I’m specifically asking if the compression and warming of the knee joints when wearing sleeves can help in one’s form a bit and keep the legs more stable, not so much if they add lbs to your squat although I’ve heard arguments from both sides on it
Some studies around that conclude that knee sleeves aid proprioception/kinesthesia others concluded that sleeves neither positively or negatively influenced proprioception.
I’m going to err on the side of the tactile feedback from the sleeves being positive especially as you get fatigued. Will probably help you maintain your form but shit form will still be shit form sleeves or nah.
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I think so. I find it easier to to keep my knees out and twist the floor apart.
If you get used to squatting in knee sleeves then you will get used to the feeing of them tightening up as you hit depth, so if you were to then squat without them you would lose one sort of feedback as to depth/technique. That’s really the only form of proprioception that I get from them, other than that they just keep my knees warm and if they are tight enough you will get an additional rebound out of the hole.
If you are not properly warmed up or if your muscles and joints get cold then it will be harder to use good technique. I don’t see the compression as having any significant effect since it’s minor, unless you are talking about an extra tight pair of SBDs of Titan Yellow Jackets. As for keeping the legs stable, you cant expect a 5-7mm thick piece of neoprene to stabilize anything.
I first bought a pair of Rehbands (the grey ones) because one of my knees was bugging me and I thought it would help. My knee issue was not related to squatting and actually felt fine once I warmed up, and the sleeves made no difference although they felt good on my knees. Those Rehbands are actually very comfortable, but they are thin and shorter than the SBDs so you won’t get a whole lot of anything out of them.
I eventually bought a pair of SBDs after hearing people talk about how they added weight to their squat. I have big calves so they aren’t as tight on the knee joint as they would otherwise be and I was disappointed to find that I didn’t get anything out of them at first. At some point I concluded that I was getting maybe 10-15lbs. out of them, partly because I learned to get more out of the stretch reflex at the bottom of the squat. I will probably but a pair of Titan Yellow Jackets at some point because they should add a few more pounds to my squat, but I see no difference in technique one way or another.