There are many important factors to consider when purchasing a pair of hand wraps for Muay Thai & Boxing, so before you go mad and buy the most expensive wraps think, about the purchase and how well protected you want your hands.
After considering many different types of hand wraps, I’ve decided to recommend the Fairtex Elastic Cotton Handwraps for both Boxing and Muay Thai. The cotton is so comfortable and will last a long time whilst making your hands feel strong and protected. Better still, they are a bargain and come in 14 colors!
The most important thing you should remember from this article is not to spend money on cheap hand wraps. Whilst you think your saving money, buying cheaper think in the long term they as will waste away quite and could even injure you.
If you just spent a little more on a pair of Fairtex hand wraps they could last 3 times as long, it’s always important to think in the long term even with buying hand wraps!.
However, these Sanabal hand wraps offer premium protection at a budget price and if you live in the UK like me beast gear hand wraps are a fantastic alternative to Fairtex hand wraps at a cheaper price with the same quality.
Why Do I Need Hand Wraps?
Never wear gloves without wrapping your hands, as your knuckles can be bruised, your wrist sprained, and many other serious injuries can occur. Your hands are your babies so take care of them! The damage from punching will add up over time so protection is very important.
All it takes is one small injury to your hands and you won’t be able to fight or maybe even type on a computer/phone without extreme pain! You don’t want that do you?
A good pair of good quality hand-wraps with your boxing gloves is the most important gear for Muay Thai. You cannot afford to buy a bad pair as they will offer poor protection and even injure you by chaffing your knuckles!
How To Wrap Your Hands
You must make sure you are wrapping your hands correctly, with the two main ways to wrap your hands. One being the boxing method with extra support around the wrist to make a more solid fist(video 1)
The other will be wrapped using a Muay Thai method. This takes more time but it will provide excellent support around the knuckles(video 2)
Choose whatever method you like best but make sure you wrap your hands to prevent injury and to protect yourself.
Boxing Method
Muay Thai Method
How To Know If Your Hand Wraps Are Put On Correctly?
If you put your wraps on correctly everything should feel nice and compact with no wraps coming loose. Everything must feel tight but not TOO tight to lose circulation in your hands
Common Hand Wrap Mistakes
- Buying cheap hand wraps. Low-quality wraps that are made of rough materials can cause the skin on your knuckles to rub and chafe causing open wounds and pain. Avoid this by buying longer hand wraps made of soft material like cotton
- You put the wraps on too tight. Be careful not to trap your hand’s blood flow, if you see your hand is changing color the circulation is being cut. Take off the wraps and put them back less tight.
- Forgetting to wrap around the thumb. The thumb is what keeps the wrap in place which is why a lot of wraps have a thumb loop. Don’t forget this step!
- You wrap not tight enough! If you notice your wraps falling apart when training you need to tighten them more.
- You’re not supporting your wrist. Make sure to support your wrist with enough loops over the wrist, otherwise, your wrist will luck the support when you punch, which makes spraining your wrist more likely.
- Rolling the wraps the wrong way. Wraps can only be rolled one way and some have labels saying which side. If they don’t you need to wrap it first to figure out which side is up, if you do it wrong you will see the velcro being upside down. at the end
- You need to make a fist during the wrapping. If you see the videos you will notice they both make fists as they loop the wraps through the fingers. This improves the snug fit and gives you better protection.
How Many Wraps Should I Own?
You should own 2 pairs at least as you always want to have a fresh pair to use whenever you train. Don’t be that guy with disgusting smelly hand wraps in the gym, as this smell could go into your gloves!
Either hand wash your hands wraps after every session to keep your gloves and hand wraps fresh or buy enough so you have one for every training session of the week. If you train 4 times a week have 4 hand wraps and so on.
Always hang your hand wraps out to dry after training to prevent the smell from getting worse and to air it out.
Be careful when you wash your hand wraps if you buy darker hand wraps make sure you wash the wraps with clothes of similar colors, as they can stain the rest of your clothes.
Recommend Products
Fairtex Elastic Cotton Handwraps(Best Overall Handwraps)(Amazon Link)
Sanabul Elastic Professional 180 inch Handwraps(Best Budget Option)(Amazon Link)
Beast Gear Hand Wraps(Best UK Option)(Amazon Link)
