Handwraps?

[Andrew Green]

So you are saying that the guy who wears wraps and gloves all the time knows how much his hands can take more than the guy who never wears them? The logic used in this whole paragraph boggles the mind but once again you are sure of yourself so why bother? People who want to be right will always convince themselves that they are.

Yes, good job, take what I say as a "some are on the otherside" and turn it into a absolute...

I said the illusion of what you can / can not do goes both ways, some on either side see things closer to the truth, others got a false sense of security.

 

[zDom]

Fair enough; any exercises you suggest, other than wrist curls with weights?

Knuckle pushups are good for both strengthening wrists and stressing the metacarpals — remember, bone will remodel itself to stress or lack of stress just like muscle.

Some bag work without wraps or gloves is also good, but do this with caution. Don't overdue it — don't do too many reps, don't try to hit it too hard, too soon.

As soon as you feel your wrists beginning to "fold" (turn out of proper alignment) then you probably should call it a day for wrist training and put on your gloves/wraps so you can continue your workout safely.

Also trying reaching your hands out in front of you at shoulder level, open your hands as wide as you can, then clench them into a fist. Repeat 100 times (or more).

A variation on weights: tie a weight to a string attached to a stick. Wind the weight up to the stick, wind it back down. Many times.

Good luck with your training!

 

[zDom]

Human hands are not decided as a impact weapon, they are designed to hold things. The false sense of security argument I find flawed, for a very simple reason. Wrists get damaged through repetitive impact, in a "real" fight if you need to punch someone 1000 times something has gone wrong. Plus, chances are, you will never be in a real fight, so why risk your hands?

While the wrong kind of repetition can damage wrists, the right kind of repetition builds stronger wrists.

And it only takes ONE bad punch (especially with a weak wrist, or when completely untrained in bare-hand contact) to sprain a wrist, not thousands.

Why risk a sprained hand in a situation where you might have to throw a second or third punch — and then go to work in the morning able to use both your hands.

I am fully confident I can hit a person just fine without gloves and wraps, I've hit things many times without them. Now, I've smartened up (a little, and only on some things ) and wrap up and wear gloves if I am going to do a lot of hitting.

I agree that if you are going to do a LOT of hitting (i.e., hundreds of reps on resistance) then wrapping and using gloves is wise.

Striking barefist all the time can also give a false sense of security IMO, people that do it all the time seem to forget that hands can break, and do break if they hit the target wrong, if its harder then what they are used to, a different shape, etc. People that protect there hands in training know that there is a reason they protect them.

Oh, I NEVER forget hands can break. But then, we fight like we train, and I train on a VERY hard bag. It is very unforgiving. If I do something wrong, it lets me know right away.

Neither go for everyone, most people are smart enough to know that fists break easier then skulls. But IMO the question is to do with training. I wear shoes when I run, and gloves when I punch things. I'd like to retain use of both my hands and feet as I age, and these things seem common sense to me.

Well, first of all, the skull is a lousy target. But then again, in a self defense situation in which I pulled someone into guard with their face turned away from my punching arm, my moderate thumping into the back of his head was worse for HIM that it was for my metacarpals. Much worse.

After the confrontation, I went back up on stage and finished playing bass guitar for an hour. *shrug*

But never mind that.

Trained metacarpals will shatter facial bones and ribs with NO ill effects.

It's a tool I like to have in my box. YMMV.

 

[zDom]

I am in agreement with everyone stating that you need to strengthen your wrists, but as AG stated your hands are not designed to be used the way they are in a boxing workout. The gym where I train is pretty common for guys to throw around 350-400 punches per round. If you are doing that for 1.5 to 2 hours it is going to screw up your hands if you don't have the proper tools/equipment. In addition, over the course of time a boxer will start throwing harder and faster punches. As hard as some boxers punch it is nearly impossible to condition your hands to a level capable of taking that much abuse. To be effective in the ring or on the street you need to take precautions to protect your hands form injury. Wearing gloves and handwraps is a precaution that just makes good sense. IMHO.

I agree. With that kind of repetition you don't want to have to stop when your wrists begin to be fatigued — or worse, risk injury!

 

[searcher]

I agree. With that kind of repetition you don't want to have to stop when your wrists begin to be fatigued — or worse, risk injury!

And you don't want to waste your hands. With bare knuckles it makes opening your hands a pain after going at the bag for any amount of time.

 

[Ken Pfrenger]

And you don't want to waste your hands. With bare knuckles it makes opening your hands a pain after going at the bag for any amount of time.

If your hands are not usuable after hitting the bag bareknuckle then I would suggest that you are hitting too hard.

You say above that some boxers hit so hard that it is nearly immpossible to condition the hands to take it then talk about being effective in the ring or street and wearing gloves and wraps as a precaution in training......do you see the fault in this logic? If the gloves and wraps offer me so much protection that I can hit harder and harder, so hard infact that I will destroy my hands without protection then if I do use my fists in the street, they are doomed to fail.

My original post said, used wraps and gloves if you are training to box as a sport but not if you box for a means of self defense.

 

[Andrew Green]

And it only takes ONE bad punch (especially with a weak wrist, or when completely untrained in bare-hand contact) to sprain a wrist, not thousands.

You are forgetting about stress injuries.

 

[zDom]

You are forgetting about stress injuries.

You must be talking about getting a stress injury during training, right?

As stated above I agree: he SHOULD wrap if doing high repetition on a bag.

But the original post mentioned skinny, weak wrists and I stand by my advice that strengthening his wrists will have benefits, including the ability to connect with a hard punch while unwrapped, such as during self defense.

(He did write, "Any advice is appreciated, thanks!"

My advice, to refresh your memory was:

"I would advise strengthening your wrists some.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't use wraps during a long, intense training session, but you won't have time to put on wraps in a self-defense situation.")

As for me? I think I've found a nice balance, a happy medium, in my training regimen so that I can deliver very hard punching, unwrapped, while maintaining the ability for a strong grip (also important in my martial art of choice) and the ability to type all day long, which is necessary for my line of work.

The trade off is I am not prepared to go 15 rounds in a boxing ring or break stacks of concrete blocks with my fists.

 

[Jonathan]

*sigh* Well, it turns out I had injured my wrist (minor fracture of the ulna, on the outside of my right wrist) a few weeks back. I'm out of boxing for at least 8 weeks (though the folks at the gym have been really cool and have 'frozen' my account so I don't lose time from my pre-paid membership). It's been suggested that I had my wrist poorly aligned while I was working the bag, but since I didn't feel it until the next morning, it's possible it was a combination of factors.

No cast, but I wear a brace most of the day.

At any rate, thanks for the tips on what to look for. On a whim, I had decided to check out these glovewraps for myself- those by Everlast, as you said, don't seem to have a great deal of wrist support. However, my curiosity led me to pick up a similar item by Grant. It's a lighter weight version of the Everlast glovewraps (as in, the knuckle 'gelpadding' isn't as thick)- but it's kind of a hybrid between actual handwraps and gloves. You slip the glove part on (which has a heavy foam 'bar' across the knuckles), and there's a length of wrap to spool around your hand, knuckles, and then down around your wrist- I haven't tried it on the bag yet, obviously, but it has a good 'feel' to it.

It'll be useful for those days that I'm late/in a rush and don't have time to appropriately wrap up with the full handwraps (I've decided- at least 140" for me; I got a pair of 180" Everlast 'elastic' wraps for Christmas that feel really good, too.. too bad they seem to only come in yellow! ).

For what it's worth, Holyfield apparently endorses the Grant wraps. That wasn't the deciding factor, just a point of interest.