Sometimes it’s the little things that matter the most and sometimes it’s the little things that get overlooked the most. I remember being at my first powerlifting meet 20 years ago and watching some guy wrap the knees of his lifter. I remember thinking to myself, "Man, that looks like it sucks!" I was glad to be a bench-only diva and not have to worry about that. I never understood the knee wrap thing back then because I didn't squat and did not need them. The only leg training I did was leg extensions and walking.
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As I transitioned over the years into being a real powerlifter, I understood the purpose and the need for knee wraps. A good knee wrap properly applied not only adds safety to the knees but also leads to bigger squats. I watched several variations of how people wrapped knees through the years and I also asked why they wrapped like that. Answers always varied, and I never got a really great answer. I think it really just came down to the fact that someone showed them that way to do it and that's what they felt comfortable with. As I started to venture further into "real" powerlifting, Redneck Tim and I tinkered away at wrapping each other's knees. We tried what seems like a thousand different ways. I started watching folks at meets more closely, trying to find how-to videos and picking up ideas here and there.
After taking a couple of ideas from some folks, we went to work finding a way to wrap knees that would be most effective. We both noticed most lifters never really used all of the wrap (too much excess hanging and not being used) so we tried to figure out a way to use as much of the wrap as possible. We also discovered the biggest problem of knee wraps: getting the wraps off quickly after a squat. Watching lifters battle with trying to get those tight-ass knee wraps off after a squat was excruciating to see over and over again. We started playing around with a few ideas for that problem. We had seen folks "tie" their wraps off at the top or bottom, but to us, that was still wasting a ton of unused knee wrap (which we were trying to avoid), plus it looked like shit.
I can’t tell you how many different ways we tried wrapping knees. Tim and I would spend days at a time on it. We were each other’s test monkeys. My legs would be so scarred up and bruised that I looked like I had been beaten with a belt or something. But one day — bing! We both got to thinking what if we could pull a "tab" through and that tab would be used to release the wrap and make it super quick to get off, plus we would be using almost every inch of the knee wrap for maximum pleasure! Now, how would we do that? Here enters the string.
Back in the day I once saw a guy at a meet use a piece of leather to pull the end tab through the knee wrap when he finished wrapping. I thought it was pretty cool, except that he did not leave the tab to pop the wrap off more quickly, which we started doing. I also thought the nylon string would be smaller, slicker and, well, better. The idea for some type of material to pull the wrap through originated from what I saw that lifter do, but we took the idea and made it better. We had the answer for pulling the wrap through the way we wanted and making for a quick release. When pulling the tab through with the string it also gives you a much tighter finish to the knee wrap.
I can't tell you how many times we have gotten crazy looks from folks after watching us wrap knees at Nebobarbell. Every time we wrap someone's knees, though, they are convinced that it's the best knee wrap they have ever had. Before you jump all over this, I know that you like your way, it's the best, it's the tightest, and all of that — and I have heard that before. But unless you have been wrapped by one of us, you really cannot say that, can you? Tim and I have wrapped several top guys through the years and we have handled several top lifters at meets. We have helped folks who did not know what they were doing and did not have help, and each time that lifter has been blown away by how we wrap knees and how tight the wraps are.
Every lifter at my gym must know how to wrap knees. There is no choice in this matter. Everyone should know how, period. Too many times we have been to meets and lifters haven't known what they were doing (because they just don't know or have never been shown how), lifters came unprepared, or they didn't have handlers or a team. My lifters have seen firsthand all of these scenarios, and each of them now understands why we enforce each and every lifter at our gym know how to properly wrap knees. We had 17 lifters competing at the most recent meet we went to — 15 of those lifters were full power. We had our entire team there with a designated knee wrapper for each lifter. At one point we had seven lifters being wrapped during the same flight. It looked like a NASCAR pit crew wrapping knees. At a meet is where you have to be prepared and ready to not make mistakes. That lifter is depending on you to wrap their knees correctly and give them the confidence they need right before they get under that squat PR and crush it. We ran that meet like a well-oiled machine and put on a clinic for wrapping knees. I was very proud of my team and their proper execution of handling their teammates.
Our way is not perfect or may not be the best, but that's not what this is about. This is about making sure your teammates know how to do the little things at your gym. These little things add up to big things. When everyone at your gym knows what's going on, has been trained to do things, and knows what to expect, things flow better and success becomes addictive. I want all of my team, from the rookies to the veterans, to understand everything that is going on during training and at meets. The more they know, the better we are.
This clinic today was about three hours long. All of my veterans had a rookie (or a lifter still in training on the technique of wrapping knees) wrapping their knees, with me and Redneck Tim observing. A ton was learned today and we had fun. Things like this continue to galvanize the camaraderie we are constantly building at Team Nebobarbell. We are always continuing to learn and becoming better. When you stop learning, you stop moving forward and stop being successful. Remember, it's the little things that mean the most.
Here is a terrible old video from several years back of us showing how to wrap knees. We have changed a few things since this video. The concept is still the same and we still use the string, but our method of laying the wrap up the knee and down the knee has changed quite a bit.
In the last video, you can see in detail the Nebobarbell knee wrapping method we use now. The video shows three separate lifters have their knees wrapped by three different people. Everyone in the gym knows how to do it exactly the same way. The technique might seem a little complex at first, but after learning how to do it, it's a lot simpler than it seems.
Start by going around the bottom of the knee twice. Then come up the knee one rotation at a time, covering half the of previous rotation of the knee wrap each rotation. I like my knee wrap high on my quad, so I have the person wrapping me go up three rotations. Not everyone in the gym likes it that high, so they have their own number of rotations. What you'll see with the angle of the wrap is that you don't want to put it on exactly straight. You need to think of the way a barber shop pole rotates at an angle. That's what you want to do on the way up, and then do the opposite angle on the way down. The real kicker is on the final rotation. If you're the lifter getting wrapped, make a loop with a string and lay it under the final rotation of the knee wrap. Then the wrapper puts his hand through loop in the string, pulls the knee wrap through, and you pull it back under using the string. It sounds complicated but it's easy to understand when you see it in the video.
This gets the most use out of a knee wrap without any excess wrap hanging. What we've figured out throughout the years with this is that the more angles we can use on the knee wrap going up and down, the more resistance we get. By laying the wrap at opposite angles you can get the knee wrap to work against itself and give you more pop out of the hole. The last thing that you can see in the video is how easy it is to take off the knee wraps when you finish squatting. Just pull the tab that you left during the wrapping process and the wrap will unravel itself.
As you can tell, comparing the three videos, our method continues to evolve (become more efficient, cleaner, and tighter) — and that means bigger squats.
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