Muay Thai Gloves
In the past when Muay Thai was a military skill, there were no Muay Thai gloves (Thai Boxing gloves). At that time soldier only bind their wrist with rope or sling and use Muay Thai art to complement their sword fighting. Since Muay Thai became sport, the Muay Thai rules stated clearly that all boxer has to wear Muay Thai gloves in their fight. The main reason is because the gloves can reduce the impact force in order to protect your fist and your opponent from bruises injury.
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Ancient wrist binding shown by Tony Jaa in his film Ongbak |
Does Muay Thai gloves differ from other sport gloves?
Yes, for Muay Thai fighting you need more flexible gloves than normal boxing gloves because it will allow you to open your hands to grab your opponent to deliver some close contact technique such as knee strikes. There are no other big difference between Muay Thai gloves and normal boxing gloves which means you still can use normal boxing gloves in Muay Thai. However, it is still recommended that you should use Muay Thai gloves to box Muay Thai.
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Twins Muay Thai Gloves : Dragon Black/Silver |
Type of Muay Thai gloves
Like normal boxing gloves, type of Thai Boxing gloves depend on boxing activities. Different gloves may required to hit the heavy punching/kicking bag, to hit focus mitts, to hit a speed punching ball or a real fight with opponent. We can group the variety of gloves in three basic types which are fighting gloves, training gloves and bag gloves.
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Twins Training Gloves |
Everlast Bag Gloves |
Aside from categorize Muay Thai gloves by its utilization. Boxing gloves can be various in size, weight, and color. Gloves style are only strict in professional boxing which color are usually red or blue which represent their corner and help judge in scoring the competition.
In addition, professional Muay Thai Boxer usually use a lace tight gloves which are more secure and fit. But this type of gloves are hard to equip without trainers help. Another type of gloves are Velcro(hook and loop) tight which are much easier to equip and more popular to use in training.
How to buy Muay Thai boxing gloves?
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Twins Fight Gloves with Lace |
It is most recommended to consult your instructor to pick your right gloves. The most expensive gloves may not be the best for you while the cheapest from superstore may fall apart easily. Your instructor can guide you to your perfect-matched gloves that get along with your training program.
Choosing your own gloves you should consider what type of activity you will be doing. Misused of the gloves resulted in shorten their life time and may cause your injuries. General choosing concept are as follow.
- For competing in Muay Thai you will need a light glove to make a swift punch and the gloves must have enough flexibility to let you grab your opponent with your hands to make a combination move. That's why you should use a fighting gloves.
- For training before a match or sparring, you will want a heavier glove which can slightly increase your strength and more softer padding for safety. This is where a training gloves will do greatly.
- For hitting heavy bags and focus mitts. You will require boxing gloves with thick padding at the front end which is called bag gloves. There are also lighter bag gloves design just for training with speed bags to improve agility of your fist.
One other thing to reminds you is that you have to leave some room for your handwrap before purchasing your gloves. Otherwise, your gloves will be too tight and uncomfortable which may reduce the power of your punches.
Gloves Weight & Size
In general cases gloves sizing does correspond with the weight of the glove, but this is not always true.
Choosing a boxing gloves SIZE is simple. The most common sizes for gloves are small, medium and large. Just go for the one that best fit on your fist.
Choosing the WEIGHT is more complicate. You must pick the weight of the glove depending on your purpose of use.
The most common weight for gloves and their use are:
- 8 oz. - for competitive boxers
- 10 oz. - for competitive boxers
- 12 oz. - for women and smaller weight classes for training
- 14 oz. - for average weight classes for training
- 16 oz. - for average weight classes for training
- 18 oz. - for larger weight classes for training
However, all of the weight and size combination are not widely available. You can see a few of them in the market such as Small - 12 oz., Medium - 14 oz. and Large - 16 oz. Many famous brand also reduce their production line by making a variation of gloves by weight only and let the size be "free size". If you cannot find your most fit gloves you might have to order a tailor made.
Gloves Material
Boxing gloves are generally made of foam padding and cover with genuine leather or vinyl (synthetic leather). Each manufacturer has their own padding technique which resulted in different force absorbtion and wearing comfortability.
If we talk about durability, leather gloves tend to be higher in both durability and price than synthetic one. Check your local store for the price gap between these two types. If the leather gloves price seems unreasonble high, you can switch to vinyl gloves since there are no big deal in term of quality these days.
Gloves Maintenance
After each use of gloves there usually are sweat inside the gloves. These wetness can be a sweet home for fungus which cause bad smell odor.
The best way to keep your gloves clean is to dry them properly after each of use. Then you should spray inside your gloves with a gloves deodorant spray which help you eliminate the fungus and prolong the life of your boxing gloves.
More information about Muay Thai Gloves
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