ripped skin on knuckles

[mmafan29]

recently i have started to punch the heavy bag wearing only hand wraps and
i noticed that skin would rip from my knuckles when i start going full power.
It takes a long time to heal so i can't punch again till the skin hardens up so it's quite annoying and slows down the momentum.
any way around this? do i have to buy boxing gloves?
someone help this newbie out!

 

[blah_blah619]

buy bag gloves, they normally come with the punching bags now-a-days

 

[TapSD]

recently i have started to punch the heavy bag wearing only hand wraps and
i noticed that skin would rip from my knuckles when i start going full power.
It takes a long time to heal so i can't punch again till the skin hardens up so it's quite annoying and slows down the momentum.
any way around this? do i have to buy boxing gloves?
someone help this newbie out!

Why are you hitting a heavy bag with just wraps..your gonna break something..GET some gloves!

 

[Sinister]

Pshh. This is how bareknuckle fighters train. It takes more time but eventually you'll form these magical things called callouses. When you do, your hands will be the consistency of bricks wrapped in sand-paper. But it takes time and not over-doing it. I do a round every other day bareknuckle.

 

[Vilo Magee]

Sounds like you are wrapping your hands wrong. I can hit a heavybag all day in handwraps and not scrape a knuckle. the secret is wrap them right on top of the knuckle then cut a strip of tape into strips length wise and use that in between the knuckles to hold the wrap in place over your knuckles.
Also if you insist on not wearing gloves get a box of Kotex or steal one from your mom or sister or whatever and use it as a pad over your knuckles. Wrap once around knuckles with the wrap then stick Kotex to wrap then wrap around the Kotex. The use the tape strips described above to hold it in place.
Trust me you do not want to hurt your hands it may seem like no big deal but my hand injury may end my career before it gets off the ground and I make any real money

 

[Kamehameha]

well if u hit a really heavy........heavy bag w/o gloves, u can break ur wrist if ur not careful. But i lose some skin on my knuckles occassionally, liek right now some skin on my pinky knuckle is dead and peeling off, it happens. Nothing to write back, or sherdog, about.

 

[stav]

Why are you hitting a heavy bag with just wraps..your gonna break something..GET some gloves!

I hit the heavy bags without gloves very regulary.
I belive its a very good idea for 2 resons.

Firstly, Conditioning. Tearing up the knuckles is common and while they heal switch back to gloves. Once they are healed go bare knuckle again. Reapeat this till they dont tear up again. My right hand never tears but my left still does....its not as well conditioned.
If u are just starting to go bare knuckle take it easy dont go crazy on the bags. Only do one or 2 rounds on the bag then switch to gloves. Slowly slowy train yourself into not using gloves.


Secondly, Also training ONLY with gloves can develop a habit of sloppy punching technique. B/C the glove protect the hands alot of the time when punching with the gloves it is not critical to punch "correctly". Alot of the punches u do if u did not have gloves on u could hurt yourself using the power that u do.

Gloves are good but i reckomend going bare knuckle as well as using gloves inorder to develop realistc technique and condition your hands for real self defence. U dont walk down the street with gloves on.

A good compramise is use MMA gloves on the heavy bags.

Also dont use hand wraps all the time. Hit the bags without them lightly to develop wrist strength. Slowly build up the intensity over weeks. I currently hit the bags at about 80-90% of full power with no gloves or wraps and have no problem as long as i am not fatigued......as u fatigue technique gets slopy so its smart to tone back the power b/c u dont want to jarr or roll your fist and sprain or break it.

The last thing u want in a real life situation is to punch some one and be so used to wearing wraps to support your wrsits that u actualy break your wrist. It doesnt matter how good of a fighter u are once u break your hand your on your way to getting your ass handed to u in a fight.

 

[Vilo Magee]

I hit the heavy bags without gloves very regulary.
I belive its a very good idea for 2 resons.

Firstly, Conditioning. Tearing up the knuckles is common and while they heal switch back to gloves. Once they are healed go bare knuckle again. Reapeat this till they dont tear up again. My right hand never tears but my left still does....its not as well conditioned.
If u are just starting to go bare knuckle take it easy dont go crazy on the bags. Only do one or 2 rounds on the bag then switch to gloves. Slowly slowy train yourself into not using gloves.


Secondly, Also training ONLY with gloves can develop a habit of sloppy punching technique. B/C the glove protect the hands alot of the time when punching with the gloves it is not critical to punch "correctly". Alot of the punches u do if u did not have gloves on u could hurt yourself using the power that u do.

Gloves are good but i reckomend going bare knuckle as well as using gloves inorder to develop realistc technique and condition your hands for real self defence. U dont walk down the street with gloves on.

A good compramise is use MMA gloves on the heavy bags.

Also dont use hand wraps all the time. Hit the bags without them lightly to develop wrist strength. Slowly build up the intensity over weeks. I currently hit the bags at about 80-90% of full power with no gloves or wraps and have no problem as long as i am not fatigued......as u fatigue technique gets slopy so its smart to tone back the power b/c u dont want to jarr or roll your fist and sprain or break it.

The last thing u want in a real life situation is to punch some one and be so used to wearing wraps to support your wrsits that u actualy break your wrist. It doesnt matter how good of a fighter u are once u break your hand your on your way to getting your ass handed to u in a fight.

There are other ways to condition your hands besides the stuff you posted. To toughen skin fill 5 gallon bucket with water then dump salt into until it will float an egg then soak your hands in it this will toughen the skin on your hands and avoid damage to metacarpals.
I have always worn hand wraps from the age of 8 on my entire amature areer and entire pro career and have strong technique.
To build up your wrist and forearm strength get some grippers I use the Iron Company grippers that come in 100lbs, 150lbs 200lbs 250 lbs and 300 lbs. My wrists and foreamrs are huge from using these tools.
Also i have hurt my hand and it almost still might end my career. Telling someone to not use at least hand wraps is idiocy and very very bad advice and if I was mod I would dub you for it because you are going to get someone hurt. I can understand not using gloves to a certain extent if the person doing so knows how to wrap their hands but most people dont so I recommend gloves.
I reallly wish people on sherdog wouldnt give advice if they dont know what the fuck they are talking about

 

[stav]

There are other ways to condition your hands besides the stuff you posted. To toughen skin fill 5 gallon bucket with water then dump salt into until it will float an egg then soak your hands in it this will toughen the skin on your hands and avoid damage to metacarpals.
I have always worn hand wraps from the age of 8 on my entire amature areer and entire pro career and have strong technique.
To build up your wrist and forearm strength get some grippers I use the Iron Company grippers that come in 100lbs, 150lbs 200lbs 250 lbs and 300 lbs. My wrists and foreamrs are huge from using these tools.
Also i have hurt my hand and it almost still might end my career. Telling someone to not use at least hand wraps is idiocy and very very bad advice and if I was mod I would dub you for it because you are going to get someone hurt. I can understand not using gloves to a certain extent if the person doing so knows how to wrap their hands but most people dont so I recommend gloves.
I reallly wish people on sherdog wouldnt give advice if they dont know what the fuck they are talking about

Pls read my post again and u will see that i said

"Also dont use hand wraps all the time. Hit the bags without them lightly to develop wrist strength."

My point was u dont wear Wrist wraps on the Street so training exlusivley with wraps can do u harm when u are fast with a self defence sistuation without them on the street.

I am sure u are a good fighter and maybe a good trainer in your own right but fighting and sports are not an exact science and b/c u have an opinion it does not make it Gospel.

Isnt this the reason why they switched from bare knuckle in the first UFC's to using mma gloves?? B/c fighters were hurting there hands and knuckles??

I remember i think it was Keith Hackney broke his hand on the big Sumo Yarborough.

 

[Vilo Magee]

Pls read my post again and u will see that i said

"Also dont use hand wraps all the time. Hit the bags without them lightly to develop wrist strength."

My point was u dont wear Wrist wraps on the Street so training exlusivley with wraps can do u harm when u are fast with a self defence sistuation without them on the street.

I am sure u are a good fighter and maybe a good trainer in your own right but fighting and sports are not an exact science and b/c u have an opinion it does not make it Gospel.

When u punch someone on the top of the head with a king hit and break your hand then maybe u will understand.

Homie I have more experience throwing punches in the street and in the ring than you probably ever will that is a fact.
Why strengthn your wrists hitting the bag and causing damage when you can do it by using an Iron Gripper? that is like using a weed whipper to cut your hair instead of scissors.
Obviously you dodnt wear wraps on the street but what does that have to do with anything? Wraps dont augment your power or your technique all they do is protect your hands from injury.
I dont claim anything I say is gospel but i do speak from experience and hav knowledge that has been passed down from trainers and fighters who have been there done that so generally when I speak unless I am flat out fucking with someone the things I say come from my experience or from someone elses experience who passed it on to me. I only deal with proven things, things that have been used over and over again with success not some dickmouths bullshit stories about being a street fighter with some secret knowledge of how a handwrap augments you punching technique. YOu are stupid and full of shit and you are giving out bad advice that s harmfull and you should be dubbed and possibly banned at leats for being a dumbshit and possibly for being a liar.

 

[mmafan29]

thanks guys!
some good comments, i appreciate it!

 

[stav]

First of all if u want to give your opinion it would be nice if u stoped swearing and actualy explained in a nice manner y i might be wrong.
I value your opinion and your experience and the trick about the salt water i never knew about so thank you for educating me.
I never claimed wraps augment your technique. I agree with u in that they protect you from injury. I think if u read my post properly and dont fly off the handel u will see that we are on the same page. The only point of dispute is the advantage of training without wraps.

From what i gather u believe the risk of training without wraps in not smart i simply think that it is viable. As far as using Iron grippers go i will give it a go. Thnx for you advice

 

[Rubberfist]

I'm going to have to side with Vilo here:

advising newbies (or anyone else for that matter) to strike a heavy bag without adequate protection is as reprehensible as telling a fledgling goalie to take slapshots on the shins and thighs without pads, or to try to catch pucks barehanded.

I have NEVER been advised by anyone with any credibility to hammer away bareknuckle. In fact, I've always read and been told just the opposite: moderate to high intensity heavy bag training requires the use high quality gloves of 12oz or higher.

It would be nice if we abstain from name-calling/mudslinging, because the last thing anyone who comes here needs is to give or receive bad advice. I personally have suffered a very bad break to the middle knuckle on my money hand, and I'll tell you that it fucking sucks in many ways, causes a lot of downtime, and it is the type of injury that can virtually be 100% elminated during training.

Anyhow, if you want to toughen up your skin, there are other ways (sand or sandbag slapping for example) without putting your bones at risk.

 

[stav]

Thnx rubber.
I apolagise to Vilo.
I did not try to make out like I knew better then him and am very glad for him giving his opinion and advice on this forum.
I just like ppl to be resonable with me and your 100% right in saying that telling new fighters to start hitting bags without gloves and wraps is irresponsible. I stand corrected.

 

[Vilo Magee]

Thnx rubber.
I apolagise to Vilo.
I did not try to make out like I knew better then him and am very glad for him giving his opinion and advice on this forum.
I just like ppl to be resonable with me and your 100% right in saying that telling new fighters to start hitting bags without gloves and wraps is irresponsible. I stand corrected.

I t is not even that i was mad at you speciffically i just see alot of very bad advice being given to people who are very new to the game of striking. I can only imagine if I was a young guy on here wanting to be a fighter trying to train myself or whatever and i read some of the advice on here and then fucked my body up because of it how i would feel. I apolgize for being harsh but I have never been one to sugar coat anything and probably never will.

 

[stav]

Thnx Vilo.
I do however train without gloves and wraps just in case u wanted to know the truth i was not trying to make things up in my earlier posts i was being honest.

Perhaps i am training wrong and u can give me some better advice. I started with both wraps and gloves inthe begining and slowly moved to just wraps and now i train without both and switch to gloves on and off.

I do see your point and respect the angel your comming through and thank you for it.

I have been training for 3 years in both Freestyle Karate (very similar to Kyokushin not mac dojo stuff) and Kick boxing and any advice u have will be gratfuly accepted.

 

[Vilo Magee]

Thnx Vilo.
I do however train without gloves and wraps just in case u wanted to know the truth i was not trying to make things up in my earlier posts i was being honest.

Perhaps i am training wrong and u can give me some better advice. I started with both wraps and gloves inthe begining and slowly moved to just wraps and now i train without both and switch to gloves on and off.

I do see your point and respect the angel your comming through and thank you for it.

I have been training for 3 years in both Freestyle Karate (very similar to Kyokushin not mac dojo stuff) and Kick boxing and any advice u have will be gratfuly accepted.

See now you are making me feel bad lol. i mistook you for one of the shithead on here that spouts off to look tough and cool. I apologize and you seem like a reasonable guy. Anyways yeah you are putting your hands in danger if not for now in the present but in the future when you are older you will have problems with artritis and joint pain but so will most punchers so if it works do it but it is not the advice i give my amature team. The human hands are fragile they are not meant to take impact there is like 70 somethin bones in each hand which is alot and they are all easy to break and take a long time to heal. My hand was badly damaged in 16 oz gloves professionally wrapped becaus ei landed a punch on the top of a guys head then didnt take time off and landed another punch a month later on the tip of another guys elbow. My knuckle was broken and pushed back about .25 an inch which snapped other tendons and damaged more bone. I had a an operation and have been off from boxing and training 6-7 months and have my return fight on 26th of nov. I dont have faith in my hand which is taking away from my power ect ect. anyways see how easy it is to injure your hand seriously? Can you imagine a young kid doing the same as me and this parents having to pay for it or not ebing able to get it fixed? that is not fair to the kid or to the parents know waht I mean?
Anyways the iron grippers will build up your wrist and foreamr more than anyhting you can do and the brine/salt water will make them rough and tough and both are much safer. So give them a try. My trainer even suggests filling a bucket with sand and sticking your fingers into it slowly and then pulling them out bu ti neevr done it an prolly wont lol

 

[stav]

Thnx heaps Vilo and thnx for sharing your experince with me. I will def take you advice onboard.

 

[mmafan29]

hi Vilo,
Can you reccomend any good grippers?
sorry to hear about your hand, hope it gets back to good condition. guess i'm lucky that i only tore the skin off my knuckles
i couldn't find your name on fight finder, are you a boxer/kickboxer as opposed to MMA fighter?

 

[Vilo Magee]

http://www.ironcompany.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=34
This where i got mine i bought the whole set and have worked up to the 200 lbs gripper in 6 months they work very well and produce good results for the money.
I am strictly a boxer