A carnosine gel you rub on, not a powder you load for four weeks. Ten pumps a leg, three quarters of an hour before the hard part. In the newest independent trial that was worth 8–12% more peak power in the sprints that reached significance.
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+8–12%peak power
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16,500+Athletes using it
45 minTo effect
LactiGo has been featured on
Who uses it
What it did for people we know
Coaches, grapplers and weekend athletes who tested it and wrote back. Every entry records the sport, the protocol they actually used and anything they measured — in their words, trimmed but never reworded.
Very clear power and power endurance differences between same workout last week (no gel) to this week (gel). Did 30min of power/explosive lifts, followed by 10min of acrobatics, then 20min of 4:1 easy:hard running. Typical Sunday morning for me before delivering sessions. Early-session force/power capacity up, repeated explosive work tolerance up, perceived recovery between strength bouts up, available strength-work reserve up, subsequent cardiovascular capability remained excellent — locomotor muscular fatigue eventually still appeared.
Skye E.Coach · Strength & power
Protocol
Same session repeated a week apart, gel on the second week only
Measured
~17–27% higher peak strength loading and 16.7% more fast running, for 1.1% more WHOOP strain
Pushed myself super hard on Friday with Elite Feet, basketball scrimmages, barefoot jumping on concrete to dunk on 9 foot rims, plyos with several of my clients, and finally 10D5 seated calf raises DEEP. My soleus was absolutely cooked. It was super sore and felt like it was 5% away from an injury. I used Lactigo every two hours throughout the weekend, and by Monday morning I was completely fine. I put it on my quads all weekend too. Today I front squatted 215 lbs several times with lifetime PR level form. It could be timing, years of training, or the fact that I’ve learned a ton of new training techniques this year.
Joe E.Coach · Basketball & strength
Protocol
Every two hours across a weekend, soleus and quads
Measured
Front squatted 215 lbs at lifetime-PR form at 32; self-rated DOMS down roughly 50% per application
Got it after a solid session with legs and put it on lightly that night. Woke up with no doms at all. Been applying a little bit before and after training to targeted areas and having the same results. Surfing every morning and usually I’d be pretty cooked especially after an upper body session and just feeling like I could keep going. Also noticed an improvement in my sleep since applying it at night. Especially on the back of my neck.
Mitch D.Recreational lifter · Surfing & gym
Protocol
Light application before and after training, and at night
Measured
No next-day soreness after a heavy leg session
I really put the gel to the test this weekend playing a basketball tournament. 6 games in 4 days. The muscle and joint recovery was insane but what I noticed even more was the recovery on my CNS and not feeling CNS fatigue. I was waking up each morning bouncing out of bed for games. Normally my feet, ankles and calves are pretty cooked when I play 2 games in 3 days.
BrendonCoach, The Vitality Method · Basketball
Protocol
Across a four-day tournament, six games
Measured
Six games in four days without the usual lower-leg wreckage from two games in three
1 week in using the gel and I am waking up with a little less pain in my right shoulder everyday. Workouts I def have that extra gear and seem to be recovering faster between rounds at BJJ. I keep thinking its too good to be true but from all the testimonials here and my personal experience it is working.
Eamon F.Grappler · Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Protocol
Daily for a week, shoulder and training days
Measured
Faster recovery between rolling rounds
I landed with too much dorsiflexion from a backflip that cooked my ankle immediately. Added lactigo later and barely had any pain or soreness the next day. It’s still recovering but went from like an 8/10 discomfort to 2/10.
Jorge Q.Athlete · Tumbling
Protocol
Applied the same day, after the landing
Measured
Self-rated discomfort 8/10 to 2/10 next day
Everyone here chose to test it and chose to write in, so weigh these as testimonials rather than as data. What makes them worth publishing is the protocol and the measured number attached to each one. The controlled trials — all four of them — are on the evidence page.
45 minutes between the gel and the first hard effort. Every trial that found anything did it that way. Applying it as you walk out is a different protocol, and nobody has tested that one.
0:00
Ten pumps a leg
Quad and calf, skin clean and dry. The trials used 10 ml per leg. Sweat and body lotion sit between the gel and you, so wipe down first.
40:00
Then leave it alone
Warm up, get taped, do your prep. Every trial that found anything left 40–45 minutes before the first hard effort. Nobody has tested applying it at the start line.
45:00
Go
The effect turned up in 6-second maximal sprints repeated twelve times. Steady aerobic work was never tested. If your session has no repeated near-maximal efforts, the evidence does not cover it.
The newest trial is the strongest: independent, triple-blind, and a placebo matched for menthol — and it found peak power 7.6 to 12.3% higher in repeated sprints. Two earlier positives are manufacturer-linked. A fourth, also independent, found nothing, and it is on this site at the same size as the rest.
Reported a benefitFound no effectHollow means the trial measured nothing. Green means the authors are independent of the manufacturer; grey means they are not.
For repeated sprints, by a small amount. Seven world-class rugby sevens players, triple-blind, gel against a menthol-matched placebo: peak power up 7.6%, 8.3% and 12.3% in the three sprints that reached significance. Average power, heart rate and perceived effort did not move. An independent trial in trained cyclists found nothing at all. That is the whole evidence base, and it is on our evidence page with the author affiliations attached.
Is it just the menthol?
That is the right question, and it is the only one anyone has actually tested. The 2025 placebo was ultrasound gel with 1.25% menthol added to match the smell and the tingle. Both arms felt the same. The power difference held. Four of the seven players finished the study believing the placebo day was their better one — which is the point of blinding it properly.
Why does the brand say 4% and you say 8–12%?
The 4% comes from a 2016 paper in a non-indexed journal with the product name in its title and a manufacturer-linked author list. The 8–12% comes from a 2025 independent trial in a peer-reviewed sports nutrition journal. We quote the better study. Both are on the evidence page with the difference spelled out.
How much do I use and when?
10 ml per leg — thigh and calf — 45 minutes before the hard part. That is exactly what the trials did. No study has tested a different dose, a different timing, or a different muscle group, so anything else is you running your own experiment.
Can I use it if I get drug tested?
It carries Informed Sport certification, which means every batch is screened for banned substances. Check your specific batch with the certifying body before you compete. Do that yourself — not from a marketing page, and not from us.
Will it help with soreness or recovery?
No trial has measured it. Not one of the four studies looked at soreness, sleep or next-day readiness, so there is no number we can honestly put against it. It is also the single most common thing people tell us about unprompted, which is why those reports are on our results page — labelled as testimonials, unblinded, and outnumbered by people who felt nothing and never wrote in. Read them as a reason to test it on yourself, not as evidence.
You sell it. Why would I trust you?
Do not trust us — check the links. Every number on this site goes to the paper it came from. We publish the trial that found nothing, at the same size as the ones that worked, and we flag which studies share authors with the manufacturer. That includes the study the brand puts on its own homepage.
The same molecule is sold as a sports gel and as a skincare active, at concentrations two orders of magnitude apart. Which one you want, and what each can actually show.
The trial ran on rugby sevens — the closest published thing to a hard roll. What transfers to the mats, what does not, and what four grapplers reported.
