A good pair of boxing hand wraps is essential, especially if you want to be sure that your hands, wrists, and knuckles are well protected during training. It's easy to take your hands for granted when they are healthy, but one small fracture or injury to your hands is all it takes to impede your training progress. This is why it's really important to know which are the best hand wraps for boxing you can purchase and how to wrap your hands correctly before training in order to protect them.
How to wrap your hands properly?
Before we start talking about the different types of boxing hand wraps that are available on the market today, it's important to find out how to put on hand wraps. One of the most effective ways to wrap your hand properly is the traditional boxing method. Many boxers usually wrap their hands with an additional support and protection around their wrist, knuckles, and thumb to ensure that it is one rock-hard fist. Besides being the most effective, this is also one of the easiest ways to wrap your hands. Instead of writing down a step-by-step tutorial, here is a video that will show you how to wrap your hands properly. However, keep in mind that every boxer or fighter has its own and unique way of wrapping their hands and the length of your wraps is usually the major factor that determines how to wrap your hands.
If you put your hand wraps on properly, everything should feel snug (but not too tight) and you won't have any wraps coming loose. One of the most common mistakes is putting the hand wraps on too tightly and cutting off blood circulation to your hands. Other mistakes you can make when wrapping your hands include not wrapping your hands tight enough, rolling the wraps with the wrong side down, not making a fist during the wrapping process, forgetting to wrap around your thumb or failing to properly support your wrist.
Choosing the right hand wraps for boxing training
When it comes to buying boxing hand wraps, there are two main types that you will find on the market: cotton (non-elastic) and elastic hand wraps. The elastic also known as Mexican-style wraps provide flex when you put them on, which ensures that you have a good and tight fit. The cotton hand wraps are not stretchy, which means that they won't end up being stretched out and they won't become loose after a lot of use. They will last you a longer period of time, but they're not so comfortable as the elastic hand wraps, so it is really a matter of personal preference.
Professional fighters prefer to wrap their hands using gauze and athletic tape, which is the most protective method for wrapping hands. However, tape and gauze cannot be reused and require another person to assist, so they're not really suitable for everyday training.
When you're purchasing hand wraps for training, make sure to choose higher quality products over cheap ones. Hand wraps usually vary between 108 and 210 inches in length and 2 inches in width. Choose longer wraps that will provide more protection and wraps with a wide Velcro closure that will provide more grip. A good pair of hand wraps should last you a few years of training if you take good care of them and don't stretch them out too much.
