Are knee sleeves good for squatting? The fact is that squatting with weights is one of the most effective ways to build general fitness, strength, lower body, and legs.
But, if you’re doing squats without wearing knee sleeves, you’re putting your knees at high risk of injury. And as a bonus, many weightlifters believe you’ll lift heavier with knee sleeves when squatting.
Are Knee Sleeves Good For Squatting?
These days, you see more and more knee sleeves in the gym. Watch any heavy lifting competition and you’ll see most competitors wearing knee sleeves for squatting. So, there must be good reasons why so many people are taking advantage of knee sleeves?
Do I need supports for squats? Read these benefits of knee sleeves for squatting and decide for yourself.
- Squats add more weight to knees. When you’re doing squats you are adding more weight to your knees than they were designed to carry. That’s pretty simple right there, and yourknees deserve all the protection and forethought you can give them.
- Warmth. Most knee injuries when it comes to squats are a result of either cold knees or bad form. To tell you the truth, if you have bad form already, sleeves aren’t likely to correct your form. But in my opinion, 7mm thick neoprene sleeves will go a long way towards learning good form for squats and get them warm and keep them warm during your workout, or competition.
- Stability increases confidence. Feeling sturdier from the added protection of keeping your knees in alignment as you drive up from a squat is important, along with the added confidence to give more than you thought you had to give.
- Reduce pain. Increased blood flow from the compression and warmth provided by correctly fitted knee sleeves is going to help you reduce pain, soreness, and inflammation in your knees that comes with squatting.
- Limits Patella Movement. Wearing knee sleeves is good for limiting kneecap movement when you are putting extreme stress on the joint.
Depending on your knees to force up unnatural amounts of weight puts unnatural stress and pressure on your knees. Over time you haven’t much choice but to damage your knees, so why not do all you can to protect them when doing squats?
You don’t need to wear knee sleeves for all your weight lifting activities — only when your knees are a primary part of the lift. And here’s the Best WeightLifting Knee Sleeves.
KNEE SLEEVES FOR SQUATS
What Do Knee Sleeves Do for Squatting?
In reality, knee sleeves are usually used as a preventive measure when it comes to squatting. They do provide support for your knees, keep them warm, and can give you a feeling of confidence from feeling the compression around your knees during the squatting movement.
But there’s always that nagging question about whether or not they add weight to your own lifting capability? The only way to know for sure is to give weightlifting knee sleeves a shot, and find out?
Actually, I think that if there were any real inherent value to lifting more weight with knee sleeves, they wouldn’t be allowed in Raw Powerlifting events? however, when you’re a weight lifting competitor, you look for every conceivable advantage.
Even though they aren’t the same as knee wraps when it comes to increasing your overall results from squats, there are lifters who swear they are getting from 5-25 pound advantage?
The way they’re doing this is by buying neoprene sleeves 2-3 sizes too small, so they in effect act like tightly wrapped wraps. With the added advantage of feeling the extra support.
Read this post to learn about taking advantage of the elastic energy people use to actually lift more weight when squatting with 7mm knee sleeves, and decide for yourself “Are Knee Sleeves Cheating”?
Important Information About Knee Sleeves for Squatting
- Knee Sleeves Are Not A Replacement For Warm Ups. They definitely provide you with that warm and cozy feeling. But that’s not enough! You must get into a real stretching routine for your hamstrings, quads, and hips before you start any weight lifting.
- Knee Sleeves Are No Substitute for Form. Good form is key to good squatting! A lot of pain experienced with squats comes directly from poor positioning, posture, and form. It’s you that needs to control your form, not depending on knee sleeves to do it for you.
In fact, many proponents of knee sleeves for squatting say you should be conservative in using them during training, and not to use them at all until you have a year of experience in heavy squats. Those people believe you should have proper form, sleeves or not. - Knee Sleeves Can Keep Your Knees Safe When Squatting. There’s always an ongoing argument concerning the question “are knee sleeves good for squatting”? My own answer is that there is absolutely no risk to wearing them AND they can definitely keep your knees safe from injury. Squatting will be safer for your knees which gives you more confidence. So, why wouldn’t you squat with more weight?
- Neoprene knee sleeves are the norm for squatting. The thing about neoprene is this: they smell bad the first few times you use them. If you don’t keep them clean, they smell atrocious and people will dive for cover when you open your gym bag.
As a weight lifter, it’s important that you think of the future of your knees and take care of them at all cost.
Should You Wear Knee Support When Squatting?
The knee joints that came with you are generally designed to support the weight of your body — in particularly. If you’re lifting weights, I’m sure you are interested in keeping your body at peak performance and looking good.
Keeping your legs and lower body strong and toned with squatting is part of the deal for most of us. And most of know that squats, especially with absurd amounts of weight on your shoulders is the key.
Using knee sleeves for squatting is just a real good way to protect your knees from the extra stress and fatigue from squats.
In fact, your knees are vulnerable anything you’re doing squats, snatches, deadlifts, or jerks. These all make your knees vulnerable and dramatically increase the risk of injury, or wear and tear that will show up later in life.
Knee sleeves are primarily designed for safety and protection from injury. There are no real disadvantages of wearing them for squatting or any other activity that involves your knees, that I know of.
They add compression and support that stabilizes your knee joint and surrounding muscles and tendons. This in itself aids in keeping your knee joint and knee cap in place during the extreme stress of squats. I like to think of my sleeves as a standard part of my gym bag and workout equipment.
So, when you ask are knee sleeves good for squatting, I’m saying they are great!