Top 4 Ways to Keep Your Boxing Gloves Smelling Like New

During a tough kickboxing, muay thai, or mma training session, you’re going to sweat…a lot. A lot of that sweat is going to come from your palms and end up in your gloves. The warm and moist environment inside your gloves is the perfect place for bacteria, something you DO NOT want living inside your kickboxing gloves. Outside of the personal displeasure of having stinky gloves, nobody wants to partner with someone who has kickboxing gloves that can be smelled from 6 feet away.

Here are 4 very easy ways to maintain the integrity of your kickboxing and boxing gloves.

1. Use glove inserts: These babies can be purchased for under $15, and they make a world of difference. Instead of pulling your kickboxing gloves out of your gym bag and smelling a foul, rancid odor, you’ll now get a wonderful pine-like aroma. These inserts last several months before losing their scent.
2. Disinfectant spray is your friend: Keeping a can of Lysol disinfectant spray in your car, or even in your gym bag will help to terminate a lot of the bacteria that want to set up shop inside your kickboxing gloves. A quick spray after your training sessions will keep the stinkies at bay.
3. Wear your kickboxing hand wraps: This is the big one. A good pair of kickboxing wraps will soak up about 80% of the palm and hand sweat that would ordinarily end up in the fiber of your gloves. Kickboxing hand wraps can be washed in your sink or washing machine, while your gloves cannot. Not only that, but they usually only run $8-$10 a pair…far less than having to buy a new pair of gloves every few months.
4. Don’t leave your gloves inside of a closed gym bag: This one gets overlooked, but it’s a major contributor to the sinky-glove syndrome. Your wet, sweaty gloves need to breathe after a tough training session.  Keeping them locked up inside your damp, concealed gym bag for days at a time is going to set you up for an unpleasant surprise the next time you open your gym bag.  When you get home from the gym, put your gloves & gym bag outside in a covered area, so that they can air out without being subject to the weather.

Trust me from experience, a nice pair of gloves that you have paid $60-$200 for should last you a year or more. Smell has been the number one killer of my boxing gloves in the past, but using the steps listed above has allowed me to get far more use out of them. Plus, your coaches and training partners will like you a whole lot more if you come to class sporting fresh smelling gear.

Coach Patrick Barger is the Head Muay Thai Coach at Straight Blast Gym Buford. He has over 10 years of experience coaching, competing, and cornering in Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and MMA.