RockTape Review

Any seasoned athlete knows how important it is to maintain perfect form during a run or a workout, and those who have experienced injuries can attest to just how important it is to have an “active recovery.” Those recoveries promote physical activity as a way of healing and rehabilitating the injury. One of the key things to ensuring this active recovery is as smooth and as productive as possible is Rocktape Endurance Tape. This special athletic and medical tape helps muscles perform at their peak and heal quickly, and has several unique advantages over competing brands such as KT Tape. As a result, it is now one of our top recommended brands for injury prevention and treatment.

Rocktape

Rocktape Review

One Size Fits Most

The problem with competing brands of athletic tape is that they often pre-cut their tape and expect it to fit a wide range of athletes, from the seasoned powerlifter to the

hobbyist runner and cyclist. This can prevent the tape from being fully effective, as compromises in support and elasticity often have to be made in order to use a uniform-sized tape with a wide variety of muscle sizes and structures.

Rocktape eliminates this problem and outplays the competition easily. Its tape is not pre-cut; the company instead ships rolls of the athletic tape that can be used and cut down the ideal size for each athletes muscles and injury or performance types. This allows it to provide superior support to muscles during athletic activity and promote better stabilization and blood flow.

The Benefits of Stretching

Everyone knows that stretching is as important — if not more important — than the workout or cardio activity itself. And the same holds true with athletic tape: stretching matters. The brands with which Rocktape competes offer athletic tapes that have between 120% and 150% stretch. That’s a decent amount of stretch, but not nearly enough to fully compliment the body’s movements and motions during an intense activity like running.

To provide better stretch, and thus better support, to athletes, Rocktape’s Endurance Tape is manufactured with a whopping 190% stretch that allows athletes to have a more normal range of motion during competition. And that increased stretch also promotes greater blood flow, rather than restriction, which helps to keep muscles flexible and competitive, rather than sore and immobilized.

Endurance Tape Promotes Competition

Competing athletic tape products are primarily developed with a rehabilitative purpose in mind. That is, they’re designed for athletes who have already acquired some type of injury during training or competition. That is simply not the case with the offering from Rocktape. Rather than design a product that simply does its job after the athlete has been injured, Rocktape Endurance Tape promotes good muscle movement and health, eliminates soreness, and promotes good form.

That combination of things — combined with great elasticity and ultra-thin construction that has a more “natural” feel than competing products — helps athletes avoid many of the most common injuries associated with athletic training and competition. In fact, it can even help them bust through plateaus and set new personal records. That’s because healthy muscles are inherently more agile and competitive than those which are restricted and repeatedly injured over time.

Conclusions

Rocktape Endurance Tape promotes exactly what its name implies: athletic endurance and longevity. With its promotion of good blood flow, proper form, stabilization, and elasticity, Rocktape Endurance Tape is an essential element of any serious athletes competitive stable of products. Oh, and it comes in some interesting colors and patterns too!

Shop for RockTape Endurance Tape

How To Prevent Blisters From Running

Blisters are a common and sometimes painful problem affecting many runners of all abilities. But there are ways to easily and  effectively prevent blisters.  I am personally very blister prone a have spent years trying out various tips and tricks to stop running blisters. Here are my top tips, including a couple odd, but effective, ways to prevent running blisters that always seems to surprise people.

How to Prevent Blisters: Basic Tips

(1) Change socks: If you are blistering, the first thing to consider is your socks. Cotton is a no-no for running. Cotton socks hold sweat against your skin, and the salt from your sweat essentially turns your socks into blister forming sandpaper. Cheap socks also often have prominent seams that can rub and fit poorly so that wrinkles in the sock can rub and form a blister. Look instead for good running socks made from wicking material. If you tend to get running blisters, you may have to experiment with several brands to find what works best for you. Personally, I adore injinji toe socks for preventing blisters on my toes, while I prefer Drymax brand for preventing them on the sides of my feet. Thin socks often will work best at preventing blisters over thicker ones, which tend to wrinkle and bunch up more.

injinji toe socks

Injinji toe socks can prevent blisters on your toes

 

(2) Change shoes: Your shoes can also be a source of the problem. Shoes that are too small will sometimes lead to blisters on the tips of the toes, while shoes that are too large or too wide can sometimes lead to blisters on the sides of the feet and on the heels. Get your shoes properly fitted and look for shoes with seamless uppers and good breathability.

(3) Use a Lubricant: There several excellent lubricants that you can put on your feet before running to help prevent blisters. If you try one with little success, switch to another, because one might personally work better for you. In my case, powder works the best for me:

  • Body Glide: Body Glide is a general purpose lubricant that can also be used to prevent chaffing. It tends to last a bit longer than regular petroleum jelly. On very long runs, you might need to reapply. Body Glide Trial Packs are the perfect size for carrying in a pocket or pouch when running. They also are a good way to test the product, but the small size is not very convenient for regular use so, if you like the product, buy the larger size for home use.
  • Aquaphor: Aquaphor is a petroleum jelly brand that I find tends to stay on a bit better than Vaseline. While petroleum jelly can sweat off quicker than Body Glide, it also is easier to put on thicker to begin with, and I tend to prefer it over Body Glide for use on the feet. Another bonus is that it is significantly cheaper and can be found at any drugstore.
  • Extra Absorbant Powder: There are several good brands of foot powder that absorb sweat a bit better than just plain talcum powder. Zeasorb is not specifically formulated for runners, but absorbs particularly well. Some athletic brands, such as Asics, also make running formulas that, like Zeasorb, tend to include extra ingredients beyond talc that help absorb sweat and lubricate the feet. I personally love Asics Chafe Free Powder, but it also often seems to be out of stock at my favorite stores. In any event, whether in a running formula or through Zeasorb,I find using a powder with additional absorbing ingredients worth it, as I have tried regular baby powder with not quite as much success (although it does also work just fine for some people).  I give 5 big shakes of the bottle into each sock and can run long in hot weather with little blistering using the powder. Note, however, that others will find that Aquaphor or Body Glide works better for them, and I even tend to prefer Body Glide or Aquaphor in the winter when I think my thicker socks are the issue more than sweat.

Zeasorb powder

(4) Moleskin, Band-Aids, Blister Pads, etc: There are a variety of coverings you can use on your feet. Many will work fine for short runs, but most will sweat off or move around during long runs, which can sometimes worsen you blistering problem. Experiment, but do so with caution by testing different coverings on short runs first to see how they will perform for you. My personal opinion is that usually a change in socks and use of lubricant will prevent blisters better that most coverings with the exception of duct tape or athletic tape (see below).

Preventing Running Blisters: Two Odd Tips

(1) Double socks: If you can stand how it feels (I am personally not a fan), layering a very thin non-cotton sock, such as a polyester panty hose or trouser sock, under a regular running sock does the trick for some people.  The idea is that the friction will occur between the socks instead of between the sock and your foot, and it does seem to work. Or at least it worked when I tried it. The very thin layer doesn’t tend to move, so things don’t rub, yet sweat still wicks away. However, I thought the combination felt odd and I just couldn’t quite get used to it.

A popular single sock that works on this same theory (and doesn’t feel weird)  is the Wright Sock, which has two layers. Wright socks work OK for me, but are not my preferred bad. But I also know many, many runners who swear by them, so they are worth trying if you like the two sock theory or have had poor success with other brands.

(2) Duct Tape: Before running powder essentially saved me, duct tape was my go to choice in blister prevention on long runs  over 14 miles. It is also a favorite trick of many ultra-marathoners for blister prevention. Unlike moleskin and other coverings, it does not sweat off or move around easily.  Indeed, I have run marathons and long runs in the rain with it on my feet, and it didn’t budge, and I didn’t blister! Buy the shiniest, untexured tape that you can find. You will likely have to experiment in shapes to cut it in so that you can put it over blister prone areas without too many wrinkles in the tape. I tend to use big circles with some slits cut in them to fan it out a bit.  Widely cover your blister prone areas and go run. The tape ends up taking in the friction instead of your feet. Some people also use athletic tape in the same manner. I prefer duct tape because it slips against the shoe and sock better, but I imagine athletic tape would work nearly as well.  The only reason I quit using duct tape was because putting it on was a pain and I finally found a powder and sock/shoe combination that made it unnecessary. However, if I was going to run a marathon in rain or hot weather, or run an ultra, I would tape my feet in a heartbeat!

Have blisters and want to know how to treat them? Watch for my treating blisters article next week!