Fix Cut Knuckles When Hitting A Heavy Bag

It’s not a surprise that boxing is a sport of many injuries, but when it comes to your hands, they’re definitely the most important tool in your arsenal.

Hands can also be injured in many ways, but one in particular that seems to appear from time to time again, especially to beginners, is cut, skinned or bruised knuckles, often times from hitting a heavy bag.

Down below i provide reasons and methods on how to deal with this condition.

Proper gloves

One of the most common reasons for cutting knuckles when boxing is using inappropriate gloves. You have to use specific bag gloves for this task as they’re more dense, designed for a rough surface of a heavy bag, while sparring gloves are just too soft for that.

If you are serious about boxing in general and want the best protection for you hands, you might want to get these Title bag gloves off Amazon, although they are pretty expensive.

In case that you are a person who’s just hitting the punching bag as a workout or to learn a few moves, these cheap Ringside one’s will do the trick (link to Amazon).

When it comes to the actual size, 16 oz (454 g) is most of the time the best choice for majority of people, but you can get smaller ones like if you want to, however smaller gloves provide less protection to the hands.

Hand wrapping

Just like correct gloves, hand wrapping is a crucial factor in dealing with cut knuckles, and all around prevent hand injuries. If you don’t train in a gym and do it as a hobby, check out this video on how to do it correctly.

In case that the hand wraps slide off your knuckles no matter how good you try to wrap them, put some athletic tape between your fingers.

If you do indeed train in a boxing gym, ask your coach to show you how to do it.

Also, i would highly suggest getting 180 inch (457 cm) (link) long hand wraps as they can cover more of your hands, therefore provide more protection.

Extra knuckle protection

Knuckle guards can greatly cushion the already cut knuckles if you want to continue training right away, or just an additional layer of support . These ones on Amazon should do the trick.

A cheaper alternative would be to just buy a sponge, cut it in half and place it on top of your knuckles and then wrap them up, but it might not work as well.

Dry skin

If your hands are dry and cracked, no matter what kind of wrapping or gloves you use, the knuckles might still get cut. Make sure to keep your hands always moisturized with things like petroleum jelly – that’s especially important during colder months.

Ways to treat already busted knuckles

Rest your hands

Try not hitting anything for a couple of days or a week. The problem with knuckle cuts is if they don’t heal fully, they will open back up over and over again and might takes ages for them to get better – it’s also a lot more likely to get the wounds infected that way, so you might as well let them heal.

You can still sharpen up your skills doing things like shadowboxing, footwork drills, or really anything that doesn’t involve punching any target.

If you still want to train with the cuts

Get some adhesive bandages and put them on the cuts, then wrap the spot with athletic tape, and then wrap your hands. If you see any blood on your hand wraps after training, replace them every session to prevent infection.

As always, the technique

Cuts, bruises or any injury to your knuckles can still happen even with the tips discussed above if you hit the heavy bag incorrectly. Remember, don’t try to split the bag in half, punch and return to guard in a snappy motion.

Again, even if it seems that you are getting a better workout in by smashing the bag like a mad man, that is still not worth it considering the possibility of injury.

I know how hard it can be to understand that if you’ve never trained in an actual boxing gym, so please watch this video on how to throw a jab, and follow up with next punches.