Collagen and Athletes: What You Need To Know

All athletes, especially those over 40, would do anything to help overcome those nagging injuries that might not stop us from training but hold us back from pushing our hardest.

This is the promise of collagen.

The problem, most collagen on the market is garbage. While it improves the quality of your hair and nails, your Whole Foods collagen products do next to nothing for you as an athlete.

As you will read, this is a topic that gets me fired up, especially when I see people buying the wrong collagen at the store.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying collagen doesn't work for athletes.

There are lots of studies that show the efficacy of taking collagen for athletes. Specifically improved soft-tissue repair (tendons & ligaments) and stimulated new cartilage growth.

I'm not debating these studies. They are numerous, scientifically rigorous, and show marked improvement in athletes.

Most days, I put a scoop of collagen in my coffee or recovery shake.

BUT here is the catch: these studies all use very specific to high-grade, and patented collagen forms. That is NOT what is in the collagen you get at the grocery store or even on Amazon. I won't get too deep on the science, but the issue is the length of the protein strands of the collagen.

The grocery store products are just a random assortment of collagen of different lengths (they just through everything in). But as an athlete you need the protein strands to be a very specific length to be able to enter into soft tissue and promote cartilage repair.

There are two patented forms of collagens you want as an athlete, and they are called Fortigel® and Tendoactive®. They help repair soft tissue and help improve your joints later (especially over the age of 40!) by stimulating collagen growth.

We have a few products that have Fortigel, such as Momentous Collagen, which is NSF Certified for Sport. The only product that has both Fortigel® and Tendoactive® is the SwissRX Collagen and the one I've been using.

The SwissRX Collagen also contains a third ingredient called Mobilee®, a patented form of pure Hylauronic Acid to further help with joint mobility.

So if you have tendonitis, muscle tears, or achy joints (especially knees), try a month on SwissRX Collagen and see if it helps.

Everyone gets 25% off today to try out. No code is needed.

How to take it

You can use SwissRX Collagen as a scoop in your coffee, recovery shake, or just in a glass of water. I'm religious about taking one Scoop per day.

What does it taste like?

It is odorless and tasteless. You won't notice in your coffee or recovery shake. If you put it in a glass of water, note that it is a slightly strange mouthfeel that I don't love.

When to take it?

I don't worry too much about when I take it, as long as I take one Scoop per day. The studies show that it is very well absorbed in the gut.

If you are looking for maximum absorption, studies show to take it 45 minutes before exercise. This timing will help the collagen bed absorbed by your soft tissue, and some even suggest this might even have a protective effect on injuries.

What about Vitamin C?

You have probably heard that you should take Vitamin C with Collagen, and that is true. It helps with absorption. SwissRX Collagen already has 100mg of Vitamin C, so you don't need to take extra.

Does it help with Inflammation / Recovery?

YES! This is one of the benefits that is seldom mentioned. Collagen can also be a potent anti-inflammatory and one of the reasons I like adding it to a recovery shake. Also why I take it when I'm injury free and my joints feel great. 

What if I'm vegan or plant-based?

SwissRX has a product called Pre-Collagen that is Vegan and has the 3 key amino acids used to form collagen, plus patented hyaluronic acid, MSM, and minerals like Zinc and vitamin C, you can address collagen creation at it's roots and encourage your body's own generation of collagen while priming your joints for optimum mobility and lubrication.

Try SwissRX Collagen (or Pre-Collagen) out for a month, and let me know how it works for you.