Starting Strength

wraps are used to help lifters train with minor injuries by providing capsular support to the knees. Knee sleeves are made of cloth-covered rubber and are used primarily to provide warmth.

    Some older lifters with older-lifter knees find that wraps a little tighter than loose support wraps make pain-free squatting possible. By adding more support to knees that have aged ungracefully, wraps can make the difference between a productive exercise and a source of irritation. The compression provided by properly applied wraps seems to prevent some of the inflammation that unwrapped older knees experience when the lifter is training the squat heavy.
    Some heavier powerlifting wraps are so heavy that they cannot actually be used as loose support wraps; their elastic is so heavy that when it is stretched into position over its entire length, even applied loosely, it is too tight to leave on, and therefore too tight to consider as just supportive. Lighter wraps are available at most sporting goods stores, and they’re fine for our purposes. Rubber and cloth knee sleeves can be used if warmth is the primary objective.
     
    Shoes
     
    Shoes are the only piece of personal equipment that you really need to own. It takes only one set of five in a pair of squat shoes to demonstrate this convincingly to anybody who has done more than one squat workout. A good pair of squat shoes adds enough to the efficiency of the movement that the cost is easily justified. For anywhere from $50 for a used pair to more than $200 for the newest Adidas weightlifting shoes, a pair of proper shoes makes a big difference in the way a squat feels. Powerlifting squat shoes have relatively flat soles, and Olympic weightlifting shoes have a little lift in the heel that makes it easier to get the knees forward just in front of the toes. Your choice will depend on your squatting style and your flexibility. Avoid shoes with heels higher than 1 inch because these are difficult to use for pulls from the floor, using the kinematics advocated here, and they produce the same problems as using a 2×4 under the heels. Most squat shoes have metatarsal straps to increase lateral stability, provide some very important arch support, and suck the foot back into the heel of the shoe to reduce intra-shoe movement.

    Figure 2-62. Weightlifting shoes are the most important personal equipment a lifter can own. They provide solid contact with the floor and eliminate sole compressibility and the instability of squishy footing. Get a pair. It will be the best money you spend on your training gear.

    The primary beneficial feature of a squat shoe is its lack of heel compressibility. The drive out of the bottom starts at the floor, where the feet start the kinetic chain. If the contact between the feet and the floor is the squishy gel or air cell of a running shoe, a percentage of the force of the drive will be absorbed by the compression of the cell. This compression reduces power transmission efficiency and foot stability. Unstable footing interferes with the reproducibility of the movement pattern, rendering virtually every squat a whole new experience and preventing the development of good technique. Squatting in running shoes is like squatting on a bed. Many people get away with it for years, but serious lifters invest in squat shoes. They aren’t that expensive, especially compared to brand new name-brand athletic shoes, and they make a huge difference in the way a squat feels.
    We have spent a lot of time developing a model of barbell training from the perspective of balance. Poorly designed or incorrectly utilized footwear completely undermines your application of this rather elegant model. Just buy the damn shoes.
     
    Clothing
     
    A brief word about clothing is in order. It is best to squat in a T-shirt, as opposed to a tank top, because T-shirts cover more skin than tanks do. Skin is slick when sweaty, and slick is not good for keeping the bar in place. The shirt should be 100% cotton or 50/50 poly/cotton, not all synthetic, because these high-tech materials are always slick under the bar. Shorts, sweats, or training pants should always be made of stretchy material. This is very important because if your pants grab your legs, and they will because of the sweat, a non-stretch garment will restrict the movement of your legs and interfere with your ability to shove your knees out and use your hips. The same thing is true for shorts that stop right below the knee, even if