As a Muay Thai fighter, one of the most important and pleasing pieces of equipment you will invest in will be your boxing gloves. People expend time, energy and of course, money on finding the best gloves they can attain, often choosing a pair of gloves with an extravagant design! A lot of thought goes into the initial selection with not so much consideration to boxing glove care after they are yours. Why spend all this effort and money, only for those objects of desire to smell like dead rats in a couple of months and have cracked leather in a year?! Don’t let yourself be that guy who splashes the cash on fancy gloves in order to look the business in the gym, only to smell like you’ve crawled out of the bins!
Learn how to care for your gloves. Maintain them and keep them fresh, with this fully comprehensive guide to boxing glove care.
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Here are a few easy tips you can use, not only to keep your gloves smelling sweet but looking good and lasting longer.
First of all, let’s talk about, what not to do with your boxing gloves:
- DO NOT put your gloves in the washing machine!!
It would ruin the leather and soak the padding, causing your gloves to accumulate more bacteria than if you did nothing at all.
- DO NOT put them in the sun to dry.
Many Thai gyms will put their equipment in the scorching sun to dry out after a sweaty session in the Thai humidity.
This is fine if you are a gym which can afford new equipment regularly. However, the hot sun will crack leather and degrade stitching.
- DO NOT spray them with Febreeze or any other similar odor-neutralising spray.
These odor neutralisers are designed for fabrics like cotton. They aren’t for materials like leather, Syntek and microfiber which make up your gloves.
- DO NOT let them fester in the dank recesses of your gym bag or the boot of your car.
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This would turn your gloves from being your prize possession, to them being a pair of repugnant, room clearing embarrassments, that smell like wet dog and look like a fungus farm!
Be a good citizen and put them somewhere with air circulation, as soon as you can.
Tips for Boxing Glove Care:
Now let’s look at the correct way to care for those prized gloves.
After all, you spent valuable time researching them and your hard-earned cash on the purchase!
Remove from your bag as soon as possible.
Don’t let them putrefy and grow bacteria anywhere dark, damp, airless and warm. Your kit bag is one of the worst places.
Wipe them down every time you use them.
Always have a clean dry cloth with you and give your gloves a cursory wipe, inside and out.
This won’t be enough to maintain your gloves long term. Although, removing excess sweat every time you finish your session will reduce the likelihood of having to fight a rearguard action against bacteria. Deny bacteria the environment they need for rapid growth by removing excess moisture pronto.
Create your own bacteria killing, odor-neutralizing spray that won’t damage your gloves, and use it regularly:
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Purchase a cheap spray bottle. Add a cap full of vinegar and a dash of fabric conditioner (not too much) and fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake and spray your gloves inside and out, then wipe down thoroughly. Do this as often as possible and your gloves should remain as fresh as a daisy for years to come .
Let your boxing gloves dry in a well-ventilated room.
Save silica gel packs from other products and put them inside your gloves after wiping them down.
Silica gel packs are those tiny little bags of beads which can be found in most packaging. Don’t throw these out. Whenever you find one, save it and throw a couple in your gloves. Silica gel absorbs about 40% of its weight in water!
They won’t do the job on their own, but if you always wipe your gloves, the gel can make a valuable contribution to glove maintenance.
Boran – Bamboo & Charcoal odor and moisture eaters
Instead of silica gel, buy these little Thai-made bags, designed specifically for boxing gloves. After a spray and wipe, throw these in and let them do their magic.
Leather conditioning
If you have invested in a beautiful hand-made pair of real leather gloves, you will want to care for them properly. Leather deserves care and attention and here is a trick from the Western world of boxing. Once a month apply a small amount of Vaseline to your leather gloves. Wipe the Vaseline all over and leave them overnight. Then, in the morning, buff the leather to a shine with a clean, dry cloth. Doing this regularly should keep the leather pristine and free of cracks for years to come.
Conclusion:
Boxing gloves are not difficult to maintain. The trick is to follow this guide consistently. Avoid doing anything stupid like leaving them in your bag, drenched in sweat for a week.
If you are faithful to your gloves, do the right things and avoid the wrong things, they should serve you well for many years, … and never, ever become rancid!
Are your gloves already a smelly mess? Click here to shop our great selection of Muay Thai Boxing Gloves.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: HOW
