Stiff Knee Sleeves Are Legal Until the End of 2026. What Changes in 2027?

If you compete in the IPF or its affiliates, such as British Powerlifting, your knee sleeves have had an eventful couple of years. Some of the most popular stiff sleeves were banned, then allowed back, and the rules behind them are about to be rewritten. I made a video the day after the ban was announced in April 2025. This is the update: what has happened since, what you can wear right now, and what we know (and don't know) about 2027.

Quick answer: stiff sleeves like the Inzer ErgoPro, Titan, TKS 7mm, A7 Rigor Mortis (Rigs) and Strength Shop Inferno PRO are allowed at IPF-sanctioned meets until 31 December 2026. From 2027 sleeves will have to meet a new set of technical standards for the 2027–2030 Approved List. Those standards went to manufacturers in May 2026, but none of them has said anything in public yet, so nobody can say which sleeves will pass.

The 2026 IPF Technical Rulebook, in force since 1 March 2026, says knee sleeves must be made entirely of a single ply of neoprene, or mostly a single ply of neoprene with one non-supportive layer of fabric over it. They can be at most 7mm thick and 30cm long. They can't have straps, Velcro, drawstrings or padding, and the sleeve as a whole mustn't give "any appreciable support or rebound" to the knee.

You can only wear sleeves from manufacturers on the IPF Approved List, which was last updated on 4 August 2025. Your national federation's list follows the IPF's for its IPF-sanctioned meets, so check that list rather than a shop's product page.

In April 2025 the IPF removed eight knee sleeves, from seven companies, from its Approved List with immediate effect. Lifters could keep using them until 18 August 2025.

The IPF said an independent laboratory it had commissioned found that the sleeves weren't neoprene as the rules define it: made entirely of a single ply of neoprene, or mostly a single ply plus one non-supportive layer of fabric. The sleeves had been approved in 2022 for use from 2023 to the end of 2026, so the ban cut their use short by about 18 months, with meets already booked.

As a disclosure before I give my opinions, I have received heavily discounted items from SBD as part of their deal with the British Powerlifting Bench Worlds team. This did not come with any clauses requiring me to say or not to say anything about them. I have bought Rigs from A7 and sleeves from SBD, and I use both regularly. In my experience, I prefer training in SBDs, but my top end is stronger in Rigs.

So back in 2025, the original reason for the ban was actually the "single ply of neoprene" part, not the more obvious "appreciable support" rule. Which is weird, because stiff sleeves inherently give appreciable support and appreciable rebound: that is what makes them stiff!

My video, made the day after, was a reaction to that. I questioned how the decision was made, and the IPF's close financial relationship with its main sponsor SBD, whose sleeve was the one stiff sleeve not banned. I said then that I had no evidence of any wrongdoing, and I still do not. There's no evidence of any deliberate foul play, but that relationship still raises eyebrows for me. Imagine if a CEO set their own pay, even if they were fair, that relationship just does not survive any scrutiny.

After what the IPF's own minutes call "rather lively" discussions with national federations, athletes and coaches, the IPF Executive Committee reversed the ban later in the year.

The 2026 General Assembly minutes list the INZER ErgoPro, Titan, TKS 7mm, A7 Rigor Mortis and Strength Shop Inferno PRO as allowed again at all IPF-sanctioned competitions until 31 December 2026, the end date they were originally approved to. But the IPF approved list starts fresh on 1 January 2027, so what then?

The IPF has written a new set of engineered technical standards for how knee sleeves are constructed, to be used for the 2027–2030 Approved List. According to the minutes of the IPF General Assembly on 12 June 2026, the standards went to manufacturers in May 2026 for review, and the IPF is waiting on their response. The new technical rules, which took effect on 1 March 2026, laid the groundwork for these changes. A new, more science-based testing and approval process for knee sleeves is "in place and being implemented". The project was led by Dietmar Wolf.

So far nothing has come back the other way. No manufacturer has made a public statement about the new standards. One lifter on r/powerlifting asked Inzer's support team about it, and they didn't seem aware of any planned changes to the ErgoPro range. The standards and the new approval process themselves don't appear to have been published yet. The IPF's next meeting is on 8 November 2026, but there's no sign yet that knee sleeves are on the agenda.

The reasoning is stated plainly in the minutes: powerlifting has two disciplines, classic and equipped, and the IPF wants to "protect the classic discipline and refrain from equipment influencing results in classic". In other words, a sleeve should keep your knee warm and comfortable, not add kilos to your squat.

What we don't know yet:

• What the standards actually measure, and the limits. They haven't been made public.

• Whether the manufacturers have replied to the IPF, and what they said.

• Which current sleeves will pass the new standards. None are confirmed either way.

• Whether manufacturers will change their sleeves, or bring out new versions to meet the standards.

• When the new Approved List for 2027 will be published. With the current list running out on 31 December 2026, time is short.

Competing in 2026: nothing changes. If your sleeves are on the current Approved List, including the stiff ones that were banned and then reinstated, you can wear them through 31 December 2026.

Competing in early 2027: this is the window to watch. If you have a meet in January to March 2027, don't assume the sleeves you trained in will still be legal. Check the 2027 Approved List as soon as it's published, and leave yourself time to get used to new sleeves if you need them.

Buying sleeves now: if you're about to buy a stiff pair mainly for competition, it may be worth waiting until the new standards and list are out, or asking the manufacturer whether they expect that model to be approved for 2027. For training only, buy what feels right. The rules only apply on the platform, and no one is going to judge you for training in Rigs!

Coaches: this is worth a line in your meet-prep checklist. Equipment checks at weigh-in are not the time to find out that a sleeve has been taken off the list. If an athlete changes to a softer sleeve, expect their squat to feel different, and give them a few weeks of heavy squatting in the new sleeves before the meet.

• The IPF Approved List of personal apparel and equipment (the current one runs to the end of 2026).

• Your national federation's announcements. British Powerlifting publishes rule changes on its website.

• The IPF Technical Rulebook for 2027, once released.

I would personally hate to see stiff sleeves banned. So many lifters have paid good money for them, and if the IPF bans them again, that is simply unfair to them. Perhaps they should never have been allowed, but the cat is out of the bag now, and there is no getting it back in. You only need to look at the start of this whole saga to see strong evidence for that!