Always wear protective gear at the time of sparring. Even if you are having a light sparring session, it’s easy to avoid injuries such as cuts within the mouth. We have listed some precautions which should be followed by every boxers while using the protective gear.
- Head Guard: While using head guards, please check that it is cushioned properly and it is easy to breath and also have maximum visibility.
- Boxing Gloves for Sparring: If you’re less than 147lbs, you and your sparring partner’s gloves should be at least 14 ounces. If you weigh more than 147lbs, you should use at least 16 ounces. Sparring gloves should have extra padding compared to training gloves, so that you have the right type.
- Boxing Gloves for Training:You should get a separate pair of gloves for heavy bag and other types of bag work. You’ll often hit hard and frequent on the bags which requires more protection, so bigger gloves are recommended. Find the best Boxing Gloves for training here.
- Groin Guard:Get a bigger groin guard with more padding that can provide more comfort for you.
- Mouth Guard: Never enter the ring without a customised mouth guard. Cheap ones usually don’t give you the proper mould, so get one which has a good reputation. Top only Mouth guard is fine, but there’s also an option to have top and bottom guard if you prefer.
- Hand Wraps:Hand wraps are must and no matter if you’re sparring or just doing bag work. Ensure that hand wraps are 180in so that they are long enough to properly wrap around your hands to give proper protection for your hands. Preferably, go for a semi-elastic type which can give more protection.
Always use the proper hand-wrapping technique. There are numerous videos on the web that show various techniques to wrap your hands properly. Whatever method you select, make sure that there's adequate padding on your knuckles and wrist.
Always start wrapping your hand stretched out fully, so that to make a fist, it tightens up, but make sure that you don’t wrap it too tight otherwise it’ll reduce blood flow and might be extremely uncomfortable.
Wrapping between the fingers will provide good support and stop hand injuries better.
3. DO STRETCHING EXERCISES REGULARLY
Boxers might face a high risk of muscle strain and injury. Once you start doing regular stretching exercises, your muscles and ligaments become longer and hence your range of movement increases. This decreases the risk of getting muscle sprains and strains.
You should consider stretching exercises aimed toward specific muscles, like hamstring, quadriceps, and shoulder muscles. Also, don’t forget to try to do your warm up exercises before sparring, which your trainer should make it mandatory.
Resistance bands are an excellent way of loosening, stretching and strengthening your muscles.
4. USE MOISTURIZERS TO PREVENT NOSE BLEEDSWhen the skin inside the nose is dry and brittle, it's more vulnerable to get cuts and lacerations. Steam inhalations, saline water nose drops, and natural moisturizing nose sprays like Aloe Vera nose sprays can effective methods of conditioning the skin inside the nose. By moisturizing the skin inside your nose before sparring, you'll make yourself less susceptible to get nosebleeds.
5. LEARN THE CORRECT PUNCHING TECHNIQUES
Your hands are the foremost precious tools but they’re also the foremost vulnerable to injured. To minimize the damage in your wrists and fingers, find out how to throw a punch properly. Confirm that you simply turn fist while punching so you’ve aligned your wrist correctly.
Also, when striking, make sure that you’re aiming for the knuckle of your middle finger to form contact first. Repeatedly, fighters get injured their thumbs due to the way they throw their punches, which frequently causes fractures and broken bones.
6. APPLY PETROLEUM JELLY ON IMPACT SITES
Apply a mild coat of petroleum jelly on your face, which is usually the target of jabs. This may make the skin slippery, supple, and elastic thus reducing the probability of getting cuts and bruises from the punches.
It’s most useful if you’re fighting within the professional game where no head guard is allowed, but facial injuries are known to occur during sparring also.
7. IMPROVE YOUR FITNESS LEVEL
Defending yourself from blows is important to minimize the risk of getting injured. You want to have an excellent stamina and endurance to be ready to withstand intense training procedures.
If you've got high level of physical conditioning, then you'll be ready to undergo the bouts with a transparent and defend yourself by maintaining quick footwork and agile reflexes. If you’re tired, it’s difficult to manoeuvre around, but remember to stay your guard up in the least times.
8. FOLLOW AN EFFECTIVE DIET
All athletes got to go with a nutritious diet which helps their body to heal and remain strong. Your daily diet must contain high level of calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Regular calcium intake will strengthen your bones. This might help in reducing the danger of fractures and help the bones to heal faster within the event of a fracture.
It is also important to drink many fluids to stay your body hydrated in the least times. In between bouts and through training, boxers should take sports drinks to replenish the electrolytes and water lost through sweating.
If you fail to try this, your body will become dehydrated and you'll feel fatigued, leading to a better likelihood of head injuries like concussions.
9. CONSULT A DOCTOR WHEN IN PAIN
Too often, fighters ignore a pain is until the purpose where it gets really bad, when it could’ve been prevented just by consulting a doctor.
If for any reason you’re under no circumstance to go to a doctor, and then do your own research on the web because quite likely, somebody else would’ve experienced an equivalent pain as you. They will provide you with advice and the way to form it better or maybe cure it altogether.
10. LET YOUR BODY REST
It’s fine to coach hard and push yourself to the limit, but if you are feeling any sharp pains anywhere during training, then stop to seek out what the matter is.
It might be a serious injury that could lead to one if you’re not careful. Let that heal before resuming your training.
When you do push yourself, you’ll feel the aches subsequent morning. It’s a good sign because you’ll get to know that you’ve trained hard, but just keep remember that if you are going to doing any form of exercise go easy and then your muscles will recover much faster.