Wearing Hand Wraps
You should wear hand wraps when training on the heavy bag or to focus mitts. When learning how to punch, the position of the wrist is not always straight as it should be. Wearing hand wraps can help to stabilize the wrist and avoid any wrist injuries. Hand wraps also provide hand support for the delicate joints in the hand.
In the beginning you may find that your hands are a little sore from punching. You have muscles and tendons in your hands that need to be strengthened and adapt to the impact required with punching. If you are not wearing gloves while punching, hand wraps protect the skin of your knuckles from getting torn up. It may be a wise choice to purchase a pair of gloves to protect the hands and wrists from overuse injuries.
Try to purchase a pair of wraps that are fairly long and have some stretch to them. This will make it easier to wrap and will be more comfortable for the hand. The idea is to have wrist support, hand support, and coverage of the knuckles. As you wrap your hand, keep your hand open and fingers spread.
If there is any length of wrap left over, use it for extra wrist support. If your hand begins to fall asleep, you may have wrapped it too tight. Your wraps should feel supportive without cutting off circulation to your hands.
Begin by anchoring the loop around the thumb and pull the wrap tight toward the pinky side of the wrist. Wrap it around the wrist a couple of times so it feels snug. From the thumb side of the wrist, loop the wrap though each finger and back around the wrist one at a time, always coming back to the thumb side as an anchor. Once you have gone through each finger, finishing on the outside of the pinky, figure-8 the wrap from the palm of the hand to the wrist until the wrap looks clean and feels snug.
