0%. Null. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The September 2015 issue of Men’s Health proclaimed this is the amount of “measurable change in people’s strength when they lifted weights” while wearing kinesiology tape.[1] We’ve been telling people the same thing since the first Fascial Movement Taping course we ever taught, so this is hardly news to RockTape or to the thousands of people who’ve been trained by us.
This latest revelation from Men’s Health is attributed to the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. We can only assume they’re talking about Csapo and Alegre’s paper that was published in that journal in 2014.[2] The paper concludes that the best evidence seems to point to the fact that putting kinesiology tape on doesn’t make you magically stronger.
And we agree.
Traditionally, it was thought and taught by other groups that depending on which direction you apply kinesiology tape you can strengthen or weaken muscles. Very complicated approaches using elaborate tape applications were founded on this idea. These approaches still get taught by some people today, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Several studies, like the one mentioned earlier, do not lend support to the idea that tape can be used to strengthen and weaken muscles. This is actually great news that RockTape embraced early on because it frees people to use our tape without having to fuss over which direction and “over which muscles” to apply it. That makes it faster and easier to apply, so what’s not to like?
So, we hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but Men’s Health and the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport are correct. Taping yourself is not going to make you lift more weight. Good old-fashioned training is the only thing that can do that. But don’t despair, RockTape can very much help you as you train. The evidence does support using kinesiology tape to help with the inevitable aches and discomfort*s that accompany weight training, as a recovery strategy (we all know that lifting weights doesn’t make you stronger, it’s the recovery from lifting weights where you build strength!) and even as an awareness tool to help you improve your form as you exercise. These things lead to greater gains and improved performance and that’s the real reason so many athletes use RockTape.
But it’s not magic and you can’t slap some on your back and think you’ll add 50 pounds to your one rep max deadlift! Use RockTape for form and movement aid, recovery and when you have aches and discomfort*s, but realize that nothing replaces the need for good old-school hard work when it comes to developing strength!
[1] Bulletins/Muscle. (2015, September). Men’s Health, 24.
[2] Csapo R, Alegre LM. Effects of Kinesio® taping on skeletal muscle – A meta-analysis of current evidence. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 18(2015): 450-456.