by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Rock Stars
ROCKTAPE are proud to have the World’s fittest woman, Samantha Briggs, as the newest member of our team of Rockstars. Sam earned the title of ‘Fittest Female on Earth 2013’ when winning the CrossFit Games in San Diego this summer, beating athletes from around the world. Head coach and partner at Train Manchester, Sam has a background in duathlon and was also a UK indoor rowing champion. We look forward to supporting her to further success in the near future. Watch this space for the chance to win a 1hr personal training session with Sam at Train Manchester (if you think you’re up to...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Interviews
Emily Sarsfield is Britain’s No1 Ski Cross racer, the first British woman to win a Skiing Europa Cup race and one of our best chances for a medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Emily started using Rocktape in 2009 when recovering from a serious knee injury. Now back to full health, she talks us through her current training regime. Talk us through a typical week’s training? Pre-season started in September, so I am travelling back and forth between the mountains and the UK every 10 days. The heavy weights sessions have died down a little and we are now focused on power, quick movement and plyometric based training. I’m still training 5 days a week, with 3 weights/power sessions, 4 core sessions (a really important thing in skiing and especially ski cross where we are often off balance) and 4 interval sessions, along with a Pilates and yoga session too to keep everything supple and strong inside to out. An average day right now would be a 6am start for some mobility exercises, getting on the skis from 7:30am and doing jumps, technical training and riding ski cross tracks until lunch. After a refuel there’ll be a quick nap and lactate recovery to prevent ‘heavy’ legs the next morning (usually a spin session or ice bath, but my favourite method at the moment involves Fire Fly recovery bands that I place on my legs). The afternoon will finish with a core or weights session. Being a skier definitely isn’t all powder skiing and après ski! What is your favourite training activity? This will sound odd to anyone who...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Interviews
With a background in Gaelic Games and horse riding, Ailbhe Carroll is not your average triathlete. Here Ailbhe talks us through a typical week of training and lets us in on some of here loves and hates. It’s exhausting just reading about it… Describe your typical week? My typical week is filled to the brim. Every weekday morning (sometimes Saturdays, depending on races, etc.) I’ll hear the alarm go off at 4.31 and make my way to the pool. We swim with the HPC in University of Limerick Arena from 5-7ish, then I hop back into bed for a quick snooze before starting work at 10. During the week after work, I’ll fit in four runs (one or two track sessions during winter) and one run on the weekend also. Biking takes over the weekends, with two turbos-trainer sessions added during the winter or two or three spin classes during the week if the weather’s good. Gym work is majorly important for me as I’m prone to having an injured back (hence me needing Rocktape’s help), so I do three sessions per week to keep me intact. That totals 5/6 swims, 4/5 runs, 4/5 bikes and 3 gyms. All go, but so much fun! What is your favourite training activity? My favourite training activity is definitely swimming. I think I grew fond of it due to my club. I only started club swimming at 18 (late starter) and I just fell in love with the set up and the bonds and friendships made. They make training so much easier. What is you least favourite training activity? For me, the...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Exhibitions, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
` ` We had a great time at http://www.therapyexpo.co.uk a couple of weeks ago. Therapy expo2013 was one the UKs biggest trade shows for therapy professionals ever held. It was an excellent opportunity to show off Rocktape to the world, catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. We would thoroughly recommend any therapists, students etc get there for next year. Here are a couple of little vid clips of the event. Thanks to the guys from www.fisherstudios.co.uk for producing these...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | CrossFit
Despite David Beckham’s absence, the StubHub Center (LA Galaxy’s stadium) in Carson was full on the 28th of July for an entirely different style of competition, The CrossFit games 2013. In front of a very fit-looking crowd, who roared their support over a loud rock soundtrack, men and women from around the world competed for the title of ‘The Fittest on Earth’. In a scene reminiscent of the Gerard Butler film, ‘300’, men and women sporting chiseled sixpacks unashamedly cut about the place wearing the brightest and tightest clothing imaginable. The feats of strength and endurance were remarkable, most notably Richard Froning’s overtaking of someone while walking non-stop across a tennis court on his hands. Sam Briggs (female winner and Rocktape UK athlete) performed consistently throughout the day, always appearing to come from nowhere, accelerating as her competitors fatigued. The only thing nearly as ubiquitous as the impressive abdominals, was Rocktape. The most popular applications to help the athletes were shoulders, lower back and anterior knees. It was great to see so many athletes choosing to use RT when visiting the medical team between events, but I was most impressed by the fact that I did not see any tape peel or fall off during the two days we attended – quite phenomenal considering the heat and the amount of sweat being generated. We’ll be attending several UK CrossFit events this year and we also offer short CrossFit masterclasses to teach athletes and trainers the basic of taping. If you’d like us at your Box or event, email us at info@rocktape.net Rocktape aired its first TV advert during the...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Running
Team GB athlete and Rockstar, Aly Dixon, reviews a successful summer for her both on and off the track. The first part of 2013 was spent focusing on the Brighton Marathon, where I was hoping to run under 2.31 to stake a place on the GB Team for this summer’s World Championships. Training and focus races went really well, including running a big PB of 1.11.20 at the Bath Half Marathon in early March. The Brighton Marathon was a success (I was the 2nd woman home and recorded a near 4 minute PB), but the fact that I was 8 seconds outside 2.31 meant that a trip to the Worlds wasn’t to be. After a 2 week rest, I headed out to Font Romeu for 3 weeks altitude training. I was hoping that this would double as a bit of warm weather training, but the weather gods had other ideas and sent us a lot of snow (not ideal, but it did make the surrounding mountains look even more stunning). When getting back into a training routine after a marathon, you always find lots of little niggles, so my supply of Rocktape got a good bashing. I had been using Rocktape during marathon training to support muscles and tendons when tired and to help maximise the endurance of muscles during long, hard runs. I find that Rocktape Is brilliant for this and looks a bit more funky than compression socks. The bright coloured tape strapped round my legs always draws plenty of comments at work and we find that we actually sell more of it in the shop when...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
We’ll be exhibiting at Therapy Expo, on the 13th & 14th September 2013 at Manchester Central, a dedicated trade event for physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, sports therapists, massage therapists, occupational therapists and clinic managers. Joining us on the stand will be three of our elite ‘ROCK Stars’, all of whom are also qualified ‘ROCK Docs’. British number one ski-cross athlete Emily Sarsfield and mixed martial arts competitor Rosi Sexton will be with us on Friday 13th September, with GB triathlete Seb Navarro due to attend on Saturday 14th September. Emily, who is due to compete in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia, had to miss the last Winter Olympics in 2010 after rupturing her Anterior Cruiciate Ligament (ACL). Her post-surgery rehab involved the Rocktape medical team and their taping strategies, which also led to her becoming one of Rocktape’s team of ‘ROCK Stars’. Emily will be on hand on the Friday afternoon to speak with delegates about any taping or ski-related matters. Also with us on the Friday will be Rosi Sexton, the mixed martial arts competitor who competed in her first fight for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) back in June. In addition to her ring success, Rosi is also a trained osteopath who uses taping to assist her and her clients’ performances. Rosi will be on the stand all day answering questions about her career thus far, signing autographs and talking about her experiences with Rocktape. Long-course triathlete Seb Navarro, who is also a personal trainer, will be in attendance on the Expo’s second day, demonstrating both triathlon and cycling-specific tape applications. Seb speaks highly of how Rocktape...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Running
A journey from despair and across a continent. At Rocktape, we’re used to working with elite athletes and are familiar with the extreme rigors through which they put themselves. Whether it’s the punishing cross-training regime of premiership rugby players, or the suffering endured by those gluttons for punishment, Ironmen, we now generally accept their efforts with admiration, but rarely awe. Well, that was until we got an email from Tom Fitzsimons. 20 years ago, Tom descended into alcoholism, a condition and addiction from which very few people ever emerge remotely intact. 6 years ago, Tom managed to resolve to get himself well and has now been completely sober for 5 years. Part of Tom’s rehabilitation was running, to such a degree that he completed the gruelling Marathon Des Sables (6 days, 6 marathons across the sands of the Sahara). If the story were to end here, it would represent a miraculous recovery and an achievement requiring a level of determination on par with any in world sport – but it doesn’t. Tom is currently running across America. Yes, America. 3,100 miles in 100 days. When we read this, there was a moment of stunned silence, followed by the air turning slightly blue as the maths sunk in. 31 miles per day for 100 days, across several mountain ranges, through temperatures in the mid-40s – the man must be bonkers – but doing it he is. From San Francisco to Coney Island, New York, aiming to arrive on the 27<sup>th</sup> August. To say we’re proud to be helping Tom is a colossal understatement and we wish him the very best...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Medical, Rocktape Kinesiology Tape
Medical Director of RocktapeUK and Physiotherapist Paul Coker give us the lowdown on all things kinesiology tape. Few people can have failed to notice the rise and rise of this often brightly coloured tape in recent years. Whether adorning Gareth Bales legs, Novak Djokovic’s back or covering half of TeamGB at London 2012, kinesiology tape (hence forth I’ll go with just tape) has been rapidly gaining popularity with athletes, patients and therapists alike. While some people remain sceptical, and doubtful that is nothing more than a passing fad, convinced that all its reported positive effects are down to a heady cocktail of placebo effect and vanity. Others, myself included, have seen and felt its unique effects to reduce pain and enhance performance. Every day in clinic I see patients delighted and amazed when I tape them. Every time I teach a taping course I see sceptics become converts by wearing and feeling the tape work on them. For many people, at the point they realise their pain/problem feels better when wearing tape, they stop asking questions. I am not that sort of people, this is for all those sceptical scientific, pragmatic, rational people..like me. I’m not going make the usual outlandish claims about what tape can do, and more importantly that we fully understand it. If I’m really honest there is much we don’t know about what tape can and can’t help, how it does what it does, what system within your body it is affecting. You know; the details. Let’s start with what we do actually know. “Does this tape make my calfs looks fat?” Ultra running legend...
by rocktapeuk | Nov 6, 2013 | Medical
I’m a runner: not a good one, in fact ‘average’ would be being kind. I’m also a physio and certainly better at that than running. After years of doing both, I should know better than to fall into the ‘too many miles, too soon’ trap, but who takes their own advice? Evidently not me, so, with 2 off-road ultras looming this summer, I started to whack some long runs in a few months back. I’m not as young as I used to be, so getting down stairs the morning after running for over 2hrs ain’t always that pretty. Gradually, I started to get some more persistent pain in the front of my hip. As much as I tried to ignore it, I had given myself a grumbly hip flexor tendon (Iliopsoas reactive tendonopathy, if you’re into long words). Basically, it hurt to put socks on, dip the clutch and run up hills. It wasn’t a bad hurt, but enough of a niggle to put me getting to the start lines this summer in serious doubt. I was still running, but more than an hour or uphill wasn’t much fun. So, naturally, I started taping myself to try to get some relief. I started with our standard ‘X marks the spot’ style symptom-reduction taping; it helped a little, but my grumbly tendon grumbled on. So, out of necessity, I have been getting a little experimental over the last few runs. I’ve had my lateral line (outer leg) taped and a spiral ‘posture’ tape to help reduce hip internal rotation and inward knee drift. These helped a little, but, and I...
