The investigators have recently completed a study looking at the expression of the collagens following consumption of increasing doses of epicatechin in rats . This data clearly shows that increasing doses of epicatechin, either 0.5 mg.kg-1 delivered once, twice, or three times a day, or 2 mg.kg-1 once a day, results in increasing expression of the fibrillar collagens (I, III, and V). This preliminary data suggests that epicatechin-rich chocolate supplementation can increase collagen expression in humans and that this may improve force transfer. From this background, the hypothesis proposed is that supplementation with epicatechin-rich chocolate will increase rate of force development and performance in athletes. Therefore, this simple nutrition intervention has the potential to simultaneously improve performance, decrease injuries and accelerate return to competition through improved collagen synthesis.