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Belts and knee wraps

D-Rock

By D-Rock
in Bodybuilding & aesthetics

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D-Rock Junior member

D-Rock

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I realise this may be a rather open ended question. as it probably depends on the person and what types of training they do / have done. But I was curious about when would be a suitable time to use knee wraps and lifting belts. Is there some sort of ballpark figure weight for moves like squats and deadlifts where using a belt becomes recommended? Or does your body let you know "hey buddy, you could do with a bit of added support"? There are some big boys who use belts and knee wraps and lift big numbers, but there are also a number of guys lifting much less than me and wearing belts. Whether it is necessary for them or not I don't know.

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nate225 Veteran member

nate225

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My 10 cents....

Belts & wraps are essential if you are going to compete in PLing, unless you're happy to give away poundage to your competitors.

That being so you have to train in them (they do change grooves - particularly tight wraps), but you don't want to become reliant on them. Personally I like to warm up squats and add belt as I get over 140kg, then wraps over 180kg etc so I'm still doing a bit of 'truly raw' squatting.

I'll also squat with wraps and keep seperate PR's for these lifts (I very rarely squat heavy these days without a belt but thats just my preference).

However if you are not focussed on PLing, you may want to add a belt on exercises where you feel your mid section / lower back strength is impacting on your ability to work other groups (such as legs or squats, lats on BO Rows etc). At the same time you'd also want to be working on that mid section as a weak point though - don't neglect it.

Knee wraps are often used to help sore knees. I'm not sure if this really works (knee sleeves work to keep the knees warm, tight wraps seem to dull any pain!) but worth a shot. If it means the difference between a good training session and a crap one get the wraps on. Just dont confuse the extra weight moved with gains or a better workout (adding elastic effect gives poundage for free!).

Belts, wraps, suits, straps, shirts...... I luv it all.....

Nate Gearwhore! :grin:

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D-Rock Junior member

D-Rock

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Thanks Nate.

As I have had several knee injuries in the past, I don't trust my knees (even when they are good and strong) so am cautious if I go heavy on squats or leg press. Knee wraps would probably give some added support, and give me a bit of a mental boost too to dig deep.

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train hard Senior member

train hard

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you will get to know when you need them i have to wrap my knees and belt for any squats when i get to 12 reps and lower to failure but on deads i can handle down to about 6 reps before i need a belt the main point is only use them when you need too for safety if your goal is lifting more weight then belts and wraps can help with that too i use for the safety side to many niggles for me now

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TonganTerror Senior member

TonganTerror

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I wear a belt at all times when I am training plus I dont want to end up with bad back problems later on in life plus it is better to be safe then sorry.

Gym rat the movie star this is not good practice mate as instead of getting a stronger back you are actually sacrificing a lot of lower back strength by using the belt all the time this is why the lads always say not to use the belt until the heavier sets this way you still get a good workout on the lower back during the lighter sets without risking an injury!

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tinytraps Veteran member

tinytraps

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While im doing 5/3/1 I will put the belt on loose to remind me to pull my gut out on my 80%+ sets and for my max set ill put it on, but only for squats, I find pulling deads from the floor with a belt awkward and everything else are raw, even whem I did sheiko I only used belt for testing really helped core strength.

I got some dodgy knees and I find that wrapping them during a session helps and I can drop a bit faster into the hole, but afterwards they play up more than if I hadnt used them.

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train hard Senior member

train hard

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I wear a belt at all times when I am training plus I dont want to end up with bad back problems later on in life plus it is better to be safe then sorry.

Gym rat the movie star this is not good practice mate as instead of getting a stronger back you are actually sacrificing a lot of lower back strength by using the belt all the time this is why the lads always say not to use the belt until the heavier sets this way you still get a good workout on the lower back during the lighter sets without risking an injury!

shit i have seen guys doing tricep kickbacks with a belt on crazy i know but yea there not meant to be a fashion accessary

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TonganTerror Senior member

TonganTerror

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I wear a belt at all times when I am training plus I dont want to end up with bad back problems later on in life plus it is better to be safe then sorry.

Gym rat the movie star this is not good practice mate as instead of getting a stronger back you are actually sacrificing a lot of lower back strength by using the belt all the time this is why the lads always say not to use the belt until the heavier sets this way you still get a good workout on the lower back during the lighter sets without risking an injury!

shit i have seen guys doing tricep kickbacks with a belt on crazy i know but yea there not meant to be a fashion accessary

Yeah crazy aye mate we ahve a guy in our gym we call "partials :pfft: " he was using mine and moratti girls belt for some assistant exercise I couldnt help myself went and asked him to take it off muah haha :twisted: :twisted:

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PeterDolan Veteran member

PeterDolan

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It really is a "feel" thing. I never use a belt except for heavy T-Bar rows and only if my spinal erectors are feeling in need of some assistance, as for wraps, I only use them on my final 2 heaviest sets. Don't try and get a guideline because some people are just pussies and only train with a belt and they'll tell you you need to do the same, or they're idiots like me and wont even 1RM squat or deadlift with one.

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Tonka Member

Tonka

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Dose wearing knee wraps help reduce the risk of knee injures when wearing wraps?

The knee wraps will certainly give you confidence to put on more weight whether you are squatting or doing leg press. In terms of preventing injury, yes and no. It will protect the knee joint to a certain degree but then can place more strain on the joint as you up the weight that you might normally be used to without wraps. Your ability to rep with more weight will also increase with these wraps.

I tend to advise people to work as far as they can without the wraps as it is easy to become dependant on them. A good rule of thumb for adding knee wraps is when you start getting up to 80-85%+ of your RAW max.

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Tonka Member

Tonka

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I distribute for Titan USA and have proper powerlifting knee+wrist wraps on stock. Flick me a PM bro and I'll sort something out for you.

Tonka Ill grab a set of those wrist wraps mate already have animal ones but hey lol more the merrier pm me addy mate

PM sent bro

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