4 Tips For Choosing The Best Boxing Gloves
Boxing is the most popular recreational martial art amongst children and adults. And while the techniques and conditioning are of the utmost importance, so is the equipment you use.
Author:Paula M. GrahamReviewer:Rhyley CarneyJan 30, 202353 Shares1.2K Views
Boxing is the most popular recreational martial art amongst children and adults. And while the techniques and conditioning are of the utmost importance, so is the equipment you use.
With so many options to choose from, choosing the best boxing gloves that fit your needs can make or break your boxing journey. But how do you choose the best boxing glovesfor you? What are the right size boxing gloves?
For over 20 years, Revgear has dedicated countless hours, weeks, months, and years to producing the best boxing gloves on the market, that won’t break your hand, or the bank.
They’ve teamed up with some of the best strikers in the world to ensure that even the smallest, most intricate of features are considered and designed to perfection, so that you can spend more time worrying about your craft, and less time worrying about injuries. In this article, we will discuss the four most crucial aspects to look for when choosing the best boxing gloves for you.
Pick the right weight for your training style
There are two factors you need to consider when choosing the right weight of your gloves. The first is your body weight. If you are a smaller person, you may want to wear lighter gloves. For example, youth gloves are often around 8oz. However, a heavyweight may need to wear a much larger glove for sparring, such as a 16 oz or 18 oz glove. Across the board, the average person will need to use gloves anywhere in the 10oz to 16oz range while training.
The second factor to consider is the purpose of your training. Will you be doing a lot of sparring? Will you spend most of the time hitting the heavy bags or mitts? Or will you be doing both? For sparring, most gyms will insist on using 16oz gloves. This weight offers more padding, so you’re less likely to injure your partner, or yourself. When hitting the bag or pads, a 10oz glove is a better choice, as you can move more quickly and improve your hand conditioning. And although they have become less popular over recent years, 4 or 5 oz bag gloves are a great option for hitting the heavy bag. They are cheaper, and you can beat them up without breaking the bank.
Because of these factors, devout fighters tend to have a range of different gloves for different purposes. They will likely have 4oz bag gloves, 10oz or 12oz gloves for pads and mitts, and 14oz or 16oz gloves for sparring. However, most people don’t want to haul this much equipment to the gym every time. Luckily, the team at Revgear considered this struggle, and designed the Revgear S5 All Rounder. These gloves combine all the best features of the different types of gloves mentioned, so that you can have an all-purpose boxing glove perfect for any scenario.
Make sure the glove fits well on your hand
<p>To make sure the glove you want to buy fits your hand, make a fist with your hand inside the glove and see how it feels. Some lower-end gloves won’t allow you to close your fingers and thumb into a fist, leaving you with a claw-like open hand. This is something to avoid, as it can lead to hand and wrist injuries down the line. Make sure your hand can close comfortably and fluently inside of the hand cage of the glove (an industry term for the inner part of a boxing glove). The ideal fit is when the hand cage is flush and snug around your hand.
Always remember too that a glove will feel tighter when you first purchase it. It takes a few training sessions until you stretch them out into what is known as the classic, “broken in feel.” So if your new gloves feel a little tight at first, they will soon stretch out and fit you properly.
Another helpful tip to consider when choosing the best boxing gloves is to wrap your hands before trying on a new pair of boxing gloves, if you wear hand wraps during training sessions. This will give you the most accurate idea of how the glove will feel on your hand while at the gym
Carefully inspect all safety features of the boxing glove
A boxing glove is designed to keep your hands safe. While all gloves do this to some degree, there are a few safety features to look for in a boxing glove. One major safety feature to account for is the glove’s wrist support. Whether lace or velcro, the most important thing is that the wrist-locking system fully wraps around your wrist so that it is snug. This means that you are unlikely to turn your wrist while punching.
<p>Another major safety feature to consider is the thumb connector. Gloves should have a small strap of leather that connects the thumb to the other fingers. This can either run the length of the thumb, or simply connect the top to the rest of the glove. Either works, but if this feature is missing, or the connector is too long or loose, then the thumb can stick up and get caught while punching. This makes injury far more likely to occur.</p>
Inspect the construction of the glove
The quality of construction is not just about the materials used, it also includes the shape of the glove and the stitching. A boxing glove is essentially the shape of a hand made into a fist, but larger. Gloves are designed to fit the natural shape of a human hand as closely as possible. They are meant to offer protection on the outside, while maintaining your ability to form a closed fist on the inside. If the glove uses good materials for both outer and inner, but the stitching fails, or the shape doesn’t allow you to punch comfortably, then those gloves are not the best boxing gloves for you, and can potentially lead to senseless injuries.
Be sure to look for gloves that best replicate the natural construct of your hand. Many low-end boxing gloves are shaped more like a square than a human hand. This means that there will be space inside of the glove when you’re training, and can cause the hand to slide around while inside of the glove, no matter how tight the glove is around your wrist. You want the glove to remain firm and stable when it makes contact with its intended target.
In summary, there is no such thing as the “best boxing gloves on the market”, just the best boxing gloves for you. The main purpose of gloves remains the same today: to protect the hands while fighting and training and to protect the face while sparring. You need to figure out what your needs are first, then find the glove that best fits those needs. How often you train, how hard you train, how much sparring you do, how much bag and pad work you do - these all play into choosing the best boxing gloves for you.
Paula M. Graham
Author
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
Latest Articles
Popular Articles