The Weighted Agility Glove™/ "The WAG™" - Development History and Functionality

The statement "necessity is the mother of invention" has been proven many times over, and the development of the "Weighted Agility Glove™" is no exception. This invention was born out of an idea by coach and professional basketball player David Hazuga (Exercise Science Graduate) and product validity was confirmed by Russell Drenth (former coach and athlete in multiple sports.) The problem of "poor hands" had been reported and discussed in great length at many coaches meetings referencing many sports. This problem seems to be on the increase, as hand strength, dexterity, and coordination are not being developed at young ages. The youth, and later adults, of this country are not using their hands (often times) to work on farms lifting heavy objects, or, building crafts by hand (we use power tools if we do) etc. We have become a nation of joystick using, computer literate humans who often times avoid such types of work. Therefore, hand strength and coordination have suffered due to our sedentary lives.

Even when athletes train with various conventional methods, the fact that they have not been forced to work with their hands and properly strengthen their fingers and wrists lends to athletes with poor coordination, speed, power and dexterity with this area of their physical structure. This constant battle with "bad" hands was the fuel for the development of this product. David and Russell fought this battle in basketball with players not rebounding, dribbling, passing, etc. as they should. Weak hands affect all types of field events such as javelin, discus, hammer throw, and shot put. Football receivers, defensive backs, linebackers, quarterbacks and even linemen need the hand strength, speed and agility to perform at peak levels physically. Baseball players are always faced with "bat speed" being instrumental in hitting. This cannot be accomplished with weak fingers, hands, wrists, and forearms. This invention helps address all these issues and more, including adding weight resistance to figure skaters, high jumpers, and other athletes in a comfortable form, to enhance their jumping and other motions.

David Hazuga and Russell Drenth both started their careers in athletics at young ages. Between them they have over 45 years of combined coaching experience and playing experience. David’s experience includes tenures as a professional basketball player, college coach and specialized physical trainer for people who wished to improve their health. Russell’s experience includes playing numerous sports and coaching tenures at college level in track and field and basketball. Both coaches faced the challenge that all coaches have faced with hand strength. David, for years, had worked to develop drills to improve his players' hands.  In the early 90's he started to envision different ways to train hands, including the concept of a weighted glove. In the fall of 2005 came up with the more specific concept of a "Weighted Agility Glove" to offer resistance to training that would allow the specific movements basketball
players need to be successful. To that point, training for hands, fingers, wrists and forearms had always been separate for strength, agility and coordination training. Medicine balls, weight lifting, and other training methods always required separation from the sport. David sought for a way to specifically train athletes while doing the actual movement that a basketball player would do, such as rebounding, dribbling, passing, etc. while developing more strength and coordination that was "movement and sport specific" rather than being removed from the sport.

In early 2006, David contacted Russ and expressed his idea. At that time Russell immediately saw the benefit to using the glove to train with the specific movements used for every sport. Resistance offered in the specific movement, along as it did not hinder flexibility or impede performance in that motion, would be of great benefit to so many athletes in so many sports. Another aspect quickly viewed was that of the benefit to the "average" person who wanted to walk and tone without having to carry dumbbells which are very cumbersome, as adding weigh resistance has been proven to burn extra calories and have other health benefits. Also, physical therapy benefits were discussed, such as people rehabilitating broken hands, wrists, arms, and fingers. or people with severed tendons, arthritis, carpal tunnel and other conditions. Lastly, due to design, a division of the company to look at safety uses has been developed.

In March of 2006, Russell created the first concept glove. He used a very flexible four way stretch material, with square shaped lead weights sewn into the top of the fingers and hands. It became apparent that this glove could be used for over 40 sports for training, used for expanding aerobic conditioning, used for additions to current training such as doing sit-ups and jumping rope. However, the concept glove would not stay secure on the hand and needed constant adjusting. The next concept glove contained a less flexible material, but made motion highly inhibited. Another series of prototypes were created and finally one made headway with correct materials used. The fit was tight and movement good. However, the glove still moved off the hand too quickly, and any sharp motion required the person wearing it to adjust the glove. Russell then came up with the idea of curved weights that wrapped around the finger, like half a ring or half moon shaped. This firmed up the glove an exceptional amount. Again the same problems came to light, although to a lesser degree. Even with a large wrist strap attached and secured, the glove moved off the fingers. Also, the tighter it was made, the more movement was inhibited. 

The next two concept gloves made huge progress. The metal weights that were one single piece between each knuckle were then split, or, segmented; this allowed for much greater flexibility and conforming to the finger, and, finger’s motion. For the last concept glove, David added the Velcro® straps to the upper finger knuckle, with these secure the glove performance was superior. Also added was a an elastic piece running over the weights on the tips of the fingers to the back of the hand, which kept flexibility, but added security and any other form of slight resistance. In May of 2006 the glove testing began with David’s sons, and him personally. Noticeable developments in strength, agility and over-all development were noticed even after a few weeks of focused studies on training. After two months there was no doubt the product would be an instrumental in athletic development in many sports. In September of 2006, after extensive patent searches for gloves similar in nature were completed, the patent process on the unique nature of this glove began. Marketing efforts and sales commenced shortly thereafter.