Are you wondering whether you can use MMA gloves on a heavy bag?
In this article, we’ll examine whether you can use MMA gloves on a heavy bag and the pros and cons of doing so.
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Can You Use MMA Gloves on a Heavy Bag? (Pros)
Yes, you can use MMA gloves on a heavy bag but it’s better to use boxing gloves because they have more padding to protect your hands and wrist. MMA gloves have a maximum of 8 oz of padding, whereas boxing gloves go up to 18 to 24 oz and even higher.
So, while you can use MMA gloves on a heavy bag, it’s more likely to cause injury to your hands and wrist, which means you’re unable to train because you need to recover.
This fear and likelihood of injury also mean you can’t train as hard as you could with more protective boxing gloves.
However, there are some benefits to using MMA gloves on a heavy bag, which are as follows.
1. Conditions the Hands and Wrists
Punching a heavy bag with MMA gloves helps condition the hands (especially the knuckles) and the wrists for MMA competition which uses 4 or 5 oz MMA gloves.
As an MMA fighter, it’s no use only punching in boxing gloves because when it comes time to compete, your hands are much more likely to get injured because the hands, knuckles, wrists, and even elbows aren’t conditioned for the punches without the high level of protection boxing gloves provide.
Using MMA gloves once or twice per week on a heavy bag helps condition the hands and wrist by getting them used to the impact experienced similar to fighting an opponent.
2. Representative of a Competitive Fight
Specifically using 7 or 8-oz MMA sparring gloves on a heavy bag is the perfect training for a competitive fight as they’re much closer to the fight gloves used (4 or 5 oz).
Make sure to use hand wraps under the MMA gloves as this increases protection. Hand wraps are overwhelmingly used by MMA fighters when competing, so using them gets you used to both the gloves and wraps.
MMA fighters who overuse boxing gloves for heavy bags and MMA training can develop their power as they’re well-protected, but they’re spending less time with the actual equipment which matters most.
Using MMA gloves on a heavy bag is one of the best times to use them and get used to how they feel before a competitive fight.
This is because when sparring, a lot of the time MMA fighters use boxing gloves because the extra padding is vital in protecting their sparring partner from cuts and lacerations.
This is especially true closer to the date of a fight because cuts and lacerations can result in a fighter not being allowed to fight.
3. Forces You to Apply Perfect Punching Technique
Using MMA gloves on a heavy bag forces you to apply the perfect technique in every punch. As MMA gloves are less padded, injury to the hand and wrist is more likely without using the perfect technique.
Therefore, MMA fighters who train more with MMA gloves on a heavy bag tend to develop better punching technique. As a result, they also develop better precision with their punches, and overall it means they’re better prepared for competition.
The proper punching technique for MMA gloves on a heavy bag is to always connect with the two largest center knuckles where the fingers and hand connect. To do this, it’s important to turn the knuckles over similar to the casting punch technique.
In boxing gloves, because of their size, it becomes a lot easier to land punches with the lower set of knuckles by using a scraping action. If you punch like this in a competitive fight, bruises, sprains, and breaks are the result.
Overuse of boxing gloves on a heavy bag can lead many fighters to develop poor punching technique. As their hands are overprotected, they don’t feel pain when landing punches with poor technique and this doesn’t transfer well into competition.
Their punches are worse and their injury risk is increased.
Also, when sparring with MMA gloves, MMA fighters aren’t using maximum power because they don’t want to injure their sparring partner. So, using MMA gloves on a heavy bag allows them to practice using the most power possible while maintaining perfect technique.
4. MMA Can Be Trained
Using MMA gloves on a heavy bag means everything can be trained in one session. Fighters can practice their punching technique and precision and they can also practice kicking, grappling, and clinching, where knees and elbows can be incorporated.
When using boxing gloves, it’s much harder to clinch and control the bag for practicing knees and elbows, and it’s much more suited to boxing or kickboxing (without knees).
As MMA gloves mean you can mix offensive techniques on a heavy bag, it becomes an excellent cardiovascular workout more transferable into a competitive MMA fight.
The intensity and power come from the kicks, knees, and elbows, while the technique, precision, and footwork with the boxing.
Can You Use MMA Gloves on a Heavy Bag? (The Cons)
While we’ve established MMA gloves can be used on a heavy bag, here are some reasons why and when you shouldn’t.
1. One Month Before a Fight
You shouldn’t use MMA gloves on a heavy bag within 1 month of a fight due to the higher risk of injury to hands and wrists. Most of the work has been done 1 month before a fight, so the priority is to work on extras, maintain performance levels, and especially remain injury free.
2. Three or More Times per Week
As previously mentioned, boxing gloves offer the proper protection for heavy bag training. While using MMA gloves helps condition a fighter’s hands and wrists for competition, it’s helping to prevent injury but not fully.
Consistently punching a heavy bag 3 times or more per week leads to cumulative damage which isn’t realized until it’s too late. It’s a very useful tool to use, as outlined in the pros above, but overuse may lead to arthritis down the road.
The Bottom Line
So, ‘Can you use MMA gloves on a heavy bag?’
Yes, you can use MMA gloves on a heavy bag as there are great benefits to doing so. Those benefits are the conditioning of the hands and wrists, how it better represents a competitive fight, forces you to apply perfect punching technique, and because MMA can be trained.
