Study: Collagen Peptides Could Boost Your Power!

Collagen Peptides Could Boost Your Power: New Study Shows Gains in Tendon & Muscle Stiffness

A new study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise suggests that taking collagen peptides daily could make your muscles and tendons stiffer—in a good way—and help you produce explosive power more effectively.

The Study – Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled

Researchers followed 50 healthy young men for 16 weeks. Half took a daily drink with 10 grams of collagen peptides, while the other half drank a placebo. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was in which group until the study ended.

Key Findings

Collagen group: Significant increases in both muscle and tendon stiffness
Explosive strength: Noticeable improvement in the collagen group
The stiffer the muscle, the better the explosive strength, showing a direct relationship

Why Stiffness Matters for Climbers

In sports performance, “stiffness” is NOT about feeling tight—it’s about how efficiently muscles and tendons store and release energy, like a well-tuned spring. For rock climbers, this is crucial:

Finger strength & arm power: Stiffer tendons can transmit more force to the rock, helping you latch small holds and execute powerful moves — critical for deadpoint moves & dynos!
Core stiffness: Keeps your body tensioned on steep terrain, allowing you to pull with your arms while your lower body stays engaged.
Tendon resilience: Reduces “energy leaks” and may help protect tendons and ligaments from injury during dynamic, high-force moves.

Steep, powerful climbing—such as pulling through a big roof or locking off on small holds—places extreme demands on the finger flexor tendons, elbows, and shoulders. Enhancing tendon stiffness could give climbers both a performance edge and greater durability over time.

The Takeaway for Climbers…and Other Strength-Power Athletes

The results suggest that daily collagen supplementation—especially when combined with targeted strength or hangboard training—could help climbers develop stronger, more resilient connective tissues. This may improve your ability to generate explosive pulling power and better withstand the tendon and joint stress of hard climbing.

Another Brick in the Wall

This research adds to the growing body of evidence that daily collagen supplementation benefits connective tissue and joint health, tendon resilience, and muscle-tendon efficiency—potentially boosting rate of force development and performance in powerful athletic movements.

View Abstract here >>