottle of D, but I know me- I wouldn't take them. I like having everything in one pill. So I guess I'm paying a premium for it. Whatever.
And as for sportslegs getting in on this thread, I have no problem with it. They simply posted what THEY think their product has to offer. Take it or leave it. I think we are all savy enough to see a marketing campaign coming at us, and know when to duck.
It seems lately that this forum has been a bit oversensitive when it comes to such things... SHEESH! Let's just get on our bikes and go for a ride. We'll ALL feel much better!!

[meridian]

++ to what Equus stated about getting enough carbs. Protein also!

I have to be very careful even when I'm not doing a lot of training about eating the right foods, consistantly, and enough of them or I experience massive headaches, vision problems, random stabbing pains, and feel very rundown and quickly fatigued when I fall off the wagon.

Thus, I've learned to be thrice as careful when I'm working towards a new fitness goal and pushing myself to extremes so I don't experience yucky-ness or burn out.

[smilingcat]

I hit the ignore button from marketting.

As for supplements, I guess i'm bit of an old school. Get it from fresh food, not in a pill form. A friend of mine in college had a notriously bad diet. Lived on junk food and vitamin/mineral supplement. He could run a 10k race well under 30 minutes. Placed 6th overall in Pepsi 10k challange at the invitational. Anyway, it was predictable to see him literally crash every 6 month because of his bad diet.

side note: is it just me but when I was in college, male athletes generally had really bad diet. And we tended to be tad more consciencious of what and how much we ate. We are really bad with equating less weight wih performance. Guys didn't give you know what when it came to their weight.

During enudrance event, its tad hard to be carrying banana/boiled potato or fresh orange so I do resort to Cytomax, Aceelerade, luna bars (lemon and oatmeal/cranberry) even gatorade... Gu I can't stand the taste/texture. After a ride, I'm still bit ambivalent about those after ride drinks. I prefer lightly steamed vegis, sauteed spinach, mushroom, boiled potato...

And as of late i'm feeling bonked in my riding but then again I'm trying to lose about 10-15lb so I can get back into it... Is there a way to lose weight without feeling bonked? I want to lose excess as quickly as possible so I can start my serious training (on bike min of 15 hours/week).

The trouble is my side business is gourmet cookies with sugar/butter... and my regular job have 'treats' on Tuesdays and Fridays. So hard to stay away...

a fat cat,
similingcat

[Veronica]

The owner of my LBS gave us some SportLegs for free yesterday. I'll be giving them a try tomorrow when we do Ebbetts and Pacific Grade, I think.

Of course I'm not planning on riding really hard, it's a smell the roses and take photos kind of ride. So it may not be a fair test.

V.

[cslayton]

I am part of that testosterone brigade that seems to not be discussing the claims of SportLegs, and since I find a discussion here, and not much anywhere else, please allow me to chime in. My wrench swears to me that his wife was greatly helped by Sportlegs, and I examined the label and saw that I could buy the Calcium Lactate in powder form for about 10 bucks a bottle. This translates into MANY bottles of SportLegs. A teaspoon of this is close to the Sportlegs dose (1.462g @ each 50 lbs = 5.8g for me, I am 175 lbs, the teaspoon translates to about 4.6g). I have been adding this to any drink about an hour before any long ride (more than an hour).

I am also diabetic and have had humongous cramps while trying to examine my feet after a long ride, a routine which always requires me to bend down or lie down and pull upper legs toward my chest. I have found that in all long rides since starting this lactate addition (3 so far) I have had cramps only one time, and I attribute this to lying down with an ice pack on my knee instead of stretching after a 77-mile ride, as I was supposed to be doing. I have a century ride (I hope) this weekend and so another test of this is impending.

I do suspect that the calcium lactate made the difference; I stopped taking calcium citrate, potassium, or magnesium supplements during this period to help my test case. Lactate from magnesium would presumably be the same.
I make my own Sports Drink with Smart Water, Nuun tabs, and maltodextrine and fructose, and use this during my rides.
The Tums alternative did not work for me, but the lactate appears to have done so.

Just my two cents, but I agree with other posts that Sportlegs is horribly overpriced.