How much weight before knee wraps?

[Dastardly]

I have some naturally unstable knees, plus I did some ligament damage to one about 3 years ago. So I feel wraps could probably help me.

What sort of benchmark would you set yourself before you 'allowed' yourself to use knee wraps?

2xBW back squat? I am only at 1.6 now.

[Carlos Daniel]

What sort of wraps? heavy powerlifting wraps?

[Simma Park]

This is kind of a trial and error / YMMV / "it depends" thing.

[Carlos Daniel]

If we're talking about heavy knee wraps, I'd say never. They hurt and there's no point in using them if you're not gonna compete in them.

[Simma Park]

If we're talking about heavy knee wraps, I'd say never. They hurt and there's no point in using them if you're not gonna compete in them.

I agree with this. Competition weight wraps are just awful to wear.

[Tamara Reynolds]

If your knee hurts and you need to be able to train through the pain, then it is time to wrap your knees exactly how Rip shows in his knee wrap video. The weight on the bar does not matter.

[hbriem]

If your knee hurts and you need to be able to train through the pain, then it is time to wrap your knees exactly how Rip shows in his knee wrap video. The weight on the bar does not matter.

This.

I hate to disagree with Carlos and spar, but strictly speaking, the weight of the wraps is not a factor in how much they hurt. Just how tightly they are wrapped. You could wrap them so loosely that they'd fall off when you stand up. Would that hurt? Certainly not.

Also, you get used to it. The first time I was wrapped was in my first competition. It was so painful I literally had to hold back from crying. With hindsight, they weren't wrapping that tightly. I've had much worse since and to tell you the truth, I feel I lift best with only medium tight.

[Gerald Boggs]

I have a knee injury by way of a figure four. I started wearing sleeves (because I had them and I'm too cheap to buy the wraps) at 220 Lbs. Wearing them is the difference between working in pain and working pain-free.

[Simma Park]

I hate to disagree with Carlos and spar, but strictly speaking, the weight of the wraps is not a factor in how much they hurt. Just how tightly they are wrapped. You could wrap them so loosely that they'd fall off when you stand up. Would that hurt? Certainly not.

This is true, but I find they still kind of suck, even when loose. They don't offer very even support when loose, and it's still a lot of material getting in the way. I find that the thinner wraps are easier to control tightness with.

Anyway, for my bad leg, a thinner wrap works really well and is comfortable. The difference between being distracted by pain vs. being able to focus on lifting when I squat.

I might change my tune to yours if I were squatting anywhere near as much, though.

[Corrie]

I have a knee injury by way of a figure four. I started wearing sleeves (because I had them and I'm too cheap to buy the wraps) at 220 Lbs. Wearing them is the difference between working in pain and working pain-free.

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of sleeves too.

Maybe I'll move on to wraps when the weight gets a bit higher or if my knees are acting up but the warmth the sleeve provides seems to help me a lot.