Guide to Choosing the Best Boxing Equipment and Gear
Luckily for your wallet, boxing is a relatively inexpensive sport to get involved with, at least when you are first starting out. You do not need a whole lot of boxing equipment to get started and what you do need, you buy once and it should last you a long time as long as you buy quality equipment.
There are people out there who will tell you you need every latest gadget guaranteed to help you KO every opponent you have. Don't believe them. All you really need is some basic boxing equipment and a lot of hard work and determination. You are your own equipment and a lot of boxing equipment can be improvised if your budget is tight. Discount boxing equipment is also available if you know where to look. Generally speaking, the equipment and supplies you have to buy are more to protect you than anything else.
You will need the following though:
For workouts with heavy bag only, no partners:
- T-shirts or not...
- Shorts or not... (although I'm likely not interested in seeing any videos...)
- Socks
- Shoes
- Hand Wraps
- Bag Gloves
- Heavy Bag
For training with a partner, you will also need:
Headgear - Mouthguard
- Sparring gloves
- Groin Protector (and Chest Protector if you are female or a crossdresser
)
I'm going to take a wild guess and assume you know what T shirts, shorts and socks are.
Shoes
You do not need boxing shoes to start with. Any pair of athletic shoes will do until you actually get in the ring to compete. Even then, you usually have the option of what you want to wear. My first amateur boxing match saw me decked out in my running shoes. However, if you need to be decked out like all the cool kids, something like Adidas Combat Speed Boxing Shoes would be a good choice.
I can attest that if you ever plan on getting in the ring, you will want to get a pair of boxing shoes. Like I mentioned, my first fight in the ring, I was wearing regular sneakers. Not only did I look like a chump, but I ended up slipping and received an eight count. I'm not saying I slipped solely because of my shoes, but I checked out someone else's afterwards, tried them out and there is a big difference in terms of grip and weight.
If you don't like those Adidas shoes, there are plenty more types of boxing shoes available.
Hand Wraps
Your hands are your weapons so you have to protect them. There are hundreds of little bones in your hands which will break and cripple you if you do not take the necessary precautions. The best way to do that is by learning how to wrap your hands which provides protection for those bones like your knuckles.
Hand wraps come in various sizes and colours. I recommend a 180" wrap like these Pro Style Handwraps. They give you enough length to wrap your hands in a number of different ways, whichever suits you the best.
An alternative are the Mexican Style Hand wraps which many fighters prefer. They are a bit longer and slightly elastic which makes them form a tighter wrap around your hands. They are supposed to provide better protection. At any rate, choose one and use them and get the ones with velcro ties as they are more convenient to use. As for how you should wrap your hands, it is covered in the training section of this website.
Bag Gloves
Bag gloves are different than sparring or competition boxing gloves. Bag gloves are designed with just enough padding to protect your hands while you knock the living crap out of the heavy bag. What you will want to pick up here is a quality pair (otherwise you''ll end up buying more than one as the first pair disintegrates on the bag).
These Bag Gloves by Everlast are a good durable glove which should take the punishment you are going to give them. They are what I currently use. That said, my next pair will likely be something heavier such as these ones by Ringside. They are more like a regular boxing glove. At any rate, with any pair you choose, make sure they have Velcro fasteners for ease of use and they fit your hands securely. You can buy cheap gloves, but remember, it's your hands and without them, you aren''t boxing.
There are a few options when it comes to heavy bags, but generally speaking, they weigh about 70 pounds, are filled with hard or soft fill, and are made of vinyl, leather, or canvas. They should come with a swivel mount to attach to your ceiling which it can be suspended from.
The difference between hard and soft fill is that soft fill has an extra layer of foam inside, it really makes no difference. A good Canvas Heavy Bag will stand up to a lot of abuse and is a good investment.
There's no better way to relieve the day's stress than by heading to the basement and beating the crap out of something. You and your heavy bag will form a special bond, sounds crazy, but it's true. Heavy Bag workouts are a major portion of this site and a staple part of the How to Box 12 Week Program.
Headgear
Headgear will take a lot of abuse, so when deciding what to buy, ensure you buy something that is going to last. Generally speaking, that means not buying the cheapest vinyl set of headgear you can find, but actually spending some money to buy a quality product. Headgear protects your head from soft tissue damage -- meaning cuts, scrapes and so on. It will not protect you from the force of a punch. While a well padded headgear can alleviate some of the blow, it will not be significant enough for you to notice. Even with headgear on, one can still be knocked out, receive a concussion and any other injury associated with repeated punches to the head.
There are many styles ranging from minimal head coverage to ones which cover everything but your eyes. If you fear having your nose broken, you can buy headgear that covers the nose as well. If you want to fight and come away unscathed, you want headgear which covers as much of your head as possible, fits tightly and laces up so it stays tight. Last thing you want is it coming down over your eyes everytime you get hit.
Everlast Boxing Head Gear is a good choice. There are models such as the ProForce Ultimate Headguard which covers the nose as well as the rest of your head. This can be good and bad, depends on personal preference. On the good hand, it offers more protection but some people complain it affects their sight and/or breathing ability. It also costs a little more which may or may not be a factor.
Mouthguard
If you are sparring with a partner or competing you have no choice, you must buy a mouthguard or you will spitting up chicklets (your teeth). Like the name suggests, a mouthguard protects your mouth and there are lots of varieties to choose from ranging in price from $10 to $30 or more.
If you have the resources, the best thing to do is go to your dentist and have him make a mould of your mouth and custom make a mouthpiece for you. I can say this, because that is what I did, but I'm in the army and it is taken care of for me. I'm not sure what it would cost in the civilian world.
Just as effective are the boil and form type varieties which cost around the $10 mark. The mouthguards are made of material which do not hold heat, so you boil them which makes them pliable, put in your mouth, bite down and they form around your teeth and you don't get burned in the process.
There are some good mouthguard's by Shock Doctor such as the Gel Max Shock Doctor which cost a little more, but fit nicely and are supposed to realign your jaw so less damage is done to your brain during impact. Don't know if it works, I don't have an MRI machine to test it out with. I can say that I tried these upper and lower mouthguards and prefer a single mouthguard protecting the upper teeth. While these double duty mouthguards may offer better protection, especially on the lower teeth, I found breathing a little difficult and they just aren't as comfortable. Feel free to disagree...
Sparring/Boxing Gloves
These are not bag gloves. Where bag gloves are padded just enough to prevent injury to your hands during the heavy bag workouts, boxing gloves are designed to lessen the damage done when sparring with a partner. 16oz boxing gloves are a necessity. Again, do not skimp on your boxing gloves and hope that the person you are sparring with didn't skimp either.
A two layered foam padded glove with Velcro straps for easy on/off is good for sparring. The extra padding in these gloves as compared to bag gloves serves to absorb some of the force of the blows. Coupled with headgear, it is unlikely you will suffer any serious damage, but of course it all depends on how much and how you are hit. I make no promises... Here is a complete list of boxing gloves.
Groin Protectors and Chest Protectors
Alright, let's be honest. If you are going to be sparring with someone and that someone plans on hitting you and you know that eventually you are going to get hit and the possibility exists that that hit could go wild and nail you in the kahoney's, never regions, nachos, whatever -- do you really want to forgo this little piece of equipment?
Didn't think so: Groin Protector - Everlast Groin Guard Chest Protector (ladies) - Click Here
Other Boxing Equipment and Boxing Supplies
There is other boxing equipment you can buy such as speed bags, slip bags, double end bags, skipping ropes etc... and if you have the money and the inclination, go ahead. However, with the boxing equipment listed above you will have no problem becoming a better boxer at least to begin with. Anything extra is gravy so to speak.
For good priced, quality boxing and martial arts equipment shop for discount boxing equipment and boxing supplies in the How to Box Store.
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Why head protection?
headgear is not intended for
Correct
Your best option in preventing concussion and/or knockout is a good defense and learn how to lessen the force of a blow by moving with it and/or blocking it.
Hand Wrapping
Guest: Hand wraps will just
Guest: Hand wraps will just offer extra support and padding. I would recommend it, but it isn't entirely necessary. By not wrapping your hands you just increase the risk of wrist/knuckle injury. Especially considering the fact that you are just starting out, your hands/wrists aren't used to the abuse, and your punching form probably isn't developed yet. I would suggest getting some wraps.
GLOVES
Boxing Gloves
Hey, Aja!!My girlfriend is
Hey, Aja!!
My girlfriend is about 20lbs lighter and 1" shorter, she wears 10oz gloves (when hitting the bag and mitts). That would be a good size, but I would say that you could throw 12oz no problem (and develope some more power/speed in the process). It's all a matter of what you're looking for. Lighter gloves are more fun because they're not as exhausting, but bigger/heavier gloves give you a better work out. For bag work I would recommend 12's, just to help you develope. It'll wear you out faster (and probably hurt a little more), but you will quickly get stronger/faster. For sparring I would recommend 14oz gloves, just for safety sake. However, you could get away with 12's even for sparring. That just seems to be the ideal number.
Hope that helps!
GLOVES SIZING
glove
How to speed rope...
how to skip
Training tips
boxing
how do i know which size
boxing
heard of 10lbs gloves?
10 pounder gloves, answer
starting out
SPEED
Yeah how to Build up speed
I think the best way to
self defense
I'm Gonna get Chinned!
glove size??????
13 155 5ft 4in wat size glove
Reflex Bag
Hi guys, I do not have the room to put a double end bag in my basement. I did hear about the Cobra Reflex Bag. Any suggestions? how are they? Is it worth the money? Thank you
I don't have alot of money,
I don't have alot of money, can you by use gloves