A week doesn’t go by without several people asking me about the gloves I use for Krav Maga training. And, there are several important criteria you might use to find the best Krav Maga gloves for you.
Factors to Consider when Selecting Krav Maga Gloves
- How often you are punching
- The volume of punches you throw in an average session
- The size and weight of the target you are punching
- The types of punches being thrown, and of course
- What budget you’ve allocated. Always remember gloves are an investment and are often one of the most important pieces of equipment you can buy for Krav Maga, Boxing, Thai Boxing, and MMA training.
Krav Maga Protection
Gloves not only protect the skin around the knuckles, good gloves protect the bones and connective tissue in the hands. Frequent and powerful punching will brake down the structure of the hand without proper protection. I prefer a padded glove that can be used for heavy bag work, sparring, and focus mitt work. For this reason, I typically suggest the first pair of gloves purchased should be 16 ounce padded gloves. Padded gloves are traditionally offered in weights as low as 8 ounces and as heavy as 18 ounces. Much of the weight difference in quality gloves can be found in the amount of padding built into a glove.
Krav Maga Materials
I strongly suggest leather. Leather simply lasts longer and, for me, tends to hold the padding with more integrity over the long run. I also cannot help but wonder what types of shortcuts lower end glove manufactures employ to keep the manufacturing cost down.
Krav Maga Manufacturing
Padded gloves can also be evaluated based upon the shape, stitching integrity, where the padding is located, the quality of the padding, added padding (i.e. gel), the quality and location of the Velcro strapping, and overall design. For my money, I buy 16 ounce padded leather gloves that offer substantial padding out in front of the knuckles (not so much on the top of the hand if a trade-off is necessary), substantial stitching, and a strong, thick strap that adheres to Velcro such that un-strapping the gloves is very difficult.
Rival High Performance Hook-and-Loop Pro Sparring gloves
Hayabusa Kanpeki Padded Gloves
At the high end, I strongly recommend either Rival High Performance Hook-and-Loop Pro Sparring gloves. I also own and recommend Hayabusa Kanpeki padded gloves, as well as the Hayabusa Tokushu line – awesome gloves. The bad news is…quality gloves cost more. Expect to pay up to $120-$200 for high quality padded gloves.
RevGear’s Platinum Leather Gloves
Tuff-Wear’s Pro Tactic Gloves
My economy picks include RevGear’s Platinum Leather gloves and Tuff-Wear’s Pro Tactic gloves. Expect to pay between $60-$90 for these gloves, depending on the promotion you might find. Both RevGear and Title Boxing websites have a good selection of gloves, reliable customer service, and multiple delivery options.
Whatever you do, remember, you gloves are an important investment in yourself.
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paisa
Thanks for your advice. I bought one pair of Hayabusa Kanpeki Padded Gloves.
They are really great to use for training sessions Krav Maga.
Again Thank you Sir!. Greetings from Holland.