Collagen and Exercise

Javier Colomer 6 min. of reading Joint Health Leave a comment

Is it possible to increase the collagen synthesis through the diet? How are collagen and physical exercise related? We answer all these questions here, so keep reading!

Index

1 Connective or Conjunctive Tissue
2 How to strengthen our ligaments, tendons and cartilage?
3 Collagen Supplementation to improve the conjunctive tissue
4 Study
5 Conclusions
6 Bibliography

Connective or Conjunctive Tissue

Muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones… all of them have something in common: cells and extracellular matrix.

The so called connective or conjunctive tissue provides support to our cells. In fact, it works like glue, being the base of human biology.

Having a strong connective tissue is the wish of all athletes

This would equal less injuries and possibly, a better performance in almost all disciplines.

How to strengthen our ligaments, tendons and cartilage?

The easiest and simplest way is generating tension.

Bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments will directly respond to the most basic physiological stimulus: mechanical tension:

Little tension and they will not even notice
A lot of tension and we will cause an injury

Produce the right stimulus and you will strengthen all these structures

Learn more information about the functions of collagen and its benefits for the organism.

Collagen Supplementation to improve the conjunctive tissue

Beyond strengthening these structures with physical exercise and mechanical stimuli, we believe there is another way to improve the synthesis of collagen. In fact, we think that our body is capable of doing so with the right nutritional strategies.

Therefore, it would be useful to take the most important protein when we talk about the connective tissue: natural collagen

People have become quite obsessed with collagen in the last few years

There is no adult in the whole world that is not taking either collagen or hyaluronic acid in order to relieve joint and bone pain.

Study

In this article, we are trying to answer a very simple question: can gelatin supplementation increase the synthesis of collagen?

To illustrate our point, let’s look at this study (1):

8 healthy men and a randomized double blind crossover trial.
The subjects either took a placebo, 5 grams of gelatin or 15 grams of gelatin.
They took blood tests before and up to 72h after the intake in order to measure the precursor of type I collagen: procollagen (a proxy of the collagen synthesis).

One hour after the first serving, the participants had to jump rope for 6 minutes. This trial took place up to 3 times a day with at least 6 hours of rest between each workout and during the three days of the study.

Results

Everyone was surprised by the results:

The participants who took 15 grams of gelatin 1 hour before the workout had two times more procollagen in their blood. Consequently, the synthesis of this protein was significantly higher

This study coincides with others such as the one by McAlindon, who showed how taking 10 grams of hydrolyzed collagen increases the collagen content in the knees (2).

More studies

Another randomized and controlled trial that lasted 24 weeks showed how those athletes who took hydrolyzed collagen (more info) felt less subjective bone-joint pain (3).

On the other hand, one of the conclusions of this study about gelatin was that peaks of short activity and intensity followed by periods of enough rest are better when it comes to stimulating the regeneration and synthesis of collagen. This also happened in the study that combined 10 minutes of exercise with 6 hours of rest (4).

Conclusions

We can increase the synthesis of collagen with nutritional strategies as well as physical exercise.
Moreover, the study shows that taking 15 grams of gelatin enriched with vitamin C one hour before exercise increases the synthesis of collagen. At least from the forth hour after the workout up to 72 hours (when the study was over).
In addition, high intensity interval training (HIIT) followed by enough rest are more efficient. Consequently, they improve the synthesis of collagen even more than long and continuous workouts.
This strategy could be used to prevent injuries, shorten the recovery and relieve the bone and joint pain (which is yet to be proven).

So, if you think that this post was useful, share it!

Another important point is to make sure that the gelatin you buy is not loaded with sugar. Although this is usually quite common nowadays. However, you can try unflavored gelatin with some fruit or a little bit of sweetener. Have you tried gelatin? What do you think about it?

See you in the next post!