Kettlebell S & S Questions - Links

[crazycanuck]

Hello comrades I just completed 3 months of Q&D and went back to S&S to train with 40kg. My first day I believe I put too much chalk and my hands dried up so much so I ripped skin in the middle of both my palms. From this experience I realized the lack of hand maintenance I do and I’m reviewing my form for kettlebell swing because I’ve noticed the heavier the bell the more I have to get the form down. My question is how long should I let my hands heal? Can I train with ripped skin in my palms or will it get worse? I love to train daily so I’m hoping for as soon as possible.

Do you have the book edition of S&S? There is a section of it on hand care and on if you tear a blister or callous, I only have the book on Kindle app and it says it starts on p87 of 212. Some people tape the area if it is raised but unbroken like simular to this technique, I am assuming after the skin is not oozing or weepy perhaps or raw (don't have a lot of experience with tears personally, but recently I taped a torn callous under 5th finger in the last several months this way, as shown in this video, occurred same as yours with too much chalk.)



How long to let hands heal? Hard to say. Again I do not have a lot of experience in this, but I would say watch for sgns of infection, and once you do swing, put any ego aside and put the bell down at any sign of hotness or pain....that pinkish/lilac colored healed over (epithialized) skin is very fragile and can re-tear easily, I work with wounds partly in my line of work and have been taught that it can take months to a year for that end healed stage to fully "toughen up" depending how deep into the skin's various layers you have gone. Taping over it for a while after the tear looks healed likely would help, and of course as you say adjusting your grip too. Good luck!