Legion Whey Protein Review-Is It Worth The Money?

March 21, 2019 By Dan Strong 22 Comments

The time has finally come to write my first whey protein review. What kind of supplement review site is this anyways without whey protein reviews?

I know that most of you reading this have tried or currently take whey protein. You probably even have a favorite that you never want to part with. I totally get it but just be open-minded for a few minutes as you read this.

Whey protein is one of the most popular supplements going and has been for a long time. It’s typically a very cheap and convenient way to get your protein in.

Whey protein is the bread and butter for a lot of companies, and it shows. There are a ton of different flavors and brands out there. It seems like every day a new company comes out with a whey protein powder.

If you’ve been coming here for a while, you know that I don’t just try any supplement. It has to meet my strict standards. It has to be free of artificial garbage.

There are some great whey proteins out there that fit my standards, but I have always found the taste to be lackluster. It’s just something I’ve learned to deal with.

A few months back I came across a company called Legion Athletics and I truly believe that they are a game changer in the supplement industry.

Once I tried their whey protein and looked at the ingredients, I knew that it was something special. I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally find a high-quality grass-fed whey protein powder that also tastes great as well.

In this Legion whey protein review, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about it before you buy to help you decide whether it’s right for you.

What is whey protein?

Whey is a type of protein found in cows’ milk. It’s the watery portion of milk that becomes separated during the cheese making process. That whey is then purified and processed into a powder.

Whey protein rates very high on the bioavailability scale, which means that our bodies are able to absorb and handle it well. Whey protein is a fast digesting protein, which makes it ideal for use just prior to or after a workout.

It’s favored by bodybuilders and athletes due to the fact that it digests so quickly as compared to other types of protein like casein. It can immediately go to work to repair your muscles shortly after taking it.

About Legion Athletics

I talked about Legion Athletics in my review of their casein powder, but I will give you a brief rundown for those of you who are unfamiliar with them.

Legion Athletics was started by a health and fitness author named Mike Matthews. Matthews is the author of the bestselling book, Bigger Leaner Stronger.

I had bought the book shortly after it came out, so I was familiar with Matthews. The book was one of the most comprehensive bodybuilding books I’ve read so I was a huge fan of Matthews already.

When I first found Legion Athletics a few months ago, I was immediately impressed with their supplements. I didn’t even realize Matthews started it at first.

No matter which supplement of theirs I looked at, I could find nothing but quality ingredients and great reviews.

I can count on one hand how many companies there are that have zero supplements that contain things like artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives or chemicals. Legion Athletics is one of those companies.

Even some of my favorite supplement companies make some supplements with artificial ingredients. This makes me sad to see as I think they are totally unnecessary.

Matthews stated that he founded Legion Athletics because he was tired of seeing all the harmful and ineffective supplements being sold. He was tired of the consumer, like me and you, getting taken advantage of with flashy marketing.

Legion Athletics makes supplements that are scientifically backed by peer-reviews scientific literature while being free of sweeteners, dyes chemicals and other artificial garbage that has no business going into your body.

Legion Athletics is a supplement company created with the healthy consumer in mind. Based upon my experience, they are an honest company that cares about their customers.

Legion Whey +

There is no other whey protein like Legion’s on the market right now. Even three months after first buying it, I am still extremely impressed with it.

Legion’s whey protein powder is a naturally sweetened and flavored whey protein isolate powder derived from Irish dairy cows. It’s free of soy, gluten, lactose, preservatives, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, MSG and GMO’s.

This is where Legion stands out to me. Most people don’t know this, but Ireland has some of the highest quality milk and dairy available. They have higher regulatory standards than the United States. The cows used to make this whey are hormone and antibiotic free.

Legion Athletics: Whey Plus Protein Supplement Review

While Legion doesn’t label their whey as grass-fed, it’s from cows that spend the majority of the year outside grazing on grass in open pastures as they are supposed to.

You want to consume dairy from grass-fed cows. Grass-fed whey protein is far superior to standard whey in my opinion. It also tastes noticeably better.

Legion explains that they don’t use the term grass-fed despite the cows actually being grass-fed because they think that the term is misleading. They explain that the standard for the label “grass-fed” has been abused by other companies which I agree with.

What makes their whey stand out when compared with other whey proteins is the quality of it. It’s made with a type of whey called whey protein isolate.

Not all whey is equal

Whey protein is sold in three forms being concentrate, isolate and hydrolysate.

When it comes to whey protein, concentrate is the cheapest and lowest quality choice. It contains more fat and lactose.

A lot of companies choose whey concentrate to make their whey protein powder for those reasons. It helps jack up their profits while minimizing production costs.

Whey concentrate can vary between 35 % to 85 % protein by weight. What that means is that you may be getting a bunch of other things with your whey that you don’t want, typically fillers like flour or maltodextrin.

Most people don’t look at the type of whey that’s in their protein. They just assume that it’s all the same which isn’t the case.

Whey isolate is 90 % protein by weight and is a purer source of whey than concentrate. Obviously, this is going to cost supplement companies more money to use which is likely to increase the price of the whey protein for the customer.

Many companies will use a cheap whey concentrate with a low amount of protein by weight and dose it with low-quality amino acids to jack up the protein content. This is known as amino spiking. It’s an unethical practice in the supplement industry. You overpay for a cheap protein supplement.

Legion’s Whey + is made with whey protein isolate. You are getting almost pure protein with each scoop. They way to tell is by looking at the label. Per 1 scoop (1 serving) of Legion whey weighing 29.3 grams, 25 grams of it are coming from whey protein isolate.

You are getting an extremely pure form of whey protein without other fillers and other garbage included. Each serving of their whey contains 22 grams of protein, 0 grams of fat and 1 gram of carbohydrates.

Taste

The flavor that I currently have of the Whey + is cookies and cream. It’s the only one that I’ve tried so far, but it tastes great. One thing you’ll find with natural protein supplements is that they are usually lacking on the taste and flavors. Not this one.

Companies will make a few of the standard flavors like chocolate and vanilla, but they don’t usually make that many other flavors. I’m assuming that it’s more difficult to make a lot of flavors when you can’t use artificial ingredients.

The cookies and cream that I have is one of the best tasting whey proteins I’ve ever tried. This includes the standard commercial ones I used to take.

It actually includes real pieces of chocolate cookies that you can see in the powder. It’s a cool touch that puts it even higher on my list.

Legion powder cookie pieces — (You can see the pieces of cookie in the powder)

The taste is not overly sweet. It’s very smooth and subtle. It actually tastes like cookies and cream too. Not that diet protein type cookies and cream, but the real thing.

Consistency

The difference in the whey quality is immediately evident when you make a shake with this. Even with water, it mixes up extremely thick like an actual shake.

This is unlike any other whey protein I’ve ever tried. If you like to mix your whey with milk, I understand it, but I really don’t think that this needs it.

It’s thick enough with water alone which is great because I don’t drink milk. That’s a big plus for me.

Mixability

As this is thicker, it does not mix up quite as easily as other brands of whey that I’ve tried. I usually have to give it a few extra hard shakes to fully mix it. Even then, some of the powder on top always seems to avoid getting mixed.

Unless you are one of those freaks that needs to drink super smooth protein, you won’t have an issue. It doesn’t clump up with water and mixes very well overall.

Effectiveness

It’s difficult to know for sure whether whey is actually working but I do notice a few things with this. My recovery seems better when I take it. I am less sore and recover faster.

I also just feel better when I take it. It’s easy to digest and I feel like it goes right to work to help my muscles repair after a workout. I have noticed some increases in strength, size and definition with it as well.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients in the cookies and cream flavor.

Non-gmo whey protein isolate, non-gmo maltodextrin, gluten free chocolate cookie crumbs (rice flour, sugar, tapioca starch, sustainable palm oil, cocoa bean, corn starch, salt, chocolate liquor, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin), natural flavors, salt, xanthan gum, stevia leaf extract and tapioca starch.

As you can see, the bulk of the ingredient list comes from the cookie crumbs however, it’s a very small amount of the protein overall as the vast majority of it is the whey protein isolate.

Nutrition

Here is a quick breakdown of the nutrition per serving.

Calories-110
Total fat- 0 g
Total carbohydrate-4 g (differs between flavors)
Sugars-0 g
Protein-22 g
Calcium-138 MG
Sodium-170 MG
Non-gmo whey protein isolate-25
Non-gmo maltodextrin-1 g

Flavors

While I have unfortunately not had the opportunity to try all the flavors yet, I just want to list the ones that Legion’s Whey + currently comes in as they have some great options.

Whey + currently comes in Dutch chocolate, French vanilla, chocolate peanut butter, strawberry banana, cookies and cream, mint chocolate, mocha cappuccino, unflavored and birthday cake.

Don’t even pretend like you’re not excited about the birthday cake flavor. That is going to be the next flavor I try as I love birthday cake flavored things.

Price

A 30 serving tub of Whey + is currently $40.00, which comes out to $1.33 per serving.

A 78 serving tub of Whey + is $95.00, which comes out to $1.22 per serving.

I am a bit disgusted to say that I have paid far more in my younger and dumber days for protein that was not as good as this one.

I think that’s a great price for this protein. One similar competitor to Legion that comes to mind (which I won’t name) charges ten dollars more for the same amount of protein, which contains whey concentrate.