Good boxing gloves are among your most important equipment for boxing, kickboxing, MMA, and Thai boxing. They protect your training partner, but also your own hands.
Sometimes, even with the best boxing gloves, you can still experience painful knuckles. Especially advanced fighters can punch quite hard and need extra protection for their knuckles.
A good solution for this is so-called knuckle-guards. These are used by serious boxers and kickboxers to prevent injuries to their hands. A good knuckle-guard absorbs and distributes the impact of blows, significantly reducing the risk of bruises, fractures, and even permanent damage.
Improved fit in your boxing gloves
Additionally, a knuckle-guard can also ensure you get a better, snugger, and more comfortable "fit" in your boxing gloves. This will give you a better feel when punching and significantly improve the effectiveness of your techniques. You will also have more confidence in your "power punches" thanks to the extra protection for your vulnerable hands, knuckles, and fists.
If you are serious about your training in boxing, kickboxing, or other forms of "stand-up fighting," knuckle-guards are indispensable in your sports bag. In combat sports where hard punching techniques are frequently used, hand and wrist injuries are the most common injuries. Moreover, problems and aches in your knuckles tend to linger the longest.
Maximum protection for your hands
Protect your hands as well as possible throughout your entire sports career to keep them intact. With a good knuckle-guard, such as those from Rival and Winning, you can go all out in every training session knowing your knuckles are maximally protected.
You want to avoid skipping training sessions, let alone being out of action for weeks or months due to injuries that are relatively easy and affordable to prevent with a set of good handwraps and a knuckle-guard.
"Preventive measures include proper hand wrapping techniques, using protective gear during sports activities, and adhering to hand safety practices."
In the early days of boxing, fights were done with bare fists, and it was only around 1900 that boxing gloves were introduced. This was to reduce head injuries, but every serious fighter also knows that boxing gloves protect your hands.
When you have good equipment, such as handwraps, knuckle-guards, and boxing gloves, you will enter every training session better and more comfortably to get the maximum result from yourself. And every fighter wants that, right?
Better pressure distribution and impact protection than just bigger boxing gloves
You could argue that you could also use bigger (heavier) boxing gloves to protect your hands more, but that does not solve the problem of sensitive knuckles.
A bigger boxing glove does not provide better distribution of the impact at the point of contact like a knuckle-guard does. Moreover, knuckle-guards are generally made from materials with a much higher density and impact neutralization than the "softer" padding of boxing gloves.
Injury prevention through the use of knuckle-guards:
- Shock and impact absorption: knuckle-guards are usually made of special gel or foam that cushions the impact of punches on your knuckles. This protects the vulnerable bones in your hands.
- Reducing bruises and fractures: by absorbing and reducing shocks and impacts, knuckle-guards significantly decrease the occurrence of bruises. They also greatly reduce the chances of more severe injuries such as fractures caused by repeated punches.
- Protecting the skin surface: knuckle-guards are often designed with smoother surfaces to protect your skin. This means you will experience fewer tears and abrasions on your knuckles than when using bare hands or just handwraps inside boxing gloves.
Improved comfort and performance in your boxing glove
- Improved fit in your boxing glove: knuckle-guards provide better padding inside (good) boxing gloves. This makes your hand feel more compact, and you will notice a more supported and well-fitting feel in your boxing gloves.
- Even impact distribution: knuckle-guards distribute the pressure (and impact) of your punches more evenly over your fists. This drastically reduces peak stress on specific spots.
- Better support for your hands: knuckle-guards, combined with handwraps, provide a more stable position for your hands. Together with your handwraps, they help keep the most vulnerable bones and ligaments in your hands firmly supported during punches and punch combinations.
Long-term benefits of knuckle-guards
- Extending and improving your training duration: by significantly reducing aches, discomfort, and injuries, knuckle-guards help you train more consistently and longer without needing extra rest.
- Preventing and protecting against permanent damage: knuckle-guards help prevent chronic injuries to your bones and joints. Damage that can occur in the long term in (hard) contact sports such as boxing, kickboxing, and MMA.
Check out in the webshop:
- Booster knuckle-guards
- Hayabusa knuckle-guards
- Rival knuckle-guards
- Winning knuckle-guards
- XPRT knuckle-guards
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