Introduction: How to Wrap Your Hands for Boxing?
Hands play the most vital role in boxing. Every punch you hit using your hands while boxing puts your hands into a risk of getting injured. That’s why you need to take care of your hands in the best way possible. Hand wraps are used along with boxing gloves for extra security and comfort of hands.
For getting fully benefited by these wraps, you need to make sure that you use them in a correct way. You must wrap your hands in a proper way to make the correct use of these wraps. Here are a few steps following which you can wrap your hands in an appropriate way.
Step 1: Select an Appropriate Hand Wrap
The hand wrap which you choose must be of good quality and suitable length. Many hand wraps are available in the market but not all of them are good enough. Do not buy the cheap wraps for saving money. Have a look at the various hand wraps manufactured by leading sports brands such as Everlast, RDX, Winning, etc.
Step 2: Enclose Your Thumb
The first thing that you need to do is enclose your thumb in the loop which is present at one end (opposite to the end having the Velcro strap) of the wrap. Keep this in mind that the wrap should not be upside down when you start otherwise you’ll not be able to close the strap when you’re done with the wrapping process.
Step 3: Start With Wrist
Start wrapping your wrist and give it sufficient amount of wraps. The number of wraps may differ, depending on the size of your hands. Larger hands may require extra wraps while smaller hands may not need too much wraps.
Step 4: Wrap Your Thumb
After giving the wrist at least 3-5 wraps, move towards the thumb and secure it by giving a few wraps. Make sure that you don’t wrap the whole thumb while performing this step. After you wrap your thumb properly, give a single wrap to the wrist again.
Step 5: Wrap Your Hands
When you have wrapped your thumb completely (and then given one wrap to the wrist), start wrapping your palms and the back of your hand. Be careful while doing this and make sure that your hands are stretched during this process.
Step 6: Make an ‘X’
Once you’re done with wrapping your palms, start making an ‘X’ shape around your hands and do it at least 2-3 times. Do this by wrapping the back of your hand behind the thumb and then crisscrossing between your fingers. It will provide you improved grip and keep your knuckles separate.
Step 7: Wrap Your Knuckles
Now wrap your knuckles perfectly but make sure that you don’t wrap them too much as it will make your hands harder to fit inside the gloves. This step is essential for your safety as knuckles are the most affected part of your hand when you throw a punch.
Step 8: Wrap Your Hands Again
When you’re done with knuckles and there is some wrap left, go to the back of your hand and wrap it again for increased protection.
Following these simple steps you can wrap your hands in a suitable way. While performing the above mentioned steps, you need to be careful about a few things. There must be no wrinkles in the wraps, your wrists and hands must be straight and stretched during the wrapping process and the hands must be wrapped tightly.