@Benanything thanks for stopping by!
First up, here’s an excellent video on how to wrap your own knees by Canberra’s own John Sheridan. This is what taught me how to wrap. I use the basic up and down method, not a fan of sub-x but I may use it in the future.
Breaking your question down:
- Using them: because of how much they suck, and how much time they can add to a squat session I only put them on eight to four weeks out from a meet. When you do use them, start using them early in the session and gradually increase the tension (number of revolutions). For example, this was my session today:
bar
bar
70 kg
110 kg
140 kg - belt
170 kg - belt, moderate-loose wraps
190 kg - belt, moderate wraps
210 kg - belt, tight wraps
230 kg WORK SET 1 - belt, tight wraps
200 kg WORK SET 2 - belt, tight wraps
If you aren’t competing in a fed that allows wraps I don’t see a reason to ever wrap your knees. You’ll get much the same effect from reverse band squats IMO, without the discomfort and extra time needed.
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Putting them on yourself: practice. Find the wrapping style that suits you best. There’s a great article on Elite FTS all about how to wrap for different squat styles. Personally, I prefer starting at the top and simply going down and then back up. Also, I prefer to get most of the wrap behind my knee if I can, maybe two to two and a half wrap’s width at most - the logic is that if you get more wrap behind the knee it gets compressed more so springs back more aggressively. Getting the wrap to cover more length up and down stops you from going too deep more, but arguably reduces the rebound. You’ll have to play around to find out what works best for you. Be aware that wrapping and rolling wraps takes quite a toll on your grip.
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How to squat in them: well, personally I don’t squat any differently in wraps or in sleeves. Stance bar position, etc are all the same. Arguably descending faster may help to get more round, but not at the expense of stability and tightness. I understand that a reasonably common problem is finding it harder to hit depth in tight wraps. I have never experienced this myself, but I tend to squat reasonably deep anyway I think. One thing that I have seen and experienced on occasion is more knee caving in wraps - I’m guessing that’s mostly due the fact that in wraps you generally have more weight on your back than without so you’re more likely to see technique breakdown as a result.
I have no idea why anyone would tell you that your stance is too narrow to get good carryover from wraps. I would have thought the opposite is true, and certainly having squatted in wraps both wide and medium stance I can safely say that I get more out of my wraps with a medium stance compared to wide. If you think about it, the narrower your stance, the more wrap you’re going to compress between your hamstring and calf - ergo, more rebound.
The discomfort is something you get used to, and also depends a lot on what wraps you use. Generally, the thicker and stiffer the wrap the less comfortable you will be and the harder it will be to wrap your knees - but also the more rebound you can get if you wrap them properly. Something like the Inzer Iron Zs are very soft and stretchy but don’t give anywhere near as much rebound as the red Slingshot or Harris True Cast wraps.
If you’re going to wrap your own knees, I find it is better to have stiff wraps because what I have found is that you can get more rebound from fewer revolutions. This saves both time and effort.
Finally, you will probably have noticed that walking out a wrapped squat is a lot harder than walking out an unwrapped squat. That’s why I prefer wrapped squatting out of a monolift. You can squat wrapped perfectly well walking out your squats, but it takes a lot more getting used to.
Hope that helps.
