After putting on a nice set of boxing gloves, it’s easy to start feeling invincible with your punches. We’ve all seen it on television where the professional boxers unload punch after punch on each other, and the end results are often not pretty for the two fighters. In this article, we are going to talk about if you actually will hit harder with boxing gloves.
When wearing boxing gloves although you can have more piece of mind in using more of your strength in your punches. The actual impact and damage would not be as effective as someone not wearing boxing gloves.
Boxing gloves are meant to help protect the hand of the boxer. Having all the added padding and straps for hand security is meant more for protecting your bones from the impact that punching brings. Less on creating more damage or harder punches.
The boxing gloves has a much wider contact area than your fist. This also spreads the force of a punch through the extra area, and because of the foams that boxing gloves are made out of, the shock absorption will take out some of the impact that a regular fist might bring.
Do Heavier Boxing Gloves Hit Harder?
It might feel like the heavier the glove the more damage you can do. But in actuality you would not be hitting any harder. You may be use more or all you might in throwing a punch with a heavier glove. But the end result wouldn’t be more damage or even hitting the object harder.
The higher weight you go in boxing gloves means the heavier the glove would be and would likely be slowing your punches a bit more. When you do make any contact the force is distributed through the surface and being a larger glove, there is more area for the force to spread through.
A larger glove also means that there will be more padding or added foam material. That actually helps cushion the blow rather than causing damage. Having a larger glove is more about hand safety and protecting the boxer rather than inflicting pain and damage.
Does Boxing Gloves Cause More Damage?
When comparing boxing gloves to a regular fist. More damage would typically be made by a bare hand. With your fist, you’re concentrating the impact into a smaller surface area, and in contrast with a boxing glove where the surface area is much wider in space.
Boxing gloves also has plenty of padding. Although at times the padding could be quite dense, there still is a bit of give and cushion when punching. Alternatively with a bare fist, knuckles and hard bone will have no cushion in the way of your punches and make the impact that much harder.
The trade off between using boxing gloves and not having them on, is the protection it gives for both fighters. When using the same amount of force and hitting an object with your fist, you are far more likely to injure yourself than if you were wearing boxing gloves.
How Do You Punch Harder?
When it comes to boxing gloves, there isn’t a brand or type of glove that would dramatically help you punch with more power. In actually you should be looking to better the technique of a punch and work on the muscles and movements involved with that.
By working on technique and working on how to develop an effective punch. This would be the best way to ensure that you have a stronger punch as well as a lesser chance of being injured from doing it incorrectly.
So what should you be looking to work on when learning how to punch harder? There would be 4 main areas that should be considered when punching properly. Feet and leg positioning, rotating your core and the extension of your arms.
All 4 parts of your body would need to be working together in order to help transfer energy and allow you to punch harder and effectively.
- Feet – feet position and movement is the beginning of gaining power for your punch. start by standing on the balls of your feet and slightly angled off your target. When throwing the punch you want to take a step towards your opponent within the same action you are throwing the punch.
- Legs – a lot of the where the power comes from the lower part of your body, specifically your legs. Your legs and feet create the stability needed for your upper body to turn into the punch. When reaching the full extension of your arms, turning your bag leg will help your body rotate and generate power.
- Mid Section and Core – the connection point that transfers the power from your legs through your arms. You may have heard fitness instructors say “keep you core tight” when doing almost every exercise. There is no difference here when throwing a strong punch, your mid section is the catalyst that begins the rotation of your body and generating the power.
- Arms – finally when everything is put in motion by the rest of your body you arms can do their part and complete your punch. A few things to note is that your target should not be at the end of your punch. If you find yourself reaching at the end, your punch would be ineffective. Imagine you are punching through your target.
For a more in depth look at to punching harder, you can see how we break it down with this article.
Do You Hit Harder When You Punch Faster
Having some speed in your punch is ideal, especially when boxing. Speed gives you the element of surprise to your opponents and allows you to attack and reset in a shorter amount of time.
Although a quick punch be effective, it wouldn’t be considered a way to be punching harder. If knockout power is what you’re looking for than there is much more you would need to put into your punch in order for it to be a powerful one.
Having a hard punch requires a bit more than just speed. Along with the quickness of your punch you would require some weight behind it. Generating power from your bodyweight and making it quick is the key to a hard and fast punch.
Imagine throwing a punch a fast as you can with just your arm strength and no body movement. It will likely feel flat and ineffective. Making the same punch with proper feet positioning, core movement and technique would likely increase your speed and strength dramatically.
Conclusion
Although you can physically hit harder with boxing gloves, meaning putting more weight into your punches. It wouldn’t necessarily translate into a harder punch when compared to a bare fist. You’re able to throw a punch at such an intense level because of the glove itself and how well it protects your hand on impact. Trying the same punch with the same effort on the same opponent or object and you’re likely going to have a high chance of injury, such as cuts or broken bones.
If you’re looking to punch harder, you should be glad to know that it’s not about what type of boxing glove you’re using, and more about how you are punching. Remember, boxing gloves are meant more for protection on both sides of the glove and not to produce or inflict damage.
