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Recommendations/Reviews/FS/WTB Boxing glove inner liners for KB swings/snatches

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Chrisdavisjr

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So are “sock sleeves,” as suggested by Tracy “The Swing Queen” Reifkind, SFG. You will need a pair of medium thickness crew socks—new socks, since worn elastic will not hold the sleeves in place. Cut off the tops of the socks, about two inches wide, three if you have big hands. Center the sock sleeve on the callus line and you are ready for swings. You may use sock sleeves all the time or just for an occasional high-volume challenge. Do not wear them for get-ups.

Tsatsouline, Pavel. Kettlebell Simple & Sinister (Kindle-Positionen568-572). Kindle-Version.

Tracy Reifkind's Training Food and Thought: Sock Sleeves/ Gloves/ Hand Care. Over the hump and cruising into day 6.
 
@Chrisdavisjr
I have tried many different kinds of hand protection over the years (pretty much everything, including many different kinds of tape and taping, gloves, sock sleeves of various materials, and various items marketed to crossfitters) and haven't found anything really satisfactory.

The answer I've arrived at is a combination of:
--Technique refinement: There are a lot of subtle aspects of overall form and specific gripping technique that can greatly reduce stress on the hands.

--Patience: Hands gradually get stronger and tougher through accumulated time and reps, but it's a slow incremental process. More hand strength fixes a lot of issues, but there's no real shortcut. In my experience, supplemental grip training is mostly counterproductive, although I have felt some benefit from bar hangs for time.

--Discretion: Listen to your hands; if they are telling you to stop for the day, then stop. It may be frustrating to cut a planned training session short because your hands are feeling hot, but there's always tomorrow and the day after that, etc. The fact that your hands might be a limiting factor is not a problem; if it's a fact, then just accept it as such and work within it.
 
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@Chrisdavisjr do you have skin problems doing swings, or only doing snatches? I´m not experienced with snatches, but I never had issues with my hands doing swings.

I have found that for swings, one can grip the KB in two different ways. In one way, the calluses are pinched by the handle, and some of the burden of bearing the weight is taken by the skin. This is, in my experience, similar to doing deadlifts with a mixed grip.

The other way is when the handle is mostly grabbed by the fingers, and it doesnt pinch the skin. This version is similar to deadlifting with double overhand: the barbell rolls over the calluses (because nothing is preventing it from rolling), and it ends up being held only by the fingers and grip strength, with no skin involvement. I do my swings this way and I have never hurt my hands.

I think snatches are a whole different story because the handle is rotating inside the hand, so controlling this aspect is a lot more difficult, whereas in the swing the bell is stationary in relation to the hand. There is no relative movement.
 
The other way is when the handle is mostly grabbed by the fingers, and it doesnt pinch the skin.

I have quite small hands and the handle on my 32kg KB is rather thick, so it makes finger-only gripping fairly challenging. My grip is improving somewhat, but the handle still pulls at the skin at the top of my palm just below my fingers (the 'callus line').

Strangely, I have less difficulty with snatches, but I tend to only train them intermittently and with a smaller and thinner-handled bell.
 
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