Stretching Use to its Limits: Kinesiotape Assisted Advanced Strength Training




“The art of progression lies in taking the best tools and adapting them to your needs based on the science of feel.”

Note: The authors recognize the tremendous amount of training time that is condensed into a few days in the single strength athlete examples. It may seem and most likely is too much time consideration and will be certainly viewed critically by the overtraining gurus who believe that anything of considerable discomfort is too great and not a wise training choice. The authors agree on the context of this volume repeated over and over. However, many things change with the intermittent super volume workout spaced in between explosive power training. With time between exceeding 30 days but not greater than 45, we see enormous tissue expansion and work capacities clearly emphasized on the chosen sports field. It creates dominant behavior. Dominant behavior wins games, sometimes out of generating pure fear alone.

In this experimentation, kinesiotaping was used to enhance strength by activating muscles and assisting movements. With its elasticity, the kinesiotape assists in lifting the skin and amplifying circulation, healing, and waste disposal from the musculature under stress. Inevitably, the tape’s elastic quality lifts the skin, which enables the lymphatic and circulatory system to function with a greater capacity, resulting in a quicker recovery and augmented muscle bulk.

Kinesiotaping helps reduce muscle fatigue and inflammation. It gently stimulates the skin and Golgi tendon organs to improve kinesthetic awareness while assisting in an improved range of motion and overall joint function. All taping was applied at the origin to insertion for athletic muscle support and strengthening.

Neck experiment

The neck taping involved taping the sternocleidomastoid muscle from origin (sternum and clavicle) to insertion (mastoid process), activating the muscle to increase strength during muscle training. Taping was applied with 25–50 percent tension around the muscle belly.

Over the course of five hours, a twenty-minute session of neck work was performed six times.

Again, maximum variety was used in an advanced trainee with ten years of neck training. After the tape was removed, progressive perceptible tissue expansion occurred beyond that found when similar training was performed without the tape.



Biceps experiment

The arm taping involved the bicep brachii using a “Y” strip from origin (radial tuberosity) to insertion (coracoid process, superior glenoid tubercle). Taping was applied with 25–50 percent tension around the muscle belly.

One thousand reps of biceps work were performed over two days. This was done utilizing as many exercises as possible in order to complete the required number of repetitions in as short a period of time as possible due to the physical and psychological aspects of the endeavor. The tape held quite well. However, allow the tape to adhere to the skin for at least one half hour before any activity.

After the tape was removed, the trainee felt super atrophied for the first few hours. However, over the course of the next two days, a tremendous one-inch growth occurred under substandard feeding conditions and protein deficits. The trainee elected to utilize this twice yearly. Coupled with proper carbohydrate and protein uptake, the gains should be severe.

Back experiment

The back taping was done to affect the latissimus dorsi using two different types of taping. On the right side, a functional assistance taping was used from origin (L5-S1 vertebrae) to insertion (bicipital groove) with 50–100 percent tension. On the left side, muscle activation with 25–50 percent tension was applied to the latissimus dorsi from origin (L5-S1 vertebrae) to insertion.

Functional assistance taping compared to activation taping while performing dumbbell one-arm bent rows with a 150-lb dumbbell in sets of five throughout a three-hour period was observed. Immediately, the right side performed stronger even though it was the athlete’s non-dominant side. That remained so throughout this strength endurance training.

Although not scientific enough to be evidenced across athletic population lines, this result warrants work on muscle imbalances or non-dominant side weaknesses in this athlete and perhaps others by utilizing functional assistance taping methodologies. This dramatic acceleration ability improvement continued over a prolonged stretch of training. Considerations beyond hypertrophy and strength endurance include the enhancement of explosive power endurance, which is the key component to athletic adaptability of strength training.