Knee sleeves on Olympic lifters?

I am not an Olympic lifter, but I hope to learn and incorporate it into my overall training soon. One thing I have noticed is that a lot of Olympic lifters wear knee sleeves, a lot more than powerlifters I feel. Is this done for the same reason as powerlifters use knee wraps but it provides freer movement? Does it alter form, amount you can lift, or just ease pain/shock to the joints? Just wondering about how they are used in your sport. Do you only use them for the heavy sets or are they more of a constant thing? Thanks for the info guys.

alot of lifters develop patella tendonitis from the positions the lifts put you in, the sleeves are used to keep the knees supported and warm during training and competition; when my tendonitis was really bad I used them every training session now I only use sleeves for some aches and pains that come every blue moon now, so nowadays I'm sleeveless most of the time. If the sleeves are very tight they might restrict your motion but when they contour to your body there's really not any problems there.

Yah, they are not the same as knee wraps. I have worn PL-style knee wraps, it's not even comparable. The sleeves don't provide any bounce or high tension, they don't increase the amount of weight you can lift.

For many people, myself included, the lifts just put a lot of stress on the knee joint. Achy knees and tendonitis is pretty common, so you find yourself wearing sleeves in order to warm up the knee and support the knee joint.

some knee sleeves can help you lift little more like the double ply convict knee sleeves-for the squat and have to be pretty tight also would be uncomfortable for the competition lifts- though not much compared to say knee wraps. The ones most lifters use is just to keep knee warm and don't alter form or make you lift more weight.

I never use sleeves I don't like the feel of them and I squat everyday and do lifts everyday also. I have never got knee injury of any type. I do feel aches here and there but lots of water/fish oil and ice/bengay help a lot there. Only injury gotten that put me out of lifting for a bit was lower back strain doing dl's which I don't do anymore as feel get plenty of back work doing lifts and high pulls.

I you like them use them if not they don't make any difference.

Thinking of using them, had knee surgery two years ago and trying to finally get back into a good training schedule.

Don't want to invest a bunch of money into the rehband ones- dude at the gym was wearing black ones from Dick's or something, said they were 15 or 20 a piece.

[QUOTE=ehlpitel;547239973]Thinking of using them, had knee surgery two years ago and trying to finally get back into a good training schedule.

Don't want to invest a bunch of money into the rehband ones- dude at the gym was wearing black ones from Dick's or something, said they were 15 or 20 a piece.[/QUOTE]

I got a pair from Academy for $9 each and have used them over a year. They work fine.

So most Oly lifters just use whatever brand they find locally, there isn't a specific style or brand marketted specifically for their style of lifting?

[QUOTE=raffiki;547507433]I got a pair from Academy for $9 each and have used them over a year. They work fine.[/QUOTE]
Is that an online store or something in real life?

[QUOTE=ehlpitel;547739773]Is that an online store or something in real life?[/QUOTE]

Here in the states it is a real store. I've been thinking about getting some, will probably take a look at Academy. You can buy them online, but you usually have to measure your knee or something.

i use the tommy kono knee sleeves


excellent investment

[QUOTE=ehlpitel;547739773]Is that an online store or something in real life?[/QUOTE]

Yeah. Just go to a local sporting goods store and buy what they have. It should be fine.

Do you consider them more of a prevention or a treatment?

[QUOTE=Lwood1990;548660673]Do you consider them more of a prevention or a treatment?[/QUOTE]

prevention

i use the tommy kono sleeves and literally during my workout i have sweat dripping down my leg from underneath the sleeves

thats how warm it keeps my knees

Do you feel a noticeable difference in your Tommy Kono sleeves and something generic from the sporting goods section?

[QUOTE=Lwood1990;548736043]Do you feel a noticeable difference in your Tommy Kono sleeves and something generic from the sporting goods section?[/QUOTE]

would you notice a difference between driving a corvette and driving a ford pinto?

I didn't realize there was that big of a difference in the actual product, thanks for the reference though. I'll be ordering shortly.