What size of boxing gloves should I get?
When people first look into boxing and start to enjoy it, the first question I often receive is, “what size of gloves should I buy?”
Generally speaking, boxing gloves come in sizes ranging from 6oz all the way up to 24oz heavyweight training gloves. Although each size serves its own unique purpose, we can quickly eliminate a few outliers. 6oz, 8oz and 10oz gloves are typically either pro fight gloves or old school “bag gloves”. As you can probably guess, these are meant for professional competition or hitting the bag when you’re trying to make your hands and wrists stronger and more resilient. for Beginners you can cut these options away from your decision making. You can also eliminate 18oz and bigger as they will be too cumbersome and heavy for you when you’re first starting out. gloves bigger than 16oz are typically used for heavyweight sparring or shoulder and cardio vascular conditioning in a boxing styled work out.
our sweet spot is right between 12 and 16oz. this leaves us with 3 options and even here I like to eliminate the 12 ounce option. When you first start training you need to protect your hands and build up your muscular endurance through your chest, shoulders and back. since the 16 oz. glove weighs a full quarter pound more than the 12oz they will definitely tone and develop those muscles better. on top of that that extra weight is all padding for your knuckles so you wont booger up your hands as bad when you’re hitting the bag or mitts for an hour.
There are of course exceptions to this rule. while I love to put majority of my new members into 16oz gloves (its the main size I give out for the free pair you receive with your 24 dollar 3 class quick start) if someone is small in their frame, arms, and hands then often time I’ll have them wear 14 or even 12oz gloves. for kids we do the same thing: we like 8oz gloves for our youngest boxers and then 12oz for our older kids in the program. teenagers will typically wear 14 or 16oz depending on where they’re at developmentally with the understanding that their growing bodies will adjust quicker to the heavier gloves than an adult trying boxing for the first time.
Interested in learning more? come on through, strap a pair of free gloves on and see for yourself. our quick start program is enrolling new students for the month of august so enroll today. if you aren’t 100% satisfied after your third class then we are happy to issue a full refund.
Stay safe,
Jordan