What do knee sleeves actually do?

Some people won't lift without them, others think they’re a crutch that mask weakness. Training aids like belts, knee sleeves, wrist wraps and the like tend to be worn by the top guys and girls but is that just because they’re all working around horrendous joint health and injury?

Knee sleeves fall into a couple of different camps, thin and or loose versus the thick, indescribably tight and near impossible to get on and off. My personal preference is for the latter but I think I have some fairly sound reasoning as to why.

Wraps / sleeves / leg warmers…

As you’ll have noticed when you come to buy knee sleeves, a couple of major features are the material and the ‘ply’ or thickness. Single, double or even triple ply equates roughly to 3/5/7mm thickness and with thickness comes stiffness. Size will dictate the tightness to a large degree but I’ve known 100kg guys to wear a small 7mm knee sleeve. Calf jokes aside, the strength to get them on is a feat in itself.

Wraps are different and I’ve used them far less. There are a few top lifters who prefer these but the time it takes and the potential for variation with every ‘application’ puts me off. A great option for those who don’t mind taking them on and off between lifts and for anyone with such ginormous calves that a sleeve is unimaginable. Not me then.

To me, the only marginally tight and particularly thin sleeves serve only to keep your joints warm and offer no real benefits in performance. They feel nice though…

Compression ?

The continual squeeze on the knee joint may provide some enhanced mechanical feedback, may add a tiny bit to joint stability and may even restrict depth a fraction. All together you might find a small increase in performance. I do think you can get a small elastic effect from the bottom position when squatting deep but whether this has a significant effect on what you’ll lift is anyones guess.

Security blanket

I think the main feature of a thick and tight sleeve that benefits me is confidence. I feel stronger wearing them, so I lift more with more self-assuredness. Placebo or not I’ll always use them for my heaviest squat days, snatches and clean and jerks.

Is there any reason to not use them?

Some knee injuries don’t love them. The increased pressure on the patella and associated fat pads can cause more pain and stop things getting better as quickly. Where as some knee injuries or minor niggles feel much better when using a knee sleeve or wraps. Check with your physio if you’re not sure.

Sometimes it’s just nice to not have to rely on something. In the same vein as not allowing a person to rely heavily on a belt when not necessarily required, I believe in only using knee sleeves when doing heavier lifts, and never really for accessories and conditioning work. A simple rule of thumb is that anything below 75% or for more than 10 reps isn’t really warranted to wear them.

Brands I like:

SBD seem to have cornered much of the UK market and are what I have for heavy squats etc. Not heard anyone every say anything negative about their kit other than maybe the cost.

Eleiko released a new set of sleeves sometime in the last 2-3 years. I bought some thinking that you can rely on such a well known weightlifting brand. Maybe I’m a freak with huge, powerful knees or maybe they just aren’t made very well. The internal rubber ‘stuff’ split and tore within about a month of using them. I’m not lifting insane weights, and I used them as designed. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THESE! Although they still seem to function they’ve been relegated to my spare pair and the SBD’s are the top boys.

There’s a new brand around called ‘Murgs’ which are growing in popularity mainly I think as a better value alternative to SBD. The jury is out until I’ve tried some though.

What’s your experience with sleeves/wraps? Anyone got any further recommended brands?