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Kettlebell Pain in hand when attempting to hang off bar

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joemac

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Hi.
I have been doing simple and sinister for several weeks. It's going well.
I do not have any issues with wrist pain whatsoever.
However, the book recommends simply hanging off a bar (which could be used for pullups) to both develop your wrist strength and stretch out your back.
I am trying to do this but the physical pain on my hand is intense. The issue is not my wrist, but the skin in my palm.
I first tried grabbing the bar from the middle of the palm of my hand, but this caused the bar to "drag" my skin and it was pure agony.
I tried simply gripping with purely my fingers and no wrist, and that removed the pain, but that can't be the correct way because I can see everyone gripping with their wrist.
I watched some youtube videos and talked to some people and it seems the correct way to do it is to grab the bar from the part of the palm where the fingers start and do not rotate your wrist around the bar as you grip it because that drags the skin.
I am trying this but it still hurts a lot. I can barely get through 10 seconds without stopping due to the pain of the bar "dragging" my skin.

Is it the case that there exists some "correct" method to grip and hang from a bar such that if I do it correctly then I won't have any pain, or is it the case that you just have to put up with the pain until calluses develop and then the pain goes away?

I have calluses from kettlebell but they don't help at all when hanging.
Also, the simple and sinister book did not make it clear to me if calluses on the palm are a good or bad thing. On the one hand, it seemed to say that their development is a good and natural thing as your hands get adjusted to frequent kettlebell use, but then it seemed to say that calluses need to be managed with proper hand care which seemed to mean that they are a bad thing.
Either way, I'm not sure what should be my attitude towards my beautiful new kettlebell calluses.

Thank you.
Ilya
 
Your body will adapt to grip training by building up skin to protect the underlying tissues (this is what calluses are). Learning to fine tune your grip of both bell and bar will help to minimise callus growth. You should not be "pinching" your skin when you grip the bell or bar. I suggest practicing fine tuning Kbell grip (exercise execution) outside on a lawn or similar (in case the bell inadvertently leaves the hand , it shouldn't but I like backup plans for safety). Use a light weight before trying heavier. For similar reasons, master your new grip with the swing before you experiment with overhead lifts. When you do play with overhead lift grip use a light weight so you have excellent control during your fine tuning.

In case of pullup bar if you can find a bar or TRX type set up where some of your weight is on your legs that will make it easier to adjust and fine tune your grip. Assisted pullups or assisted hanging will let you fine tune the grip. Not sure regarding the bar you hang from - best to use one that is "grippy" smooth - a knurled grip might add to problems.

After a bit of practice you will find that you can reduce but not prevent callus formation. Also, do re-read the handcare and grip advice in S&S several times. Like the rest of the book their is a lot of information embedded and it takes a few reads interspersed with practice to find you have got all of it.
 
"Pain is weakness leaving the body" *I'm not a doctor giving medical advice*
Whenever I hang from a bar my hands always hurt. I am also much heavier than most(300+lbs) and rarely hang on a bar..
I'd recommend doing it for 5 seconds at a time a few times to build up "reps." Your skin will toughen, and your hands will become accustomed to the stress/pain. When I first started deadlifting over 400lbs, my hands screamed. It took a couple weeks to get used to it. Rough knurling always sucks..
I like Rip's way of describing how to grip a bar, which I also use for kettlebells
 
@joemac, the simple answer is to get stronger. Once your grip is stronger, it's easier to find the right way to hold the bar and, indeed, to be able to hold the bar in several different ways, none of which will bother your hand when hanging.

The simplest thing, IMO, is just to deadlift and hold the bar at lockout for a few seconds on the last rep of each set. Or if you don't deadlift regularly, then just do one rep and hold the bar for time at lockout.

-S-
 
I think what is happening is you are pinching the skin at the base of your fingers. Look up a video on setting the bar for deadlifts, it is a similar concept, where you need to push the bar into the base of you fingers/palm then wrap your fingers which keeps you rom getting skin pinched when holding it.
 
Thank you for the replies. They were very helpful.
I had figured out what was wrong. When I was gripping I was allowing myself to slide down which caused the pain.
So now once I have a grip I keep it locked in 100% without any movement or sliding.
Once I start losing grip and my wrists start sliding, then I just release.
 
Halgnovast said:
I like Rip's way of describing how to grip a bar, which I also use for kettlebells
Click to expand...


Good find, and well explained by Rip. I discovered this with kettlebells when I was doing 1H swings with 32kg. I can't say I've never had a hand skin issue, but I've really never ripped a callous either.

In addition to good hand care, careful hand placement before tension is the key!
 
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