When should one use a sleeve as opposed to a wrap for squats? Does it matter?
Sleeves don’t have the pressure points that wraps due. You can also put them on by yourself.
I use sleeves in the gym to keep my knees warm. They also provide some support at the bottom of the squat. I can leave them on between sets.
I have a heavier set of sleeves that I use when going for max attempts in the gym. These I have to pull down between sets, as they aren’t very comfortable. These provide more support than wraps do unless I have someone else wrap the wraps. (In other words, more support than if I wrapped my own knees.)
I use wraps wrapped by someone else in the weeks leading up to and during a meet.
Sleeves keep your knees nice and warm. I use them to squat all the time and they don’t ache when I do high volume. I call them knee cozies.
Wraps are to help you put lbs on your lift. They are tight and painful. My feet scream in agony if they are left on too long and I only use them because I compete.
[quote]DOHCrazy wrote:
Sleeves don’t have the pressure points that wraps due. You can also put them on by yourself.
I use sleeves in the gym to keep my knees warm. They also provide some support at the bottom of the squat. I can leave them on between sets.
I have a heavier set of sleeves that I use when going for max attempts in the gym. These I have to pull down between sets, as they aren’t very comfortable. These provide more support than wraps do unless I have someone else wrap the wraps. (In other words, more support than if I wrapped my own knees.)
I use wraps in the weeks leading up to and during a meet. [/quote]
Well I have wraps and yes I do pt them on by myself. The only thing is that they will make your legs go numb to your feet. They do give soem decent carryover to your squat if your quads are a weak point in your lifts. I try not to rely on mine until I get to my heaviest sets. I suggest wraps if you have knee pains or inflammation, knee sleeves are good too, but you wont get carryover from them.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Sleeves keep your knees nice and warm. I use them to squat all the time and they don’t ache when I do high volume. I call them knee cozies.
Wraps are to help you put lbs on your lift. They are tight and painful. My feet scream in agony if they are left on too long and I only use them because I compete. [/quote]
X2 on the feet scream. I squatted a heavy triple today and was about to die after I took them off. it hurt
[quote]brauny96 wrote:
DOHCrazy wrote:
Sleeves don’t have the pressure points that wraps due. You can also put them on by yourself.
I use sleeves in the gym to keep my knees warm. They also provide some support at the bottom of the squat. I can leave them on between sets.
I have a heavier set of sleeves that I use when going for max attempts in the gym. These I have to pull down between sets, as they aren’t very comfortable. These provide more support than wraps do unless I have someone else wrap the wraps. (In other words, more support than if I wrapped my own knees.)
I use wraps in the weeks leading up to and during a meet.
Well I have wraps and yes I do pt them on by myself. The only thing is that they will make your legs go numb to your feet. They do give soem decent carryover to your squat if your quads are a weak point in your lifts. I try not to rely on mine until I get to my heaviest sets. I suggest wraps if you have knee pains or inflammation, knee sleeves are good too, but you wont get carryover from them.[/quote]
I get a good amount of carryover from my heavy set of knee sleeves.
I would not recommend wraps for knee pains or inflammation, as when pulled tight can just make it worse. I’ve been wrapped by my training partners before where I’ve had bruising on the front of my quads the next day. Sleeves are where it’s at for keeping your knees warm and healthy.
Wraps are where it’s at for adding the most to your lifts.
I was going to invest in a pair of knee sleeves that I found on Elite FTS, http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=300&pid=3014.
Does anyone have any experience with these. If so I would love to hear your thoughts.
[quote]2thepain wrote:
I was going to invest in a pair of knee sleeves that I found on Elite FTS, http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=300&pid=3014.
Does anyone have any experience with these. If so I would love to hear your thoughts. [/quote]
I have both the heavy and the super heavy. My experiences are posted earlier in this thread.
Most people will say get the APT Convicts over the EliteFTS sleeves. I have not tried the APT sleeves, so I can not comment on them. However, I am happy with my EliteFTS sleeves.
[quote]2thepain wrote:
I was going to invest in a pair of knee sleeves that I found on Elite FTS, http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=300&pid=3014.
Does anyone have any experience with these. If so I would love to hear your thoughts. [/quote]
I have the heavy knee sleeves. I give them my full recommendation. Good support and warmth.
I use knee sleeves to squat anything heavier than an empty bar. I haven’t torn nothing down there (yet) and I am hoping to delay this as long as possible. There is no reason to not use knee sleeves. I prefer cheap ones- $9 a piece at any sporting good store.
Wraps are a matter of choice. Wraps add pounds to your lift. But for me- they also help keep my knee from buckling inward- something can end in an ugly outcome. Knee wraps have never made my knee pain worse. But squatting without wraps has on occassion triggered or aggravated knee pain. Some peopel have had the opposite experience.