So I kinda procrastinated on my knee wrap purchase, but I finally got some. I've never wrapped before. Looked around the forums but only found slight nuggets of knowledge dispersed in people's logs, figured all the wrapper bros in here could chime in on any tips/techniques/miscellaneous advice about wrapping for a PL meet.
I got them today and gave it a whirl just fucking around with it after my workout. Are your feet supposed to go numb? Lol. How the hell are you supposed to keep wraps on tight like that for all 3 attempts in a meet?
Seems like a huge pain in the ass but if I can get another 30-40 lbs on my squat and everyone else is going to be using them anyway, then I need to get used to it right? So anyone who's experienced with this stuff hit me with some tips!
Yep. I wear mine pretty tight, but not nearly as tight as one of my training partners does. She cranks them so tight it feels like your legs are getting sawed off. I almost think it is too much, but maybe I don't have enough weight on the bar to make that happen. My knees don't bend enough and my form gets messed up.
Depending on your style, you might be able to get up to 100lbs out of 2.5m wraps.
Alright alright. So then at Rips invitational, the rules say your wraps must be put on before your first attempt and except for minor adjustments cant be removed. This I assume is to deter people from doing the epic tight wrapping and getting 50+ lbs on their squat?
Yep. I think we wants people to wear them more for injury prevention reasons. Even I couldn't keep my wraps on for all my sets, and I don't go all out with them. What you need to do is build up some knee wrap tolerance somehow. Then you can crank the shit out of them and make it through 3 sets. That would be awesome! :-)
Progressive wrap loading hah. Hmm good stuff. I actually like that rule.
Oh I see, its Rips way of barring heavy powerlifting wraps. But encouraging use of the "light" supportive wraps used for injured/old knees. I failed to find any light wraps like that in the UK.
I have some knee wraps (white ones with two red stripes) that Rip said weren't appropriate for knee support. So, I'm assuming they're more of a power knee wrap. I've worn them and like you, my feet went a little numb by the time I got done squatting and I haven't used them since. I switched to a lightly wrapped Tensor bandage which seems to offer support without any performance boost, which is what I was originally after. I can wear those for 2.5 hours without any discomfort or numbness. I realize that doesn't help you, but I'd play around with wrapping direction, in vs out, top to bottom, etc to see what feels better. I personally prefer wraping inwards (like in Rip's vid), bottom to top. I wrapped out on Monday and didn't like it. I switched after my first couple sets.
I wear some cheap altus wraps. I've figured out how to put them on super tight and also snug and warm for multiple sets. Problem with snug and warm is that they are short wraps and need constant adjustments after each set. My knees are a mess from 15 years of skateboarding so the wraps as almost essential at max loads.
If you watch the knee wrap video in the resources section Mark talks about how he uses the wraps for support and not to add poundage.
He specifically says you should wrap them loose enough that you can wear them through all your work sets and not have to take them off from discomfort.
So that's probably where that's coming from.