Uploaded June 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Handwrapping is essential for any combat sport involving striking with the hands or using the hands for defense. While there are many different ways to wrap and many people have different opinions on exactly *how* to wrap your hands, there are two main reasons why you need to do it that are pretty universal across every different way you can wrap.
The first of these two main reasons is that handwrapping protects the knuckles and metacarpals. These are the main bones running through the middle of the hand and the knuckles that connect the metacarpals to your fingers. These bones are very small, and by wrapping your hands, you add support to these fragile bones, meaning you are less likely to break them when striking or blocking a strike
The second of these two main reasons is that you want to protect the wrist. Like the hand, the wrist is a complicated intersection of four bones. If you hit a target or opponent incorrectly and do not evenly distribute pressure, the wrist may bend unnaturally or an excess amount of pressure may be felt in a particular part of the wrist. Having the wrist wrapped helps to ensure alignment and a more even distribution of pressure across the bones in the wrist along with the forearm.
So how does one go about wrapping hands? Like I said there are many ways to do it, but what you see Joel doing in this video is starting by placing his thumb through the loop and unrolling the wrist wrap down and across the palm of his hand. Depending on the length of the wrap he'll make one to three tight circles around the wrist, covering the wrist joint, slightly above, and slightly below, and then on the final circle, he'll loop over the palm in between the ring and pinky finger. He'll bring the wrap around the top of the hand to under the thumb to anchor it, and then loop over the palm upward in between the middle and ring finger. Again he'll bring the wrap around the top of the hand to under the thumb to anchor it, and then again loop it over the palm in between the index and the middle finger. In this way, he wraps the wrist, and then loops the wrap in between each of the fingers, which creates a counter pressure to keep the hand tight. Additionally, he wraps the wrap around the knuckles, slightly above, and also slightly below, and repeats the process until there is very little wrap left. At which point, he brings the remainder of the wrap down to his wrist for one more loop around the wrist before securing the velcro. It's important to wrap around the wrist, wrap through each finger, and wrap around the knuckles - all of these help to reduce the probability of your hand from sustaining injury.
Handwrapping is essential for any combat sport involving striking with the hands or using the hands for defense. While there are many different ways to wrap and many people have different opinions on exactly *how* to wrap your hands, there are two main reasons why you need to do it that are pretty universal across every different way you can wrap.
The first of these two main reasons is that handwrapping protects the knuckles and metacarpals. These are the main bones running through the middle of the hand and the knuckles that connect the metacarpals to your fingers. These bones are very small, and by wrapping your hands, you add support to these fragile bones, meaning you are less likely to break them when striking or blocking a strike
The second of these two main reasons is that you want to protect the wrist. Like the hand, the wrist is a complicated intersection of four bones. If you hit a target or opponent incorrectly and do not evenly distribute pressure, the wrist may bend unnaturally or an excess amount of pressure may be felt in a particular part of the wrist. Having the wrist wrapped helps to ensure alignment and a more even distribution of pressure across the bones in the wrist along with the forearm.
So how does one go about wrapping hands? Like I said there are many ways to do it, but what you see Joel doing in this video is starting by placing his thumb through the loop and unrolling the wrist wrap down and across the palm of his hand. Depending on the length of the wrap he'll make one to three tight circles around the wrist, covering the wrist joint, slightly above, and slightly below, and then on the final circle, he'll loop over the palm in between the ring and pinky finger. He'll bring the wrap around the top of the hand to under the thumb to anchor it, and then loop over the palm upward in between the middle and ring finger. Again he'll bring the wrap around the top of the hand to under the thumb to anchor it, and then again loop it over the palm in between the index and the middle finger. In this way, he wraps the wrist, and then loops the wrap in between each of the fingers, which creates a counter pressure to keep the hand tight. Additionally, he wraps the wrap around the knuckles, slightly above, and also slightly below, and repeats the process until there is very little wrap left. At which point, he brings the remainder of the wrap down to his wrist for one more loop around the wrist before securing the velcro. It's important to wrap around the wrist, wrap through each finger, and wrap around the knuckles - all of these help to reduce the probability of your hand from sustaining injury.
