You absolutely need to wear gloves when practicing boxing or working out with the punching bag. Boxing gloves are not only designed to protect your hands and wrists – but they also help you aim and land your punches better. This makes the workout more enjoyable and satisfying.
I remember using the punching bag without gloves once (when I was quite new). It did not go well at all – within a few minutes my knuckles had scratches and minor bleeding. None of my hits were on target and it felt like the punching bag was punching me (instead of the other way round).
In this article, I am going to list why it’s important to wear boxing gloves during your workout and discuss how exactly boxing gloves work – does it soften your punch? or do boxing gloves actually do more damage to your opponent.
Table of Contents
7 Reasons why gloves are required for boxing or punching bag
1. Boxing gloves protect your hands from injuries, fractures and other wounds
Boxing gloves have sufficient padding and wrist support to protect your hands (and knuckles) from getting twisted, fractured and overall injured.
Punching bags or the opponent’s face could be very hard and definitely much harder than your knuckles. Without proper support and protection like boxing gloves, your hands could easily get twisted and knuckles fractured (even with just one shot).
If you are on a budget, any cheaper boxing gloves will do – just make sure it has adequate padding and wrist support. Any glove is better than no gloves at all.
Boxing gloves have padding and wrist support to protect your hand. This allows you to punch without damaging your hand.
2. Boxing gloves protect your hands from bruises, burns and blisters
Boxing gloves protect your skin from direct contact to the opponent or punching bag. This means your skin is protected from bruises, burns and blisters.
Boxing without gloves is also risky because it can cause burns on the hands. This is because boxing gloves have padding that absorbs some of the impact from punches. However, if you punch a bag without gloves, the padding might not be enough to absorb all of the energy in your punch, which can lead to burns.
Even if you are careful and do not facture your knuckles – burns and blisters are inevitable. Your skin is not designed for constant friction against anything. Practicing boxing without gloves will definitely give you burns and blisters (even after just 1 session).
If you’re looking to add boxing or punching bag workouts to your routine, be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands with boxing gloves!
3. Boxing gloves help you hit target correctly
Boxing gloves give you a bigger surface area to punch. This allows you to hit your target more accurately and consistently – be it an opponent or a punching bag.
Boxing gloves prevent sweat and oils from mixing on the surface of your skin – creating an extremely slippery surface that makes it much harder to land a solid punch.
Also, when you box or punch bag without gloves, your hands and arms are free to move around without restraint. This can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing, as it can make it difficult to control the power of your punches.
Boxing gloves help to improve your punching accuracy and speed, as well as teach you how to use your hands effectively in different ways.
4. Boxing gloves allow you to punch and defend with full strength
By having sufficient padding, boxing gloves reduce the impact of punching from your knuckles – allowing you to punch with full strength (without the fear of hurting your own hands).
Boxing gloves help you to defend with full strength too. Using your gloves, your could block your opponent’s punches without feeling too much of the impact (again, because of the sufficient padding).
When practicing boxing, it is extremely satisfying to punch with full strength. Do not hinder yourself from the fun and your true potential by cheap-ing out on boxing gloves.
5. Boxing gloves protect your hands from germs
By wearing boxing gloves, you are shielding your hands away from any germs, sweats and infectious diseases in the surrounding area.
I never used to think about this point – but if you think about it, a boxing gym can be extremely unhygienic with all the sweat and crowd. And not to mention, high levels of sweat can increase the risk of infection on an open wound.
6. Boxing gloves keep your hands warm in cold weather conditions
During cold weather conditions, boxing gloves and wraps keep your hand warm and prevent injuries related to frostbites.
This is mostly related to boxers that go through cold winter months – especially if you are the type of person that likes to practice outdoors and hang your punching bag outside.
7. Boxing gloves prevent bloody matches
Boxing gloves prevent you from cutting your opponent’s skin during sparring or in a match because your sharp knuckles are now covered with blunt gloves. This means your sparring and boxing matches will not be as bloody. (Cuts can still happen but they will not be as common).
If you ever watched a bare knuckle match before, then this should answer why those bare knuckle matches get so bloody when compared to regular boxing.
Boxing gloves allow you to punch at full strength without cutting your opponent (prevents bleeding).
Are boxing gloves safer?
Overall yes. Boxing gloves are much safer than bare knuckles (especially for regular sparring and punching bag). Boxing gloves protect your hands from injuries, cuts and blisters that can easily happen with bare knuckle.
Some people argue that boxing gloves are more dangerous because they allow a person to punch with full force – which can be extremely damaging to the brain and head. This statement is true and more relevant towards professional boxers who took headshots on a regular basis.
If you are just practicing boxing as a workout or self-defense training, then boxing gloves are much safer than bare knuckles. Not only does it protect your hands from injuries and cuts, boxing gloves also prevent your hands from germs and potential infection.
Can you do boxing without gloves?
It is possible to do boxing workouts without gloves, but it is not recommended because it is not as safe as working out with gloves.
It is important to wear gloves when you are boxing so that you can protect your hands from injuries and also so that you can control the amount of force that you are using when punching the bag.
Without gloves, it is difficult to judge the speed and power of your opponent’s punches, which can lead to injury. Additionally, boxing without gloves is not as fun because you cannot land good punches as easily and you are restricted from punching at full strength because it hurts!
How much do boxing gloves soften a punch?
Boxing gloves do not soften a punch. On the contrary, boxing gloves allow you to punch harder because you do not feel the full impact of your own punch.
Boxing gloves are designed to protect your hands and to prevent cuts on the opponent. Boxing gloves could prevent bloody matches but they do not soften a punch – which is why boxing gloves can cause even more damage for professional boxers (considering how powerful they are and how they receive headshots on a regular basis).
Boxing does not soften your punch. On the contrary, it allows you to punch harder without damaging your hands or cutting your opponent.
What hurts more boxing gloves or fists?
When receiving a punch, bare fists should hurt more than boxing gloves because the human knuckles are much sharper and can easily cause cuts and bleeding.
This is why boxing gloves are highly recommended during practicing, sparring or actual matches. Not only does the boxing gloves protect your hands, they also protect your opponents from getting unnecessary cuts and bruises.
What if boxers fight without gloves?
- It can increase the risk of getting cuts and bruises. When punches land on unprotected skin, they can cause serious injuries.
- Boxing without gloves can also lead to broken bones. A boxer’s bones are significantly more fragile than those of a person who fights with gloves on, and a serious blow to the head or neck could easily result in a fracture.
- Boxing without gloves can also increase your risk of infection. If you’re unable to take proper precautions to avoid picking up cuts or infections during training, you’re putting yourself at a much greater risk for serious health complications down the road.
- Boxing without gloves will result in bloody fights. Our knuckles are much sharper than boxing gloves – making cuts and bleeding very easy to occur.
All of these factors combined mean that boxing without gloves is not an ideal way to train, and is definitely not recommended for beginners. If you’re serious about getting in shape, it’s important to wear gloves when you box.
So, while there are definitely some benefits to boxing without gloves, it’s important to remember that you’re putting yourself at a higher risk for injury if you do so.
If you’re serious about your training and want to avoid any potential health complications, it’s recommended that you wear gloves when you box or punch the punching bag.
Conclusion
Boxing and punching bag are great exercises, but there are some risks associated with them. In this article, we have discussed the 7 reasons why boxing & punching bag without gloves are bad. We hope that after reading this article, you will be more careful when performing these exercises without gloves.
