But we were confused, because in one place Legion told us to add it to a post-workout shake, and in another they told us to hold off taking it immediately after training, but instead to add it to our next meal afterwards.
So we wondered which would be the better option, so we looked more closely at Legion Athletics Recharge and this is what we found.
The main ingredients for Legion Athletics Recharge are l-carnitine and creatine.
L-carnitine is useful for short-term, explosive movements such as weightlifting, as opposed to long-term activities like running marathons. It’s also marketed for improving brain function, capacity, and long-term memory.
Creatine needs insulin to enter muscle tissue, so consuming it with carbs makes it more effective. In the short term, creatine causes muscle growth by attracting water into muscle fiber, while in the long-term muscle mass increases without that water.
It takes around 28 days for muscle tissue to hold the maximum amount of creatine, but although the website talks about loading Recharge by taking 4 times the recommended dosage for the first 5-7 days, there’s no mention of cycling it. And there’s still an element of doubt as to whether creatine causes kidney damage or not.
The main side effects are digestion problems, the potential for dehydration, lowered blood sugar levels, and a fishy odor in skin, sweat, and urine.
From the Legion website, Recharge costs $35 for 60 servings, which is a two-month supply.
From Amazon, if you “subscribe and save” Recharge costs $33.22 – or if you’re only making what they call a “one-time purchase” the price goes up to $34.97.
Legion Athletics appear a bit confused as to whether Recharge is a post-workout shake as it stands. The directions on their site tell you to take one scoop daily with your post workout meal, while on the Amazon sales page Legion Athletics tell you “All you need is just one serving with your post workout shake”. So which is it to be – taken by itself or added to some other drink?
We’re a bit puzzled by the very small amount of calcium in Recharge, too – other sources recommend a daily intake of a whole gram, while here each daily serving contains 26mg. Hardly any point in including it, we think, especially since they don’t tell us why they’ve done so in the first place.
Much of the initial muscle gain brought on by creatine is down to muscle fibers drawing water from the rest of the body. It takes a while for that water to be replaced by additional muscle tissue, so for proper gains, you’ve got to be patient.
How effective any post-workout supplement is going to be depends a lot on what you’ve consumed before and during that workout, and how well you nourish your muscles with in the hour or so after your workout – while the muscle cells are still sensitive to protein.
But is there any protein in Recharge? Nope.
As far as we’re concerned, this isn’t even close to a complete post-workout supplement – especially since we’re told to take it with a meal, which could be some hours after any workout anyway. Therefore, we do not recommend Legion Athletics Recharge to our readers.
We have to say that apart from the strange omission of why Legion have added calcium to Recharge, we’re very impressed by their website. It’s clear to read, explains what each of the – admittedly very few – ingredients do (with the exception of that minuscule amount of calcium) and it provides links to published studies about those ingredients, so we can see them for ourselves.
Legion Athletics Recharge has got 393 reviews on that website, of which 329 get the full five stars. And each review has a response from the company, even if it’s just to say thank you and suggest another Legion product the reviewer might like.
Directions
As for the Legion Athletics Recharge, we’ve talked before now about the difference between what’s said on the Legion website, and what Legion says on the Amazon website, as far as how to take Recharge – and we’re still confused as to whether we should add it to an immediately post-workout shake and wait until our post-workout meal.
That said, a lot of people out there think Recharge is expensive for what it is, and advise us to take creatine by itself without the added carnitine, corosolic acid, and calcium. But if the carnitine helps reduce muscle damage and soreness, and if the corosolic acid positively impacts carb consumption, then maybe it’s worth investing in a bottle. After all, it does carry a money-back guarantee. But be warned – many people have said the flavor isn’t exactly to their taste.
And because your muscles are crying out for a recharge in the hour after training, it could be best to combine Recharge with a protein-rich meal within that hour.
From the Legion Athletics Recharge sales page on Amazon.com:
“Powerful results and recovery formula: Recover from your workouts and make better gains
“Contains pure creatine monohydrate: The best natural muscle growth supplement you can buy
“Build muscle and gain strength faster: A true science-based muscle builder and muscle recovery drink
“Easy post workout recovery drink: All you need is just one serving with your post workout shake”
There’s no reason why it shouldn’t. When it comes to the additional muscle strength and the reduced post-workout discomfort, there should be enough creatine and carnitine there for the results to be apparent within a few days.
As for building up muscle volume, that’s going to start being apparent once muscle tissue starts drawing water from the rest of the body, and it could take a few weeks before that tissue becomes pure, real muscle.
So it should work, but if you’re expecting decent results, you’re going to have to be patient.
Serving size is equal to 1 rounded scoop (8.55g).
Other Ingredients:
Allergen Warning: This product was produced in a facility that may also process ingredients containing milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans.
Calcium can bring on digestion problems, irregularity of heartbeat, muscle or bone pain, weakness, drowsiness, and headache. It can make your mouth go dry and have a metallic taste.
Creatine monohydrate causes muscle tissue to draw water from other parts of your body, as well as causing muscle cramps and digestion problems. There’s also the matter of the possibility of harm to the liver, kidneys, or heart. While many supplement manufacturers maintain this isn’t possible, many organizations that don’t manufacture supplements say that it is.
L-carnitine l-tartrate is most famous for its “fishy odor” side effect, but it can also cause digestion problems and even seizures.
Corosolic acid can affect blood sugar levels – and could cause problems in people whose blood sugar is already low.
And stevia, used for sweetening Recharge, can bring on allergic reactions in people who are sensitive to ragweed, chrysanthemums and other related plants. There have also been complaints of muscle pain, dizziness, and numbness. It can also have an effect on blood sugar levels.
Creatine should not be taken alongside prescription medications which could affect the kidneys, immunosuppressant drugs, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories – even aspirin and ibuprofen. And calcium can interfere with thyroid hormone replacement treatments. People with poor kidney function should be aware that calcium supplementation could increase the risk of excess calcium in the blood.
Caution:
Not intended for persons under the age of 18. Do not use if pregnant or nursing. Consult a health care professional prior to consumption if you have any pre-existing medical conditions or are taking any prescription medication. Improper use of this product will not improve results and is potentially hazardous to a person’s health. Use only as directed.
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. STORE IN A COOL, DRY PLACE. DO NOT USE IF SAFETY SEAL IS BROKEN OR MISSING.
We plowed through more than fifty pages’ worth of seriously positive reviews on the Recharge website, and were pleased to note they’d been responded to, so Legion look like they take their customer service very seriously.
There were one or two minor grumbles, usually about the taste and if that was the case the company’s responses went along the lines of “if you’d like, we can get you a different flavor”. We liked that.
Then we visited Amazon, where we found 844 reviews, of which 96 were deemed “critical”, including this one, which made us re-think our opinion of those fifty plus pages of positive reviews,
The Legion team constantly blocked anyone that had anything than a perfect opinion of their products and services. They also targeted my content and they finally blocked me when I expressed that I was sad with the costumer service they provided me.
We’d have been interested to see how many reviews never made it onto the Legion website – and what they were. Perhaps they would have been like these ones we found on Amazon:
The ingredients are on point; however, the taste is so awful that I, literally, almost vomit every time I try to drink it. Think dirt meets chalk, mixed in 3 week old mop water.
This does not mix well at all and is painful to consume.
Why on earth would you pay $30+ for this stuff when you can get high quality creatine monohydrate for 1/3 of that price, in the same size?
We checked those Amazon reviews on Fakespot.com to find out how genuine they were. Apparently over 80% of those reviews were “high quality”, but it appears that in the six months since September 2016, Amazon deleted 331 reviews – make of that what you want.
Yes, and it’s quite an interesting one: Legion call it their “It’s On Us” guarantee, promising you your money back if you buy one of their supplements and don’t like it. No need to fill in forms or ship it back. But of course there’s a catch, and the catch being that it’s only for the first time you buy any of their products. It doesn’t quite work that way if you’ve made multiple purchases of a product the first time you buy it though – they’ll want you to ship the unopened packages back.
We’ve seen Recharge on Amazon, and it’s available from the Legion website – where Continental US orders don’t incur shipping charges.
The Muscle Watchdog does not recommend Legion Athletics Recharge.
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Disclaimer: Our reviews and investigations are based on extensive research from the information publicly available to us and consumers at the time of first publishing the post. Information is based on our personal opinion and whilst we endeavour to ensure information is up-to-date, manufacturers do from time to time change their products and future research may disagree with our findings. If you feel any of the information is inaccurate, please contact us and we will review the information provided.
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