any one tried sportlegs?

FrankBattle

Surprisingly, there are folks out there who do not spend as much time as others on here or who have just [relatively] recently found the site and spend more time reading posts than responding to posts or posting at all.

It is a bit dis-heartening that folks get chopped down for sharing their experiences. [I'll speak for myself here] the supplement is not about going fast, but more about carrying 6' 3" 202 lbs frame up a hill without blowing up on the longer climbs. Again, for me, this seems to help. I don't race, so I couldn't possibly care less about going fast. I don't think the original poster/question said anything about increasing speed; *the fringe result may indeed be that with being able to recover quicker and go hard(er) longer, that one becomes faster .. *

While I ride purely to stay healthy [read: keep weight in check and heart healthier], for fun and with groups wherever my weekly travels land me, I do like to be competitive. If I could ride more, harder and/or lose 30 lbs of muscle (and I'm sure some fat), I'm fairly sure the results would be the same. Until then, this is akin to drinking any electrolyte-laden (insert your favorite brand) fluid instead of water to ward off cramping, eating carb+protein+sugar-laden foods to prevent bonking (or sugar+carb-laden gels) or popping salt tablets to prevent dehydration.

In defense of us newer posters with <1000 posts, saying everyone who disagrees with the more "senior" members of this site is a spammer is right up there with assuming that those people with >500 posts have no lives other than riding and posting on here.

(I know that's preposterous, but we all have to start somewhere, no?)

Some have an opinion on almost any topic here. Others, like me, like to lurk, more so learn and be very selective about posts to respond to. There is a ton of good information here from many of the posters. There are some bad apples, for sure, but it would help to welcome the newer posters and those who might be new(er) to cycling as a hobby. Case in point: Myself; I bought my first road bike (Fuji Roubaix) last April or March. And now have another (Giant TCR 2 Composite). Until then I had a Diamondback MTB that was more of a garage ornament than anything else. I have since lost 25 lbs (45 lbs lost before starting road biking from just dieting).

Now back to the supplement in question, it couldn't psosibly be any less crucial what the "experts" on here say. And I hope I don't get flamed for my rant, but perhaps let us all be heard and be free to add to the plethora of good (and maybe even wrong) information on here.

I'll go back to lurking and pray that the masters don't proverbially slay me.

Sublime99

WARNING: Please do not feed the Trolls!

exciton

I am a first time poster, as I have reached this site via an ultrarunning forum in which this product is discussed.

The post in which a first-time racer attests to the efficacy of this product is absolutely hilarious and without logic. 'I don't know if it really helped ...'

We should understand that Sportleg has one and only one purpose on this forum: to sell his product. It should be against forum rules to advertise in this manner in the first place.

This product is based on an old sports myth: that lactic acid causes the pain of fatigue and that 'buffering' it will increase endurance. In fact this is backward. Lactic acid does not cause pain and fatigue, it is simply a correlate of pain and fatigue, as its level is a sign of the metabolic regime in which the athlete is exercising. Saying lactic acid causes pain and fatigue is like saying that sweating causes pain and fatigue. In fact it's only a symptom of hard exercise.

For the lay reader, you can find ample discussion of this (with plenty of real references) in Tim Noakes book The Lore of Running. It actually discusses cycling quite a lot in addition to running. In one of the studies discussed, athletes were actually injected with lactic acid and it made no difference in performance.

In short, this stuff is snake oil (perhaps benign snake oil). The phony journal reference is a strong signal to the astute reader. I'll bet the vitamins and minerals won't hurt you, but the basic premise of this product is a falsity based on a widely held myth.

discobean7

I realize this is way after the fact, but here is the much talked about citation. It is nothing more than a poster presentation (absolutely no peer review or oversite required), and a poorly done poster at that. The methods are veru poorly described and no specific results are provided. Also note that the "research" was funded by Sportlegs (Sport Specifics, Inc.) which means the company paid some grad student to do a poster. OK the dead horse has officially been beaten.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 37(5) Supplement May 2005 p S40
Effect Of Lactate Salts On Performance And Metabolic Variables During Incremental Exercise In Healthy Males: 218 Board #125 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Latsch, Elizabeth1; Otterstetter, Ronald2; Glickman, Ellen FACSM1

1Kent State University, Kent, OH.

2The University of Akron, Akron, OH.

PURPOSE
To determine the effect of a supplement containing calcium lactate and magnesium lactate versus placebo (PLA) during a continuous bout of incremental exercise to exhaustion.

METHODS
Twelve males (22.6 ± 2.7 yr) underwent pre-experimental testing to determine their maximal aerobic capacity (x = 50.2 ±6.7 ml·kg-1·min-1). Two timing patterns were tested: the supplement in capsules taken one hour prior to exercise (CAP) and the supplement dissolved in 12 ml of water taken immediately before exercise (SOL). Subjects underwent 3 incremental exercise tests on a cycle ergometer before which they were fed 787 mg of calcium lactate combined with 653 mg of magnesium lactate (in CAP or SOL as stated above) and one where they were fed PLA. Exercise tests consisted of 4 min of loadless pedaling on a cycle ergometer followed by an increase of 30 W min-1 until exhaustion. Blood samples were drawn pre- and post-trial for determination of lactate, glucose, electrolytes, and free fatty acid concentration. Blood samples were also taken every other minute for determination of blood lactate concentration by a portable lactate analyzer.

RESULTS
ANOVA revealed a main effect for time for LAC (p ≤ 0.001) as well as a time by treatment interaction (p ≤ 0.001). Bicarbonate and pH demonstrated main effects for time (p ≤ 0.001) but did not differ between treatments.

CONCLUSIONS
From these data, it appears that a supplement containing calcium lactate and magnesium lactate caused a differential metabolic response compared to the placebo feeding with respect to blood lactate concentration during incremental exercise.

Funding provided by Sport Specifics, Inc. Chagrin Falls, OH

©2005The American College of Sports Medicine

__________________
"if at first you don't succeed, redefine success"

patch70

How did such a badly written abstract get accepted for anything? The descriptions are poor (esp the results section!!!!), the use of unexplained abbreviations has been allowed and the stats are dodgey (p value should be either < 0.001 or = 0.001 but should not be written as ≤ 0.001....)

discobean7

The journal (Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise) is a legitimate publication that presents peer-reviewed research articles. However, during conferences there are often poster presentations done by either PhDs, grad or undergrad students. For the student section the review process is nothing more than getting approval from their advisor and then submitting the paperwork. These posters are intended to be a good experience for the students, but in no way counts as legitimate research. Unfortunately companies can then use these very weak "citations" to deceive the general public. In summary, Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise is a good journal, students presenting posters for experience is great, but companies citing these posters to support their outlandish claims is deceitful.

__________________
"if at first you don't succeed, redefine success"

SportDoc

"Yeah, what he said." (I concur)

amh-1

FYI...

if you live in Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth area, and race...
Sports Legs does not work... don't waste your time...

a

mitosis

So does it work anywhere else?