Can Muay Thai Boxing Gloves be used on a Heavy Punching Bag?

Question

I am training in the sport of Muay Thai. I am curious if Muay Thai Boxing Gloves be used on a Punching Heavy Bag? Or should I just use regular Boxing Gloves? Trying to save money when training. Also, I want to protect my wrists, finger, knuckles correctly.

Answer 1

Sure, why not? (Noting that bag gloves are usually lighter than full gloves.)

Muay Thai gloves generally have more padding on the sides and the padding is more consistent around the entire fist. They’re also more flexible in both how they shape the wearers’ hands and around the wrist because the hands aren’t just used for punching.

All that said I personally prefer bag gloves for bag work. Since they’re smaller/lighter you might avoid torquing the wrist on glancing blows, while losing a bit of conditioning because of the lighter weight.

I wouldn’t, however, use boxing gloves in a match (and you may not be allowed to because of the different padding). Boxing gloves do more to hold your hand in a fist position which could make clinching/throwing more difficult.

There would be essentially zero difference in finger/knuckle protection, and on bags, the protection is largely for abrasions. While Muay Thai gloves might provide incrementally less wrist support, I doubt it would be enough of a difference to matter.

Caveat: I only have Muay Thai and bag gloves; only rarely have I had boxing-specific gloves on.

Answer 2

Just my opinions from my experience: Lighter MMA-style gloves still let me punch hard and get a fun and satisfying "thwock" sensation back thru my knuckles. I'll never get in a real fight, but I don't wrap my wrists since it's important to learn how to keep straight wrists when hitting hard and when tired.

And open-fingered or lighter gloves will allow you to intersperse some open-handed techniques or faux neck grabs.

If you have pretty good punching power you might find them a bit thin for protecting the striking knuckles.

But lighter gloves, at least my brand of glove for my extra-large hands, don't have as much of a padded "center" area to be clenched in the fist. So there is some compression of the fist as a whole, which after a while makes me wonder if I'm asking for future arthritis in my knuckle area as a whole (not the striking surfaces per se).

Answer 3

There are quite a few reasons for wearing the appropriate gloves and wraps when practicing on a heavy bag.

One of the biggest reasons is to reduce the chance of fracturing or breaking bones in your hands and wrists.

As someone who has fractured and broken bones multiple times on heavy bags, I've learned this lesson from hard experience.

The only beneficial part of breaking bones in your hands and wrists is that it gives you plenty of time to improve your footwork while your bones heal.

So can you use Muay Thai gloves on a heavy bag? Definitely. Will you fracture or break some bones? Depends on how well you wrap and how hard you hit.

Answer 4

Sure you can, but it will most likely not help you achieve your goal of saving money. This is because your gloves will wear way faster if used on a bag, which would in turn make you have to buy new gloves more frequently.

I suggest you use bag gloves or just bandages, which you need anyways. A little less padding/wrist support while working the bag can be a good thing too, since it will teach you proper wrist positioning and hitting with the correct part of your fist instead of relying on the gloves support.