When should I start using weight belts and knee wraps?

[DoubleA840]

I've been in to serious lifting for about a year and a half now.

Lately i've made some really good progress in my squat and deadlift. I'm up to 315lbs on the squat and 205lb on the deadlift.

I'm worried that even though I'm taking my time and slowly adding the weight, i'm setting myself for a significant knee or back injury. I also don't want to rely on using wraps and belts for fear that my joints and such won't be as strong as they could be if i weren't using them.

I've never put a belt on, or used knee wraps, at what point would it be a good idea to start using a belt and knee wraps?

[heidt410]

How are you setting yourself up for injury?

I would get a belt for your back right now. Get a nice leather belt.
Do not use knee wraps, unless you are powerlifting. Knee wraps undertrain the tendons and ligaments.

Going slow is important. Just make sure you are doing the lifts properly. Make sure you are squatting so that your thighs are parellel to the ground.

[DoubleA840]

I only say that I'm "setting myself up for an injury" because I've been increasing the amount of weight I'm using but not adding any support such as a belt or knee wraps.

What exactly constitutes power lifting?

You bring up the point that knee wraps will undertrain the tendons and ligaments, but I'm sure at SOME point they will be needed. Right?
If using knee wraps will undertrain my knees, won't using a belt undertrain my back/core muscles?

[heidt410]

Powerlifting is completely different than weight training and body building. Actually all 3 are very different from each other. But mainly powerlifters have a very different approach. They tend to use techniques that incorporate a wide range of muscles to acheive lifting max weight. While their form is not right or wrong, it does not target certain muscles as well as the form you would use in weight training/body build.

A waist belt is used because small pulls and tweeks are very common in the lower back. You can strengthen your lower back with a number of other lifts.
Its very dangerous, though to train your knees with supports. You will be more susceptible to injuries because of not strengthening your knee tissues. If all you do is lift and dont play sports....it may be ok, but knees are nothing you want to be week.

I tore my ACL 2 yrs ago and every profesional I encountered during rehab strongly advised training without some type of support. It is also practiced in college/prof athletics for the most part.

Unless you have some type of knee problems you should never need wraps.

[heidt410]

One more thing bro...how can you squat 315 but only deadlift 205? Are you sure you are going down far enough when squatting. If not, you are cheating yourself a great deal and not getting the gains you should. Im not accusing you... I just thought the descrepency was wierd and want to make sure your form is good on squats.

[DoubleA840]

The big discrepency is because deadlifts are an exercise i recently started doing but i've been squatting big, and doing heavy leg presses since high school. I started with very little weight on the deadlift (95lbs just 4 weeks ago) and have been slowly adding. I started so low cause i've heard horror stories of messed up backs and i wanted to make sure i had a good form before i started doing anything heavy.

[heidt410]

The big discrepency is because deadlifts are an exercise i recently started doing but i've been squatting big, and doing heavy leg presses since high school. I started with very little weight on the deadlift (95lbs just 4 weeks ago) and have been slowly adding. I started so low cause i've heard horror stories of messed up backs and i wanted to make sure i had a good form before i started doing anything heavy.

Oh, thats why? Very smart to ease into deadlifts...or any lift. I just thought it was weird because 315 is a heavy squat for me, but I could do 315 for 10 reps deadlifting.

But IMO...stay away from knee wraps.