Over the past few years, collagen has surged in popularity. The main structural protein found in the body's connective tissues, collagen is what helps give skin a youthful appearance, makes your hair appear fuller and allows your nails to grow stronger.

But collagen does more than just make your hair shiny and give your skin a nice glow: It also offers a number of sports performance-related benefits.

Collagen is a family of proteins that are the primary structural component of connective tissues. These proteins make up a third of all the proteins in the human body. There are 28 different types of collagen, and each type is categorized based on the composition of its amino acids. About 90% of the collagen in the body is type 1 — the type found in the skin, tendons, internal organs and organic parts of your bones. Your body naturally makes its own collagen by breaking down dietary protein into amino acids. Despite its abundance, however, collagen production in the body actually starts to decline around the time you turn 25. Given collagen’s reputation for youthful skin, healthy hair and long nails, collagen supplementation has become a popular way to make up for any collagen loss after age 25.

Typically, oral collagen supplements come in powdered or pill forms. You can also find collagen added to topical creams or serums. The collagen in oral supplements generally comes from an animal source, such as cow bones or fish skin. A collagen supplement is created by processing the collagen and destroying its structure by breaking the collagen down into peptides, which are short chains of amino acids. This process results in hydrolyzed collagen, which is water-soluble and can be added to a number of products.

Collagen is typically marketed toward people searching for its beauty benefits. Although collagen is highly regarded in the hair, nail and skin care industries, it also has a wide range of fitness-related benefits. Collagen supplementation is actually very effective for post-workout recovery and is an important aspect of a fitness-focused nutrition plan.

As noted above, collagen helps support elasticity and strength of connective tissue, such as skin, tendons and cartilage. These are parts of the body that are particularly vulnerable to damage when you regularly engage in physical activity.

Collagen supplementation can assist in the regeneration of these connective tissues. The extra collagen provides elasticity and helps accelerate the process of renewing body tissue. It helps relieve joint inflammation and the extra pressure put on cartilage and bones during a particularly intense workout. This helps reduce the risk of injury and reduce muscle soreness while also giving your athletic performance a boost.

The amino acids in connective tissues — such as glycine — are very different than the amino acids in muscle tissue, which is why the addition of collagen is important to your supplement regimen. Between 1–10% of muscle tissue is composed of collagen, so taking collagen helps boost your muscle mass and keeps your muscles strong and functioning properly.

TL;DR: Collagen supplementation allows your body to better sustain higher levels of activity.

In addition to improving skin health and sports performance, other benefits of collagen include bone loss prevention — especially when collagen is combined with calcium. Conditions like osteoporosis are characterized by low bone density, and collagen helps prevent the bone breakdown that leads to these types of conditions.

Collagen also helps reduce several heart-related conditions, including atherosclerosis. This is a disease that involves the narrowing of the arteries and can lead to heart attack or stroke. Collagen helps provide structure to your arteries.

Collagen’s effects on brain health haven't been widely studied, but many people also claim collagen supplementation has led to improved moods and reduced bouts of anxiety.

For sports performance purposes, you should take collagen prior to your workout. It’s suggested to consume 15-20 grams of collagen at least a half-hour before working out to “load” your connective tissues. This is particularly helpful if you’re weight-training or resistance-training.

Gainful has a Collagen Performance Boost formula that is made specifically to help enhance performance and enable you to customize your sports nutrition. Just add a scoop to your protein shake, hydration formula or pre-workout drink. The best Gainful product pairing is the Collagen Performance Boost with the Pre-Workout. Consume both your collagen and pre-workout around 30-60 minutes before exercising. Amino acids from collagen peak in 40-60 mins, so consuming collagen 30-60 minutes before your workout will allow the activity to direct the collagen to the body location most needed during exercise.

You may also want to consider a combination of collagen and creatine before your workout, as it provides a “nutrient soup” before exercise to load your tendons with collagen and your muscles with creatine. Gainful offers a Creatine Performance Boost with its own set of performance-enhancing benefits that pairs perfectly with the Collagen Performance Boost.

Hydrolyzation is the process that breaks down the amino acid chains in collagen. This makes the nutrients in collagen — glycine, arginine, proline and hydroxyproline — easier and faster to digest. When collagen is easier to digest, your body is able to reap its benefits more quickly. You want to seek out collagen supplements that are hydrolyzed, like Gainful’s Collagen Performance Boost.

Non-hydrolyzed collagen is gelatin. In terms of health benefits, hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin are roughly equivalent; however, non-hydrolyzed collagen doesn’t blend as well into liquid.

To ensure your body makes the most out of the collagen you consume, you should take vitamin C with your collagen supplement. Vitamin C is necessary for the synthesis of hyaluronic acid, which is what helps relieve joint pain and helps speed up recovery time. Hyaluronic acid can help boost collagen production in the human body. For optimal performance, consume 15- 20

grams of collagen with 50-100 milligrams of vitamin C from foods and drinks (like fruit juice) or supplements around 30-60 minutes prior to weight-bearing exercise.

Unlike some other collagen supplements, Gainful’s Collagen Performance Boost combines vitamin C and collagen into a single formula, making it easy to get proper amounts of both. It contains a scientist-recommended dosage of Vitamin C, which enhances uptake of collagen and absorption of collagen into tissue.

Collagen supplementation is fundamental to wellness and longevity. Gainful’s Collagen Performance Boost is an easy-to-mix, easy-to-digest supplement that helps support the health of skin, hair, nails and other connective tissues.

To figure out the role collagen can play in your fitness and nutrition regimen, take Gainful’s quiz . A team of experts review your answers and can recommend proper amounts of collagen based on your body, diet and fitness routine.

At Gainful, we only use the cleanest ingredients to make our product formulas, and Gainful’s Collagen is no exception. Our Collagen Performance Boost is:

1. Grass Fed + Pasture Raised
2. Keto
3. Paleo
4. non-GMO
5. cGMPUSP/NF compliant
6. Gluten-free
7. Dairy-free
8. No sugar added
9. No added rBGH/rBST
10. No artificial colors, sweeteners or chemical preservatives added

It’s high in glycine, lysine, proline and protein and especially good for your ligaments. Our collagen is flexibly dosed based on your quiz answers and can be conveniently bundled with your subscription. From our collagen to our protein powders, pre-workout and hydration formulas, each ingredient is added specifically for your needs. Your nutrition system is made for you, and only you.

Take the quiz to add the Collagen Performance Boost onto your next Gainful order and feel the benefits of adding collagen to your regimen.