Beginners Guide to Boxing Gloves

Overview:

Whether you want to become the next Ali or just want to get in better shape, choosing the right set of gloves is crucial for boxing. Choosing the right pair of gloves can become problematic when you have hundreds of different sizing and brands. A lot of options can make it difficult for you, and also, you can't determine which gloves are both reliable and functional.

If you are a beginner, then finding the right pair of gloves is very important. Not only do the gloves protect you from injuries, but they also play a significant role in the quality of training.

If you are having trouble deciding which glove size and brand is right for you, then this blog post is for you. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about gloves.

Why do you need boxing gloves?

Your training relies heavily on comfort and flexibility. If your gloves do not fit properly, then your performance will suffer. If your goal is only health and fitness, you might be wondering why you need boxing gloves? They may or may not be required at all for your general training. You never know where your goals and objective take you.

One day you start with low intensity workout, the next day, you want to ramp up your training, and in the coming days, you start high intensity workout. When you grow stronger, your training becomes more and more physical. At this point, your gloves will protect your hands and wrist from injuries. As you are considering boxing as an exercise, having a pair of gloves is one of the most essential pieces of equipment needed.

What type of boxing gloves should you use?

The type of gloves you should use for training entirely depends on what you plan on doing. There are few different styles of gloves that you might consider buying when shopping around. Down below are the three most commonly used gloves by beginners.

Training Gloves

These are the everyday gloves that almost every boxer has in his locker. These training gloves are multi-purpose gloves that can be used for bags, mitt training, sparring, and mat work.

These training gloves are very popular among beginners as they address every situation they will encounter. Although they are multi-purpose, they are not perfect at anything. If you are planning to focus on a specific training.

Bag Gloves

These gloves contain a lot of padding and strong wrist support. The amount of padding present in the bag gloves differentiate them from the training gloves. Bag gloves are used by boxers of all skill levels for training and exercise.

You will get prepared for high intensity workout by choosing and getting comfortable with bag gloves early.

Sparring Gloves

Sparring gloves are the last pair of boxing gloves that a beginner would ever consider buying. These gloves are designed in a way that they protect you and your partner from pain and injury.

These gloves are almost the closest thing to the competition gloves. Sparring gloves have even more padding than bag gloves. This helps your train live with your partner without hurting each other. These gloves would normally be from 14oz upwards.

Best Glove Material For Boxing Gloves

Boxing gloves come in 2 material finish: Leather and Vinyl

The leather finish is more expensive than the Vinyl one. If you are going to start boxing, then you may be looking for a budget boxing glove initially and normally the boxing gloves at the budget level would be constructed from Vinyl or synthetic leather.

The vinyl finish is very affordable, readily available, and can absorb shock very well.

Vinyl gloves can be bought at most online retailers. Being beginners, you do not need to go into small details. You need to focus more on comfort and start training. You can worry about the small details and other training gears later on.

If you are looking to invest into a pair of boxing gloves, then we would recommend a pair of leather boxing gloves as they last much longer than the vinyl gloves. We have a great range of leather boxing gloves at Fight Co, but a personal recommendation would be the Twins boxing gloves, hand made in Thailand from premium cowhide leather. A single pair of Twins boxing gloves will often last many years.

Whether to pick Velcro or Laces

After choosing the material of your gloves, the next step is choosing how you close them. There are primarily two ways you can close your gloves. One is Velcro, and the other is Lace.

The lace gloves require help from someone else to lace them. You can not lace them on your own. Lace gloves are only beneficial only if you are competing professionally and you have a helper.

For beginners, Velcro is the way to go. You can quickly close and open on your own, which is necessary for group training sessions.

If you want to grab a drink, go to the bathroom, or take a rest, you can take off the Velcro gloves on your own and will require help from others.

What is the right size for you?

As you are only using the gloves for the training, you do not need to overthink about the size. Just make sure that gloves feel comfortable to you and have the proper amount of padding and support. As a beginner, you should focus on lightweight training and choose between the 12 or 14 oz range. This is perfect for 140 to 200 lbs. Remember, your primary concern is comfort and mobility.

Common gloves sizes:

4oz-8oz - kids sizes

10oz - Adult small build and females

12oz - Typical lightweight training glove

14oz - Heavier training glove or light sparring

16oz - Most common for sparring

18oz - Heavyweight class sparring gloves

How to recognize a good pair of gloves

Due to a lot of options available, it can be challenging to choose. We have a few considerations but if you need any more advice just ask us through our live chat online.

Here are some things to consider when you are buying your 1st pair of gloves.

Brand: The brand can often come down to personal preference but as a beginner this might not be clear so we will attempt to give some guidance, if you are looking for a good value beginner glove, we would recommend the Elevate boxing gloves available in kids and adult sizes 4oz to 16oz, a great option for someone of a budget.

Now let’s look at a premium option, as we mentioned earlier the Twins boxing gloves would be our option for a premium boxing glove. The Twins boxing gloves are handmade in Thailand with triple layered foam padding and made a great sparring glove. The Twins gloves always have a very tight fit, but they will mold to the shape of your hand as they are used. We can not leave this section without mentioning the Fairtex boxing gloves, another premium pair of gloves made in Thailand and right up there with the Twins brand. These Fairtex gloves don’t offer as much padding unless you purchase the specific sparring gloves but overall and an excellent boxing glove and one of our favorites here at Fight Co.

Comfort: When your gloves arrive, you want to check the comfort, I tight pair of gloves is good if they are made from leather as they will mold to the hand. Its always advised to try the gloves on and make sure they don’t cause any pain as this could be an issue when the gloves are used, and we don’t want the gloves to cause any injury due to bad fitting. The use of hand wraps is also something to consider at this point, to offer addition protection to the hands, wrist, and knuckles, you can also use a pair of gel wraps that have a are much quicker fitting. The addition of hand wraps will also keep the gloves fresh for longer.

Conclusion

As a beginner, you should look for the correct weight glove for your use, you can then consider the different budget options. When the gloves arrive check for comfort and include hand wraps if you need any additional protection.

Should you require any more advice just speak