I get together with another guy twice a week and do a cardio type class. Push ups, sit ups, squats, running, etc. I usually wear heavy boxing gloves when we work out but the gloves are hard to get off and on when I'm sweaty so this week I decided to ditch the gloves and wraps when we worked punching drills on the mitts. I loved it! It felt so odd to punch without at least wraps. We do a lot of knuckle push ups and similar exercises so my wrists are fairly strong.

So I'm thinking about ditching the gloves and wraps for mitt / bag work. Any thoughts? I will have to wear something to protect my knuckles... maybe a work glove?

Your finger bones are small - you can't make them tough, and not protecting them is a good way to hurt them. Physics also dictate that a lot of energy is going to be transferred through your hand, your wrist, and on up the line. Gloves offer protection from that energy. So yeah, taking off the protection might feel good, but it's often got consequences.

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Edited June 26, 201115 yr by jassling

I don't think I've ever used gloves to do push ups or bag work or much of anything except sparring. Even then not always. I tried wraps once when I tried a boxing class because it was required but I think they're too much maintenance.

Im my personal opinion I wouldn't worry about gloves for focus mitts but would wear at least wraps for the heavy bag. The reason I say this is because of the extra stability, its very easy to miss a shot and hurt yourself on the heavier object (bag).

Im my personal opinion I wouldn't worry about gloves for focus mitts but would wear at least wraps for the heavy bag. The reason I say this is because of the extra stability, its very easy to miss a shot and hurt yourself on the heavier object (bag).

I think this may be the way to go for me at least until i see how my hands and wrists react. The last thing i need is a jammed wrist or other injury that will slow me down.

Think about a dedicated set of light bag gloves. They look almost like mma gloves and have a velcro wrap at the wrist to secure them. They come off and on easy enough work thru a circuit but still pad the tiny bones in your hand a bit.

I still have a light set of boxing gloves I'll use to work the bag. My joints don't forgive like they used to. But for round work when I'm moving around to different stations, mma gloves work great. I'll keep them on for mitt work and you can even keep them on for push up/ pull up type work.

Think about a dedicated set of light bag gloves. They look almost like mma gloves and have a velcro wrap at the wrist to secure them. They come off and on easy enough work thru a circuit but still pad the tiny bones in your hand a bit.

I still have a light set of boxing gloves I'll use to work the bag. My joints don't forgive like they used to. But for round work when I'm moving around to different stations, mma gloves work great. I'll keep them on for mitt work and you can even keep them on for push up/ pull up type work.

Good idea. Push ups are the main reason i wanted to ditch the boxing gloves. Even with strong wrists its hard to do a good push up wearing boxing gloves.

In Knock-Down Karate like my style, we don't use gloves although some of my students do use MMA style gloves.

We start with like contact on the Focus Mitts/Heavy Bag then as you get used to it increase the level of contact. This way you don't get the torn knuckles etc.

I have been told so many times about Boxers or those who are used to using boxing gloves/wraps breaking their hands/wrists the first time they punch someone in a street confrontation because they've never trained to hit someone without gloves/wraps.

I compare using gloves to trying to learn to swim on the sand.

We do use MMA Grappling glove when sparring in the Dojo (without Wraps) only to prevent damage to out sparring partners. but condtioning work is done without gloves or shin guards etc

I think light gloves is the way to go. I have considered going to wraps, as well, but have not yet. It will also depend on how heavy the bag is. I got a heavier one recently, and I can tell when I punch on it. There was a time when I would shun the use of gloves as much as possible, but now, since I kind of rely on the use of my hands for work, I like to save and protect them when I can.