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Comment by johnfarrelldev | Hacker News Reader

Wraps absolutely are a short cut in that every lifter can instantly lift more wearing them due to the elastic tension they're able to provide.

I don't think there is much evidence suggesting training squats wrapped would then result in the unwrapped squat being stronger for an elite lifter. I'd actually be concerned that the technical changes and also the different strength curve for a wrapped squat might throw off someone's regular squat.

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A wrapped squat is still a squat. Do heavy knee wraps allow you to squat more? Absolutely. But other than the weight being higher, you squat basically the same with or without wraps. So training in wraps will absolutely help your raw squat -- it isn't like the wraps take away all muscle stimulus from the squat.

That being said, I think most lifters hold off on doing wraps until close to a competition or when hitting near max. Wraps are painful and take a lot of work to put on if doing them tight, so it isn't something you do on every squat. Also, I think people over-estimate how much extra weight one can lift with wraps versus without. It varies from one lifter to the next, but I think the average might be around 10%.

Source -- powerlifter of 10+ years who trains both regular and wrapped squats all the time.

All else being equal it's still potentially meaningful stimulus. There's no way it doesn't translate if you're training wrapped in a way that would stimulates hypertrophy or strength increase - it's an offset upwards, sure, but the muscles will still respond to the work.

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