Is the guys name actually Blaha?
I love my knee sleeves. I have a double ply pair from liftinglarge.com they’re high quality and provide support and warmth to my joints. They add a little weight to my squat but not much. I’m 40 now so maintaining healthy joints is a priority.
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
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I use them because it keeps my knees nice and warm and I don’t really ever get any aches anymore. I’d consider it my most valuable equipment. Even more so than a belt.
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I’m just 30 and have been using them for about 14 months, but pretty sure they will help long term health of knees.
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I use the rehbands and do not think they give any weight. I guess you could say it might give a couple of pounds but thats it. Apparently the SBD sleeves may give a small amount of bounce out of bottom but I cannot personally confirm this.
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Yes, the expensive ones are well worth the extra money. I’d check out rehband, SBD, and the newer slingshot sleeves as well.
tl;dr: Just spend the money and buy some good knee sleeves dammit!
[/quote]
Pertty much all of the above. I’m 30 as well, started getting achy knees from heavier squats but within a week of using sleeves that stopped. They kee my knees warm, and they’re comfy but don’t add weight per se. I’m more confident squatting when I wear them, so arguably that could give me a bit more weight on the bar.
I use the Eleikos and they’re definitely worth the money. I’ve been using them for around four months or so and they don’t feel like they’ve stretched at all.
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Is the guys name actually Blaha?[/quote]
Jason Blaha
BLaha is his last name.
He has some Cherokee as well as Jewish blood in him
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
IMO they’re useless.
Knee wraps shouldn’t add weight to your squat and if they do they might be banned in your fed. Also some raw feds don’t allow knee sleeves.
They’re only purpose is to “keep knees warm”. Sweats do the same thing.
Not much safety benefit & waste of money
You want protection? Might as well get knee wraps. Most “protection” offered by sleeves is just placebo effect.[/quote]
So I guess all these top level powerlifters, weightlifters, and strongmen are just naive fools wasting their money. [/quote]
yo just my opinion lol
Jason Blaha seems to hold the same stance too[/quote]
Soooo…you have an “opinion” that directly conflicts with EVERY equipped powerlifter? Have you actually used knee wraps to make this determination?
[quote]Antman517 wrote:
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
IMO they’re useless.
Knee wraps shouldn’t add weight to your squat and if they do they might be banned in your fed. Also some raw feds don’t allow knee sleeves.
They’re only purpose is to “keep knees warm”. Sweats do the same thing.
Not much safety benefit & waste of money
You want protection? Might as well get knee wraps. Most “protection” offered by sleeves is just placebo effect.[/quote]
So I guess all these top level powerlifters, weightlifters, and strongmen are just naive fools wasting their money. [/quote]
yo just my opinion lol
Jason Blaha seems to hold the same stance too[/quote]
Soooo…you have an “opinion” that directly conflicts with EVERY equipped powerlifter? Have you actually used knee wraps to make this determination?
[/quote]
Agreed.
I dropped one study in here, I may as well link to another:
There’s plenty that also show knee sleeves helping in a variety of different situations, like relieving pain in arthritic patients. And I think everyone who’s used knee sleeves will immediately feel the benefit.
As far as safety is concerned (if we’re not going off strictly anecdotal BS):
Knee sleeves: 1
Powerlifter Style Wraps: 0 (and if you’re not wrapping tight, you basically have knee sleeves!)
And I also dislike Blaha.
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
Knee wraps shouldn’t add weight to your squat and if they do they might be banned in your fed.
[/quote]
WTF are you talking about? The only people I know who wear wraps wear them strictly to add weight to their squat. Otherwise, sleeves or nothing are used.
Your ignorance and inexperience are shining through here.
[quote]goochadamg wrote:
[quote]Antman517 wrote:
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
IMO they’re useless.
Knee wraps shouldn’t add weight to your squat and if they do they might be banned in your fed. Also some raw feds don’t allow knee sleeves.
They’re only purpose is to “keep knees warm”. Sweats do the same thing.
Not much safety benefit & waste of money
You want protection? Might as well get knee wraps. Most “protection” offered by sleeves is just placebo effect.[/quote]
So I guess all these top level powerlifters, weightlifters, and strongmen are just naive fools wasting their money. [/quote]
yo just my opinion lol
Jason Blaha seems to hold the same stance too[/quote]
Soooo…you have an “opinion” that directly conflicts with EVERY equipped powerlifter? Have you actually used knee wraps to make this determination?
[/quote]
Agreed.
I dropped one study in here, I may as well link to another:
There’s plenty that also show knee sleeves helping in a variety of different situations, like relieving pain in arthritic patients. And I think everyone who’s used knee sleeves will immediately feel the benefit.
As far as safety is concerned (if we’re not going off strictly anecdotal BS):
Knee sleeves: 1
Powerlifter Style Wraps: 0 (and if you’re not wrapping tight, you basically have knee sleeves!)
And I also dislike Blaha.
[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:
Knee wraps shouldn’t add weight to your squat and if they do they might be banned in your fed.
[/quote]
WTF are you talking about? The only people I know who wear wraps wear them strictly to add weight to their squat. Otherwise, sleeves or nothing are used.
Your ignorance and inexperience are shining through here. [/quote]
While I agree that knee sleeves also have purpose, top level lifters wouldn’t be using them if they didn’t, I’d be careful of dismissing “anecdotal BS” as that is still the main source of where we get our information as a lifting community. While science is great and has definitely contributed helping people to train more efficiently, I think it is unwise to forget that progress speaks for itself.
As for this specific issue however, I believe that you, and the science, is right in that wraps probably are bad for your knees due to the overload and added stress the extra weight adds.
Also a question, is there any downfall to using a light wrap instead of knee sleeves? My patella tendon tends to get a little pissy at times so I throw them on light early some workouts. I’ve found that the extra warmth and a little compression go a long way. I’m a cheap asshole though and don’t want to drop $90+ on a pair of sleeves if I don’t have to because I compete in wraps anyway.
[quote]tylerkeen42 wrote:
Also a question, is there any downfall to using a light wrap instead of knee sleeves? My patella tendon tends to get a little pissy at times so I throw them on light early some workouts. I’ve found that the extra warmth and a little compression go a long way. I’m a cheap asshole though and don’t want to drop $90+ on a pair of sleeves if I don’t have to because I compete in wraps anyway.[/quote]
You can’t really control the tension of a light wrap, in the sense that you’re never really going to wrap the knee the same way twice. I found that when I did “light wraps”, they tended to get tighter and tighter as the weight got heavier and heavier. Not a big deal if you’re ok with lifting heavier weights with tighter wraps, but it’s a harder variable to account when tracking your progress. Maybe you get 5lbs stronger on the squat, or maybe you just wrapped tighter. Knee sleeves are going to be the same everytime.
I got cheap sleeves from elitefts, and enjoy them for what they do.
[quote]tylerkeen42 wrote:
Also a question, is there any downfall to using a light wrap instead of knee sleeves? My patella tendon tends to get a little pissy at times so I throw them on light early some workouts. I’ve found that the extra warmth and a little compression go a long way. I’m a cheap asshole though and don’t want to drop $90+ on a pair of sleeves if I don’t have to because I compete in wraps anyway.[/quote]
Probably not. Many weightlifters wrap up in ace bandages or similar light wraps every day. I don’t think they’d become a major crutch as long as they are not so tight that you have to keep unwrapping and re-wrapping between sets. added bonus is that you can tighten them up a little more on heavy sets or crank them a certain way to assist in patellar tracking.
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
Probably not. Many weightlifters wrap up in ace bandages or similar light wraps every day. I don’t think they’d become a major crutch as long as they are not so tight that you have to keep unwrapping and re-wrapping between sets. added bonus is that you can tighten them up a little more on heavy sets or crank them a certain way to assist in patellar tracking.
[/quote]
To follow up on this, what I’ve seen a lot of weightlifters specifically do is wrap above and below the patella to help with tracking while still providing full range of motion in the joint. I would think this method of wrapping, especially when wrapped lightly, would provide most of the joint-health benefits and very little rebound, if you care about that. A similar concept is espoused by Kelly Starret using Voodoo bands to help clean out scar tissue, but obviously not during a session and much, much tighter.
On the subject of sleeves, I’ve recently ditched my old blue Rehbands. My experience is pretty uncommon, I’m sure, but I had lots of maltracking problems when I wore them, and found myself actually rolling them down between sets to provide some relief. Then I thought about how stupid it is to use them this way, so I dropped them altogether, and I’ve felt significantly better since. Probably unlikely that you’ll share this experience, but I guess its possible.
[quote]TB284 wrote:
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
Probably not. Many weightlifters wrap up in ace bandages or similar light wraps every day. I don’t think they’d become a major crutch as long as they are not so tight that you have to keep unwrapping and re-wrapping between sets. added bonus is that you can tighten them up a little more on heavy sets or crank them a certain way to assist in patellar tracking.
[/quote]
To follow up on this, what I’ve seen a lot of weightlifters specifically do is wrap above and below the patella to help with tracking while still providing full range of motion in the joint. I would think this method of wrapping, especially when wrapped lightly, would provide most of the joint-health benefits and very little rebound, if you care about that. A similar concept is espoused by Kelly Starret using Voodoo bands to help clean out scar tissue, but obviously not during a session and much, much tighter.
On the subject of sleeves, I’ve recently ditched my old blue Rehbands. My experience is pretty uncommon, I’m sure, but I had lots of maltracking problems when I wore them, and found myself actually rolling them down between sets to provide some relief. Then I thought about how stupid it is to use them this way, so I dropped them altogether, and I’ve felt significantly better since. Probably unlikely that you’ll share this experience, but I guess its possible.[/quote]
Yeah I can see how additional compression (with no active correction) would only exacerbate tracking issues. Are you taping or using any kind of wrap to help or just going bare knee?
Thanks for the responses guys, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing then. I’m not really worried about them actually adding weight because I usually crank down on them on my final set anyway(running 5/3/1 so that’s how I base my progress) as that’s how I compete and my form changes with heavier weights wrapped vs. unwrapped.
Has anyone tried the Strengthshop double ply or triple ply sleeves? They are on the new IPF approved list, as far as I can tell they can be used by raw lifters as well. From what I have heard those sleeves are comparable to light knee wraps, if they can add a few pounds to your squat in a meet they would be a good investment. Other than that, SBD’s seem to be the only approved sleeves to add anything, Titan has some new ones coming out called “Yellow Jackets”, looks like they might be giving SBD some competition.
I currently use a pair or Rehbands (grey), they keep my knees warm and comfortable but don’t add anything. I have a meet coming up in a few months and I’m probably going to buy one of the pairs I mentioned above so I can squeeze out a few more pounds. The Rehbands are fine for training, but there’s no sense in not using sleeves that will add weight to your squat in a competition if you are allowed to.
I have the Triple Ply from Strength Shop got them from a friend and they def add a few pounds. I wouldn’t consider them a light wrap by any means but 10lbs maybe a little more. They are about the same as SBDs that are the tight sizing.
Has anyone used both the blue and the grey rehbands? I know the blue ones have a reputation especially in weightlifting circles.
Is it worth seeking out blue ones, or are the grey ones just as good?
Damn, and I thought I was done with purchasing strength related goods for awhile…
Does anyone have any points on why someone WOULDN’T use sleeves in their training? Whether using them for all sets, or mixing in at certain intensities. I’m more interested particularly in the stronger versions like SDB.
I like beltless squats and believe I get a good response from mixing belted and non-belted squats. I don’t want to write an article about why I like utilizing both (most here probably agree anyway), but the bottom line is I don’t see a single reason why someone focused on powerlifting should not utilize a belt as part of their programming. Even if I weren’t using a belt, I would like to keep one on hand in case my squats were feeling weak for that day and I could use the extra stabilization when I was performing poorly.
I’m beginning to get the same feeling for knee sleeves.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Has anyone used both the blue and the grey rehbands? I know the blue ones have a reputation especially in weightlifting circles.
Is it worth seeking out blue ones, or are the grey ones just as good?[/quote]
I have the greys. Frankly I think the love for the blues is just a fad thing. The blues are a little longer, so if you think that will make a big difference in how they help the knee then get those. The greys are a little cheaper and have held up better than the blues people around me have. Either style is going to be a good knee sleeve.
[quote]BCpowder wrote:
Yeah I can see how additional compression (with no active correction) would only exacerbate tracking issues. Are you taping or using any kind of wrap to help or just going bare knee?
[/quote]
Just bare knees, and I was pretty surprised at how much more comfortable it was immediately. I’ve more or less pinpointed the tracking problem to tightness in my gastroc, and rolling/stretching the trigger points in that area has improved my squatting significantly, but as soon as I’d put the sleeves on, it would still feel incredibly uncomfortable. I was hesitant to ditch them for longevity purposes, but to this point I’ve been no worse for wear.
[quote]Sutebun wrote:
Damn, and I thought I was done with purchasing strength related goods for awhile…
Does anyone have any points on why someone WOULDN’T use sleeves in their training? Whether using them for all sets, or mixing in at certain intensities. I’m more interested particularly in the stronger versions like SDB.
I like beltless squats and believe I get a good response from mixing belted and non-belted squats. I don’t want to write an article about why I like utilizing both (most here probably agree anyway), but the bottom line is I don’t see a single reason why someone focused on powerlifting should not utilize a belt as part of their programming. Even if I weren’t using a belt, I would like to keep one on hand in case my squats were feeling weak for that day and I could use the extra stabilization when I was performing poorly.
I’m beginning to get the same feeling for knee sleeves. [/quote]
If you compete if a federation that doesn’t allow knee sleeves (100% raw for example) then it would make sense to train without them. I wouldn’t use an extra tight pair of SBD’s or something like that except in a competition or maybe a PR attempt, it’s better to build strength without using something that provides an actual advantage. Belts are a different story because there is an element of safety, unless you have serious knee issues then (regular) sleeves are basically just for comfort and warmth. I would look at a tight pair of SBD’s or triple ply Strengthshop sleeves like knee wraps, although they don’t provide the same advantage you don’t want to rely on them for every single work set.