Maintain your Boxing Gloves

It is important to maintain your equipment, we will tend to use 10oz or 12oz Boxing Gloves as these tend to be the standard weights used for competitions.  It is important that we know how to properly maintain our gloves.  Firstly, gloves can be expensive, and we wish to keep them in good condition so they can last.  Secondly over time gloves will tend to start to smell due to bacteria in your gloves caused by sweat and dead skin.  This bacterium causes some unpleasant odours as well as increase the rate at which your gloves deteriorate.

Some simple steps to follow are;

1. Use hand wraps and ensure they are washed before you use your gloves, if you train regularly have more than one set of hand wraps.
2. When you get home wipe your gloves out, wrap your hand in a cloth or towel then move it about inside your glove to remove excess moisture.  You can sanitize your glove using a 50/50 mixture of water and apple cider vinegar solution in a spray bottle.  5-10 drops of tea-tree oil can be added to give it a better antibacterial and anti-fungal edge to it.
3. Avoid soaking your gloves in water.
4. You can also clean the outside of your glove with the same solution, you can also use leather conditioner or some lemon essential oil to condition the leather of your gloves as this prevents the leather from drying out.  Wipe down with a dry cloth after application.
5. After cleaning your gloves, you should allow them to dry out completely.  Open them as wide as possible and let them air out in a well-ventilated room.  You can also stuff them with dry newspaper to help the process.  If you use the gloves a lot, use a hairdryer on a cool setting.
6. Avoid leaving your gloves in the sun to dry.
7. When dry you can use baking soda, talcum powder or de-odorising powder to keep your gloves smelling fresh.  You can also use dryer sheets.
8. Essential oils such as Lemongrass, Eucalyptus, Peppermint and Orange can be used to make them smell nice and are good antibacterial and anti-fungal oils.
9. Finally, if you want to you can put your gloves in a plastic bag and place them in the freezer for a couple of days to kill off any bacteria.