That is, the open-finger models that have their own velcro wrist support?
I’ve got a pair of Mexican bag gloves that I bought from the dojo and man do they suck. Obviously, one’s supposed to use wrist wraps when they use them, but when we go from Kali to boxing to grappling, it’s not possible to put the wraps on and take them off when we’ve only got hour-long classes. Without the wrist wraps, the gloves pull the wrist funny and that of course leads to injuries when working on the bags and even occasionally during mitt drills.
I thought that I’d get a pair of UFC-style open palm gloves. I’ve only noticed two guys in the dojo using them and even then only for mitt work. I’ve recently changed classes so I don’t see them to ask how they like them.
I tried on a pair at the local Sportmart and noticed that the velcro strap didn’t really provide much support at all (and still cut off circulation) - certainly nowhere near what proper wrist wraps would allow. The glove itself fit fine, so perhaps I’ve just got skinny wrists.
I’ve never used any sort of wrist wraps or gloves when working on a bag. I believe (could be wrong) that your wrists will get a lot stronger if you don’t have the external support.
That’s certainly one way of thinking of it, but at my dojo, the striking comes from boxing, so wearing wrist wraps is pretty ingrained.
Every time I tried going barehanded against even our softest bags, I end up with skinned knuckles and hurt wrists. Even trying open handed techniques (that is, palm strikes for cross, hook, etc.) don’t seem to work too well. I can’t imagine ever actually punching someone “on the street.” Fortunately, we also train some Muay Thai so I think the elbows will be quite useful in those situations.
Skinned knuckles is one of the reasons why it’s best not to wrap on a heavy bag. If you keep roughing up your knuckles, they get rougher over time - callouses build up, and soon you can actually hit things bare-knuckled without pain.
Same principle applies to strengthening your wrist. If you want something a bit gentler, do pushups on your knuckles. (Only use your punching knuckles, of course - I think otherwise it can cause wrist problems).
I use leather mittens. I also wrap my wrists. It’s a personal thing I’m guessing. I wrap to reduce sprains and such. I also weightlift so my wrists get their own workouts a couple times a week.
If you’re used to UFC style gloves, putting on 12 or 15 oz. boxing gloves will seem like blocks of cement, so I use full size gloves whenever I’m boxing and kickboxing. UFC- style grappling gloves will provide your knuckles with some protection without sacrificing your ability to open your hands to grapple, but won’t provide a lot of wrist support otherwise compared to a wrist wrap. If you’re working focus mitts for an MMA drill I would say the grappling gloves would be fine, but if you’re doing a lot of work on the heavy bag I would use wristwraps and boxing gloves if you plan on hitting the bag hard. Some Thaiboxers use a wrist wrapping style that is open in the palm to allow them to open and close their hands so as to “neck wrestle” in the clinch better; you might want to experiment with wrapping your hands this way.
We do Bas Rutten’s workout tapes constantly. They involve lots of hard impact on the Wavebags. We use the open finger gloves for this (also called grapping gloves, I believe).
Picture (This is not a plug, BTW - I was just looking for a picture of the style of gloves for clarification.)
Although in time, the callouses can split and bleed.
In every case - bag work, and strengthening exercises - your wrist alignment must be excellent, or you are at risk of royalling fucking up the wrist. This is more than just resting on your largest knuckle pair, the wrist should also be aligned with minimal curvature.