Sparring gloves are essential training items for a variety of martial arts. Unlike competition gloves, they include lots of padding, which helps cushion impact as you spar. They are designed for protection, not knockouts, making sparring safer. ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves help you prevent injury to your knuckles and wrists as you practice so you can focus on your technique.
Fitting Your Sparring Gloves
Your ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves should fit snugly on your hands and should not shift when you move around or make contact. Measure your hands before you make your purchase. Be sure to measure your hands with your hand wraps on to get an appropriate measurement. While you can wear gloves without hand wraps, you would be foregoing the extra skeletal, joint, and muscular support they provide. When your wraps are in place, lay your hand on a flat surface with your palm facing upward. Measure the distance across your palm at your lower knuckles. You can also measure this distance by laying your hand down flat on a ruler. AWMA products use the following sizing chart to determine glove fit:
• Child Medium: 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 inches
• Child Large: 2-7/8 to 3-1/4 inches
• Adult Small: 3-1/4 to 3-3/8 inches
• Adult Medium: 3-3/8 to 3-5/8 inches
• Adult Large: 3-5/8 to 3-3/4 inches
• Adult X-Large: 3-3/4 to 3-7/8 inches
Glove Weight
It is important to find a good balance between padding and weight. Padding offers a layer that cushions blows upon contact and more protection. ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves offer padding at the knuckles, wrists, and the back of your hand, but feature open palms. This offers sufficient padding without adding too much weight to the gloves.
Open vs. Closed Palms
Some sparring gloves feature open palms, whereas others enclose the entire hand. Closed palm gloves work well for boxing, as strikes mostly involve punching. However, the closed palm design may be a disadvantage when practicing sports that involve grappling, such as mixed martial arts, jujitsu, and judo. Open palm designs leave your palms free to perform grappling moves. They can also give you a bit more flexibility to perform other kinds of strikes. ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves feature an open palm construction.
Visibility
Color may seem like a minor concern when it comes to choosing a pair of gloves, but it matters more than you may think. Bright colors are ideal for beginner training, as they draw in the eye and let both sparring partners see what the other is doing with their hands. Colors such as white, silver, and pink work well in this context. As your skill level increases, you may want to choose a less visible glove shade such as black or blue. These are harder to see, so your opponent must work harder on evasive moves and blocks; likewise, you can improve these skills as well when your opponent wears these glove colors. Although many competitions limit glove colors to red and blue, you can choose any shade you want for training.
Fitting Your Sparring Gloves
Your ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves should fit snugly on your hands and should not shift when you move around or make contact. Measure your hands before you make your purchase. Be sure to measure your hands with your hand wraps on to get an appropriate measurement. While you can wear gloves without hand wraps, you would be foregoing the extra skeletal, joint, and muscular support they provide. When your wraps are in place, lay your hand on a flat surface with your palm facing upward. Measure the distance across your palm at your lower knuckles. You can also measure this distance by laying your hand down flat on a ruler. AWMA products use the following sizing chart to determine glove fit:
• Child Medium: 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 inches
• Child Large: 2-7/8 to 3-1/4 inches
• Adult Small: 3-1/4 to 3-3/8 inches
• Adult Medium: 3-3/8 to 3-5/8 inches
• Adult Large: 3-5/8 to 3-3/4 inches
• Adult X-Large: 3-3/4 to 3-7/8 inches
Glove Weight
It is important to find a good balance between padding and weight. Padding offers a layer that cushions blows upon contact and more protection. ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves offer padding at the knuckles, wrists, and the back of your hand, but feature open palms. This offers sufficient padding without adding too much weight to the gloves.
Open vs. Closed Palms
Some sparring gloves feature open palms, whereas others enclose the entire hand. Closed palm gloves work well for boxing, as strikes mostly involve punching. However, the closed palm design may be a disadvantage when practicing sports that involve grappling, such as mixed martial arts, jujitsu, and judo. Open palm designs leave your palms free to perform grappling moves. They can also give you a bit more flexibility to perform other kinds of strikes. ProForce® Lightning Sparring Gloves feature an open palm construction.
Visibility
Color may seem like a minor concern when it comes to choosing a pair of gloves, but it matters more than you may think. Bright colors are ideal for beginner training, as they draw in the eye and let both sparring partners see what the other is doing with their hands. Colors such as white, silver, and pink work well in this context. As your skill level increases, you may want to choose a less visible glove shade such as black or blue. These are harder to see, so your opponent must work harder on evasive moves and blocks; likewise, you can improve these skills as well when your opponent wears these glove colors. Although many competitions limit glove colors to red and blue, you can choose any shade you want for training.