Ever wondered what the benefits of wrapping your hands for boxing are? In this article, we take a close look at the 5 benefits of wrapping hands for boxing - from knuckle protection to wrist support.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING
The benefits of wrapping your hands include wrist support and protecting your knuckles. They also keep your fingers apart, help you fill out your gloves and keep your thumb supported. Below are 5 detailed benefits of wrapping your hands.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING: WRIST SUPPORT
One of the worst injuries you can suffer as a fighter is a wrist injury - it puts you out of action completely. When you throw a punch, your wrist has to be in line with your fist, otherwise you run the risk of landing a punch with your wrist slightly higher than your fist, bending your wrist. With light shots, this might not be a problem, but if you're throwing hard shots on the pads or heavy bag, it can lead to serious injury.
The most important benefit of hand wraps is to keep your wrists supported and in line with your fist. Fighters typically wrap their wrists tightly to make sure that they reduce the risk of injury as much as possible.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING: KNUCKLE PROTECTION
Hand wraps also protect your knuckles when you throw a punch. Although fists are the most commonly used weapon, landing a powerful punch without proper protection can definitely lead to serious injury (broken fingers, knuckles etc). By wrapping your knuckles several times, you add a few layers of padding that absorbs the shock when you throw a punch on the pads, heavy bag or against your opponent.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING: FILLING OUT YOUR GLOVES
It's also important to note that hand wraps also protect your knuckles by filling out the space between your fist and the foam padding of larger gloves. Typically, larger gloves (14oz, 16oz) have a little room between your knuckles and the foam injection padding that's meant to be filled out using hand wraps. Without the wraps, your fingers are more free to move in the glove, which can lead to injury. Hand wraps close the distance between the foam in larger gloves and your hand, which not only offers protection, but also helps you connect better.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING: FINGER SEPARATION
Hand wraps also keep your fingers separated, which prevents your knuckles from smashing into one another when you throw a punch.
BENEFITS OF WRAPPING HANDS FOR BOXING: THUMB SUPPORT
An often overlooked benefit of hand wraps is that they also support your thumb. The thumb hook loop isn't only meant to act as a "hook" for the hand wrap, but along with the wrap itself, helps keep your thumb supported during training, which is critical when wrapping your hands for boxing.
To wrap up (no pun intended), the benefits of wrapping your hands for boxing are numerous. Not only do hand wraps help protect your knuckles, stabilize your wrist, support your thumb and separate your fingers, but they also help you fill out your glove to make sure you connect properly on the bag and avoid injury. There's really no negotiating when it comes to wrapping your hands. It's common practice for a reason. Without hand wraps, you're setting yourself up for injury.
Want to know how to wrap your hands for boxing? Check out this article and instructional video we made to help you out.
Looking for the best length of hand wraps for boxing? Check out this detailed article we made comparing 180 inch and 120 inch hand wraps.
