What do knee wraps do? Or more particularly, how do they make you lift more weight?
My 6th 5/3/1 cycle starts tomorrow and I’m going to try a change. It’s basically the powerlifting version without the singles (for now)
- change the sequence to 3/5/1
- go for max reps on the 3’s week
- do only prescribed reps (5) in week 2
- go for max reps on 3rd week (5/3/1)
I want to see if I am less fatigued for week 3 and if it helps with the top weight.
Pic of old belt and new. I am expecting some benefits.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
What do knee wraps do? Or more particularly, how do they make you lift more weight?[/quote]
You wrap your knees with your legs straight. The tension of the wrap builds as you bend your knee when you squat and that tension gives some assistance out of the hole.
Plus the stability around the joint means more energy goes into the lift rather than stabilizing.
The old wraps gave little assistance, maybe 10 pounds, but I liked the feeling of a stable knee joint.
Booo you gear whore… soon you’ll be shopping for dead briefs.
So will you track PRs separately for wrapped knees v. unwrapped? In the same way that I always note when I use a belt and when I don’t.
That seems to me to be the slippery slope of gear.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
So will you track PRs separately for wrapped knees v. unwrapped? In the same way that I always note when I use a belt and when I don’t.
That seems to me to be the slippery slope of gear.[/quote]
Depending on how my knees feel with Tommy Konos I may not use the wraps much. But the scientist in me is curious to find out if wrap material and design really makes much difference. But, for you I’ll log it so you can point and yell “cheater” when I hit 405 
The belt was more for back health reasons but I’ll be interested to see if it has any impact on numbers. On any reasonably heavy weight I will always use the belt.
Belts and wraps are so ubiquitous in lifting I don’t really consider them gear as much as safety and support aids. But, others disagree.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
So will you track PRs separately for wrapped knees v. unwrapped? In the same way that I always note when I use a belt and when I don’t.
That seems to me to be the slippery slope of gear.[/quote]
You raise an interesting – and long-discussed – point. Raw vs. geared. I always keep my numbers separate because they are radically different. Elite lifters get tremendous gains from their gear and, hence, their geared numbers are way inflated over what they can lift raw. But competition happens on an apples-to-apples level. Raw compete against raw. Geared compete against geared. State and national records for the different feds make these distinctions.
What gets confusing is that what is raw for one fed is not necessarily raw for another. For example, USAPL does not allow wraps in the raw division but NASA and others [Lil Power’s fed]do. And once you get into gear, it gets even more confusing. Briefs, single- vs. multi-ply, denim. Plus, many feds do not drug test so a clean lifter competing against a steriod user in a non-tested fed would have a decided disadvantage.
TMI probably.
[quote]giterdone wrote:
Belts and wraps are so ubiquitous in lifting I don’t really consider them gear as much as safety and support aids. But, others disagree.[/quote]
I disagree based on personal experience. I get little to no gain from a belt and knee sleeves but a significant gain from my knee wraps.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
[quote]giterdone wrote:
Belts and wraps are so ubiquitous in lifting I don’t really consider them gear as much as safety and support aids. But, others disagree.[/quote]
I disagree based on personal experience. I get little to no gain from a belt and knee sleeves but a significant gain from my knee wraps. [/quote]
With decent wraps my experience may mirror yours. We’ll see.
So far I have seen F’all increase from using a belt.
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
So far I have seen F’all increase from using a belt.[/quote]
It wouldn’t surprise me if that is the case with me as well. I have some low back history so my purchase was more related to that. But, if I can lift with more confidence, particularly on deads, i might be able to work through some mental barriers around heavy weight.
I was going to deload this week but I may just skip it.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
So will you track PRs separately for wrapped knees v. unwrapped? In the same way that I always note when I use a belt and when I don’t.
That seems to me to be the slippery slope of gear.[/quote]
Sorry to say so Git, but I agree with KK.
I know I’m a RAW advocate but buying a better belt and knee wraps to help with your assault on the 405 squat seems wrong to me. Say you put them on tomorrow and suddenly gain 15lbs on your squat, you’re not actually any stronger than the day before are you?. You’ve just made the lift a little easier.
When you’re training for a specific number like your 405 squat you have to keep everything exactly the same ie. range of movement, equipment used etc otherwise you can’t quantify it and tell if you really are improving.
Resist the gear and get that 405, as I’m sure you will, all by yourself.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
So will you track PRs separately for wrapped knees v. unwrapped? In the same way that I always note when I use a belt and when I don’t.
That seems to me to be the slippery slope of gear.[/quote]
Sorry to say so Git, but I agree with KK.
I know I’m a RAW advocate but buying a better belt and knee wraps to help with your assault on the 405 squat seems wrong to me. Say you put them on tomorrow and suddenly gain 15lbs on your squat, you’re not actually any stronger than the day before are you?. You’ve just made the lift a little easier.
When you’re training for a specific number like your 405 squat you have to keep everything exactly the same ie. range of movement, equipment used etc otherwise you can’t quantify it and tell if you really are improving.
Resist the gear and get that 405, as I’m sure you will, all by yourself.[/quote]
15lbs?? That’s it? This whole gear thing sucks. I was hoping to be instantly awesome.
[quote]JoeGood wrote:
So far I have seen F’all increase from using a belt.[/quote]
You have or haven’t seen an increase, Joe?
Feeling pretty good. Skipping the deload week (again)
Cycle 6, Week 1 (3s)
OHP
110 x 3
125 x 3
145 x 5…PR +1 rep from last week
135 x 5,5,4…PR up from 135 x 3,3,4 last week
High incline Smith
1pps+25 x 3,3,3,3,3
Bent over laterals
30 x 8
40 x 8
50 x 8
60 x 8
65 x 3
45 x 12
Side laterals
25 x 8,8,8
Look at you, PRs everywhere. Nice work.
My belt purchase resulted in some confidence to pull heavy weights which I’m sure indirectly resulted in better numbers. But I only use it for my money sets, and I’ve discovered that my non-belted working sets have improved at the same rate as my belted money sets, if that makes any sense.
I actually don’t see gear as “cheating”. I see it as lifting using different parameters.
Besides, knee sleeves and wraps would mess with my fancy yoga pants.
nice PR’s.
I just ordered wrist wraps.
[quote]nlmain wrote:
nice PR’s.
I just ordered wrist wraps. [/quote]
I should have ordered those as well. Squats put quite a bit of strain on them.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Look at you, PRs everywhere. Nice work.
My belt purchase resulted in some confidence to pull heavy weights which I’m sure indirectly resulted in better numbers. But I only use it for my money sets, and I’ve discovered that my non-belted working sets have improved at the same rate as my belted money sets, if that makes any sense.
I actually don’t see gear as “cheating”. I see it as lifting using different parameters.
Besides, knee sleeves and wraps would mess with my fancy yoga pants. :)[/quote]
Yes, don’t disturb the suberb flow of the pants.
I generally compete against myself so as long as I’m comparing progression taking into account the variables I’m fine with it. If I feel the need to compare to others then I would look for the variables to be similar.
And then there is Ed Coan which defies explanation.
Cycle 6, Week 1 (3s)
Sumo Deads
300 x 3
345 x 3
390 x 8…PR compared to 380 x 8 done last 3s day. Felt good.
Belt was a lot more comfortable than my old one. The lever action is nice.
And, I LOVE the TK knee sleeves. Everything they say about them keeping your knee joint warm and feeling well-lubed seems to be true.
Back circuit x 3
Pulldowns + cable rows + rope pulldowns