Deadlifts are tearing up my hands pretty bad. Callous’s are bad and my thumbs are developing some sore rough skin due to hook grip. I use some callous remover but it’s slow going. Are gloves a mistake? I don’t want to use wrist straps if I don’t have to but this is getting sort of bad. Anyone have any advice?
What kind of bar are you using? Have tried not using a hook grip?
I would suggest using plenty of chalk and try taping your thumbs using something like ABG Stretch Tape. These helped with my hook grip considerable. Also, try not to let your grip loosen between reps. It tears at the callous’ and increases the pain in the thumbs.
Taping your thumbs can help, but I’ve found that the callous pattern that hook grip requires across your whole hand is radically different that what you develop double overhand or over-under grip.
There really isn’t anything you can do about it because of the way the bar has to sit in your hand in order to make hook grip work. Personally I just mess with hook grip once in a while but do almost all of my heavy deadlifting with an alternating grip.
Occasionally I attack my callus build up with fingernail clippers to avoid tears, but that’s not a perfect solution. I bought a pumice stone and have used it a little but it isn’t exactly effective.
Problem is you can’t really do that when using hook grip. At least I can’t figure out how to make it work.
I’ve been hookgripping for the last few months and have been able use this technique. It did need some trial and error at though.
You set your thumbs in place first. Then you have to sort of wiggle the outer part of your hand up and down a little, until you feel the skin get pushed back down your palm and the bar rest nicely along the crease at the base of your fingers. Kind of hard to explain in writing, but it is possible!
I will try that.
Pullups will fuck your hands up way worse than a deadlift imo. Yeah the best thing for this is how rip explains it. You could wear gloves idk how much it would help. I also don’t use a hook grip
IMO, maybe the bar is too high in the palm of your hand. I found that when I switched to the hook grip, if I kept the bar more toward the first crease of the phalanges (not in the palm), that I had a much stronger grip and no problem at all with the callus areas. This will also depend on the length/size of your hand and fingers. If you have “meaty” palms and fingers it may be more difficult as well.
I do the same thing with my pullups,…trying not to grip the bar with the middle of my hand but more towards the finger crease. It reduces the callus formation and occasional peeling of the calluses if you slip too much.
Pretty much all grip adjustments have been covered here, so I’ll just add my $0.02 about callus management: I shave them down twice per month with a disposable 3 blade razor. Come at them from as many angles as possible with moderate pressure. I hold the razor far up, close to the blades, for more control. Get the bits of skin out of the razor very often, as they are thick enough degrade the razor’s performance RAPIDLY. Obviously you can do some damage with this method if you’ve overzealous, but I haven’t had any hand issues at all since I started doing this.
The callus that is “flush” with the softer skin around it is plenty to protect you. The part that sticks up is how the bar gets its leverage to rip your hands open. Oh, and don’t use that same razor on your face.