7 Reasons Why Any Athlete Should Wear Knee Sleeves

Anyone who does functional fitness, regardless of their ability level can benefit from wearing knee sleeves.

Here are 7 reasons why:

1. If you watch the Games you will see knee sleeves being worn by almost every athlete. Elite level athletes and their coaches believe in the benefits of knee sleeves and so there must be something to it. If it’s good enough for them then it should be good enough for you and me!
2. Knee sleeves will help with all heavy squatting based movements. Knee sleeves provide support, compression, and stability to your knees – all of which helps when you are putting a heavy load on your joints.  Even good knees will benefit from the extra support knee sleeves provide. Helping you improve your strength while reducing the risk of injury.
3. Knee sleeves will also help with all high rep squatting movements. Whether it is wall balls, pistols or box jumps, our knees are being worked hard on every rep. Knee sleeves will help us move correctly and more efficiently.
4. Knees sleeves are made of neoprene – the same material wetsuits are made from – which means they are excellent at keeping your knees warm. Warm joints improve our mobility and assists in better movement patterns.
5. It may not be obvious but knee sleeves are great for burpees. When you do a burpee your knees hit into the ground each rep. The faster you go the harder it is on the knees. Knee sleeves give a layer of cushioning to your knees – making each burpee a little more comfortable (they will still be hard but at least you don’t have to worry about bruised knees!).
6. Ditto for walking lunges. Hitting our knee into the ground on a walking lunge is not pleasant. Wearing knee sleeves takes that pain away so we can focus on the workout.
7. When you are a beginner or an average level athlete wearing the gear can give us the confidence we need to train well. Success in training and the ability to get PRs is often a mental battle. The strength and ability is there but sometimes the head is lagging. Wearing lifting shoes, knee sleeves or a belt can sometimes give us that mental edge to believe we can do it!