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Old Forum Calluses

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Butch

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Hello.
How do you deal with calluses?
In presses they are not such a big problem but in pulls (where the kb handle rotates in your palm) especially in the multi rep snatch they are one of the first limitting factors.
I have calluses all the time.
 
My experience as a relative newbie with the snatch is: good technique helps a lot here. Also: getting stronger helps a lot too. My first attempts snatching a 24kg (and a 16kg before that) were a disaster for my hands, but now, after lots of 1-h swinging and high-pulling, it gets easier on the hands.

That said, I now use some cotton socks that I cut the top off, as it helps to protect my hands during the downward trajectory. I think that should be OK as it helps me to get used to the movement, though eventually I'd like to do snatches for reps without any "protection".

Incidentally, I was looking at  the Gorilla Grips at http://gorilla-grips.co.uk/the other day, seems like that may be useful too.

Interested to hear the opinions of more experienced members on this.
 
Hello,

1, Technique is really the key here...but calluses are inevitable in my opinion.  I bought a callus remover .  Its like a file, that will file them down.  Thats worked for me.
 
Play with your hand position and file your hands like Frank mentioned. I use a metal rasp made for women's feet for this. I can use it wet or dry. I also use cornstarch to keep my hands dry as that allows the bell to slide in my hand a bit without relying too much on a cotton sleeve, although I've used that method for high rep days in the beginning. The problem I found is that I relied on it too much and couldn't keep my hands in decent shape until I went back to the drawing board and worked on perfecting my reps. Now as long as the bell and my hands start off dry, even without the cornstarch, I can knock out close to 100 reps straight without stopping.
 
Those two links were very useful, Daniel, thanks. I guess this is a topic that will come up again and again on here.

I'm excited to get into the snatch. Did my first ever set of snatch reps last Monday on my easy day of the ROP (24kg), the dice giving me 8 minutes, and I settled for 6+6 snatches per minute (30s on,30s off). It's a start and once I do some more one-handed swings with the 32kg and have a session with an SFG, I think that 100 reps in 5mins shouldn't be too far off.

I agree the key is probably added strength. I remember just trying out a snatch with a 16kg only about 4 months ago or so felt extremely brutal, as if my body didn't know what had hit it. Now after over a month on the ROP and gaining quite a bit of strength it feels very doable with a 24kg.
 
Before strarting your ballistics make sure your callouses are trimmed .The health and beauty part of some drugstores,walmart or Target sell callous trimmers that will take off the protruding bump.Then file them down.I like to use a product called the ped egg to help smooth out the trimmed area,also found in the health and beauty dept.As stated above good technique will diffidently help, but skin on iron for repeated reps will eventually lead to callouses.Keep up on the hand care with good technique and you should be alright.
 
Just slowly build them up (it will probably take a few months).  I don't really mind having calluses on my hands.  I just keep them at bay with a pumice stone once every couple of weeks.  Though, I only scratch off the top layer of them.
 
I basically made gloves out of tape at the SFG and wore sock sleeves.  In training though I've found that any other kind of hand protection actually pulls on my skin more.  I'm all about bare hands unless I'm doing high rep snatches and even then I still prefer the feel of a smooth bell handle.  I've only torn my skin once and that was during my snatch test using a bell that felt more like sand paper than iron.
 
ETK has an entire section on caring for your hands - pumice stone and corn husker lotion works great - used daily - when I slip up and let the callouses get out of control which occasionally happens on the first knuckle of my middle finger - I take a week off from the kettlebells and barbells and do bodyweight exercises - and during that week I grind on the callous with the stone and apply the corn huskers both morning and night and by weeks end the callous has quieted down and I can get back to the bells.
 
it's much, much less work to head these issues off at the pass then to fix them later (says the guy typing with hands covered in carmex, liquid bandage, actual bandage, and athletic tape)

was it patton that said, "a pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood" ?  a little discipline can prevent a lot of heartache...
 
I am having hand problems too. I was first faced w/issues of calluses that are very tender underneath callus and so i would have to cut down training. But then, I got gymnastic grips to help and they did a little but now the grips are stretched at the finger hole area so they aren't much good now. ( I do realize these are not recommended forever or at all)  I would like feedback on what to do or if anyone else gets the tender areas under the calluses.  I am doing heavy swings w/24 kg bell and for 1 handed I am gripping the bell strong bc it feels like it might fly forward.  I did  some volume work last week and when I worked on modifying my grip in the snatch to use hook grip for bell coming down  and I  developed blisters along my finger pads between the distal and middle areas of several of my fingers. So, it's been a challenge and I appreciate any additional input.  I have corn huskers callus balm callus shavers filers bandaids tape and different tape etc. and I'm using various combinations of them as needed.
 
MARCHESE
when I slip up and let the callouses get out of control which occasionally happens on the first knuckle of my middle finger – I take a week off from the kettlebells and barbells and do bodyweight exercises
Click to expand...



Hear hear! I have been doing Clean and Press and it built up.
Today , the KB handle keeps pinching the calluses near my middle finger.
And it hurts!

Luckily, I didn’t tear it.

I soaked and filed the calluses. Finger crossed it will settled.

If it is painful to touch, does it means the pinching has already caused a blister under the calluses? What should I do now?
 
here's my take on the whole callus situation. They are a reasonable response by the body to friction and serve a purpose. Their presence doesn't signify something wrong in and of themselves, but as they grow, there is a higher likelihood that they will get pinched pulling away from the underlying layers causing the blister and/or tear, sometimes all within a few seconds. Pavel gave the best advice in ETK when he suggested "hooking" the bell with your fingers and not gripping it tightly. This is harder to get used to but helps your hands so much. Just make sure you try it out with lighter bells first and then progress or you may let that sucker fly.

I think you need to play with the angle of the grip also. If you keep the Kb handle flat, like holding the barbell during a bench press, then the axis of rotation of the bell is perpendicular to its arc. There may be some rotation also, but the point I'm making is that holding it this way makes physics your enemy. I'm a big fan of the grip that is midway between a pistol grip and the barbell grip. It helps to minimize the roll of the handle which is what causes the worst pinching.
 
Toby - I would take some time away from the kb- a week should do - or do exercises where the bell doesn't move for awhile - like TGUs - then GTG with the callus cure - pumice stone/cornhuskers.  do it a few times per day, each day, the blister will settle down and you will grind that callus flat, so that in the future it protects you instead of hindering you.
 
Thank you for the advices!

I do let my hand open a bit when I clean it (no touching/friction) and drop it back from the rack position (rubbing).

Soaked my hand and shaved some of the dead skin off with a new razor.

I'll start GTG the TGUs again once my right shoulder is healed.  At the moment I am only GTGing the C&P with my left arm.
 
I never had luck with cornhuskers or the ped egg.  I use a razor, like the kind you'd use for a box cutter.  Works like a charm, and I have had more luck and "production" from using that straight razor than one of the store bought ones.

One word of caution, be very cognizant of the angle.  I have sliced myself a couple times, almost worse than a tear.

The 10000 swings blog (from a while back) dude said he would soak his hands in warm water and keep a towel handy between sets.  Have not tried it, but it makes sense in my head.
 
Master SFG Mark Reifkind, who learned how to tear up his hands as a gymnast, offered a gem of advice:  take a bath.  A REAAALLLY HOT bath.  Stay in it for a long time.  You can play submarine or "where's that bubble coming from?" or you can mentally explore the aero/hydro dynamic phenomenon known as the "boundary layer".  Once you get out and get dry and get your sassy new skivvies on, the color should have returned to your calluses.  Get after them with the pumice stone.  The softened callus with come off in what ends up looking like you just erased a big writing boo-boo with your Big Chief pencil eraser - lots of skin comes off really fast.  One other key is to use an aggressive pumice stone.  Look somewhere in the cleaning supplies for the ones that are intended for scrubbing scale stains off of metal fixtures.  Ped Eggs or other stuff from the cosmetic aisle is of little use no matter how long you stay in the bath admiring your recently-double-front-squatted quads.
 
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