Boxing is a competitive sport that has been around for thousands of years. In boxing, your hands are your most important weapons, so you’ve got to take care of them. Whether you are a professional or amateur boxer, you will surely benefit from good and high-quality hand wraps. Wrapping your hands is essential because hand wraps will protect both your hands and your wrists from injury.
As an important part of a boxer’s training, hand wraps will prevent bleeding knuckles, protect the small bones in the hands from breaking, and help prevent you from spraining your wrists when delivering a solid punch.
They are basically fabric strips that wrap around your hands, wrist, and knuckles before putting on boxing gloves. Hand wraps prevent pain and injury by supporting the bones and muscles of the wrist and hands.
Boxing hand wraps come in a variety of styles and lengths, mostly between 108 and 180 inches. Classic-style hand wraps are non-stretchy, shorter and are easier for beginners to use. Mexican-style hand wraps are slightly longer, elastic and allow boxers to heavily enclose their hands. Cotton hand wraps are long-lasting and inexpensive, so they are a great option for boxers who train often. You can choose the style and length that works best for you, just make sure that your wraps cover all the important parts of the hands, the wrist, the thumb and the knuckles.
Tips
- Buy a pair of hand wraps with added elasticity. Test them out and make sure they fit you perfectly. Spending a little more on high-quality wraps will pay off here.
- When buying a new pair of hand wraps you need to consider a few things. The wraps should be flexible, durable and offer tremendous functionality.
- Keep your hand wraps wrinkle free when applying them. They are basically a cast for your hands and having wrinkles in a cast can cut off circulation when your hands are in the gloves and it can feel very uncomfortable.
- Spread your hands out when you’re applying the hand wraps. Spread out your fingers and make your hand as big as possible throughout your application. If you keep your fingers closed, you can lose circulation to your hands.
- The purpose of wrapping your hands is to protect them, but also to secure your wrist. Make sure that your wrist is straight when wrapping your hands. Wrists can get bent or sprained pretty easily, so make sure to protect yourself from injury by keeping them straight when applying the hand wraps.
- To prevent pain and injury, always wrap your hands before using any type of boxing gloves or bag gloves. Make sure you always have hand wraps handy when you are trying on new boxing gloves.
How to Wrap Your Hands Properly
1. First select your hand wraps and then unroll the wrap. One side has a loop, and the other side has a Velcro closure. Most hand wraps have a marking which says “this side down.”
2. Start the wrap by placing the loop around your thumb with the marking against the back of your hand. Pull the rest of the wrap to the outside of your hand.
3. Wrap your wrist tightly, but remember to keep it straight while wrapping. Repeat this process three to four times depending on the length of your wraps. End the last wrap beneath the base of your thumb, with the excess material to the inside of your hand.
4. Continue the wrap up to your knuckles and wrap them twice. Spread your fingers, because if they are too close, your knuckles will feel crunched when fighting.
5. After covering the knuckles, continue to wrap back to the base of the thumb. Be careful not to wrap your thumb too tightly, because you will cut off blood circulation.
6. After wrapping your thumb, it needs to be secured to the wrist to keep it from over extending. Wrap around your wrist one more time.
7. In order to add additional cushion to your knuckles, return to the knuckles with a diagonal wrap. Continue wrapping them until you have around 20 inches of material left.
8. Return to the wrist and continue wrapping it until you’re out of material. Then secure the Velcro and try out your hand wrap. Make sure that your knuckles are covered and that the wrap is not too tight.