Tender skin advice

theruby
theruby Posts: 36
in Fitness and Exercise
Just finished my first 5k. Starting to train for next task - an obstacle 5k. Tried some pull ups and failed. Went across the monkey bars once and felt something. Looked at my hand and sheered off a nice chunk of flesh. Already had some minor callus build up from doing some occasional-casual dangles with knee tucks when I hang with the kids at the park. Anybody got tips - besides tough it out and tough up the skin some more? Would like to keep working on pull ups, chin ups to get the strength up, but I'm thinking bloody palms would be counterproductive lol. I work in health care too, so frequent hand washing also seems to remove those extra protective layers that would normally remain... TIA

Replies

  • trixiemou
    trixiemou Posts: 554 Member
    I actually use my cycling mitts when I do weights. It actually helped quite a bit as my hands are very soft(weak even) and it meant I could get a better grip, without slipping.
  • xxnellie146xx
    xxnellie146xx Posts: 996 Member
    Gloves! Weight gloves, cycling gloves...
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Chalk works for me. Gloves are fine, but they have one major downside: they increase the diameter of whatever you are trying to grip, so your work is harder. That could be an upside though, depending on what you're after. For something like chin-ups or pull-ups, gloves aren't a bad thing.
  • tomg33
    tomg33 Posts: 305 Member
    I personally use chalk and paper tape on my thumbs when I use the hook grip for olympic lifting, but then again I'm a man so it's a little different. I have some decent callusing and always have since I used to row and boat, but actually have pretty soft hands and have been told this many times (by girls... *cough*)

    But let's be real here. For a female I would say use gloves if you want to keep nice hands.
  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
    Grip with your fingers, not with your palms.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    I personally use chalk and paper tape on my thumbs when I use the hook grip for olympic lifting, but then again I'm a man so it's a little different. I have some decent callusing and always have since I used to row and boat, but actually have pretty soft hands and have been told this many times (by girls... *cough*)

    But let's be real here. For a female I would say use gloves if you want to keep nice hands.

    I am a female and my hands are nice and I use chalk :) The diameter of grip issue that I brought up above is more of a problem for women than for men, since they usually have smaller hands. So gloves are potentially more problematic.

    I've used gloves in the past, though, especially for chin-ups. One of the chin-up bars in my gym is made of that lovely cheese grater material that they have been using for strength training equipment lately, for unfathomable reasons. So it's painful even with chalk.
  • tomg33
    tomg33 Posts: 305 Member
    Bumblebums, you may be right. I suggest anyone (men) avoid gloves if they eventually want to get strong because when you start deadlifting bigger weights (400 lb +), the gloves can slip and tear your hands up really bad. However if Opie never wishes to do that kind of stuff, she may be able to go barehanded and just get her hands slowly used to the metal.

    I dunno. I just find that 90% of women can't stand the thought of weight training, let alone the idea of roughening their hands, tearing up their shins, etc.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Bumblebums, you may be right. I suggest anyone (men) avoid gloves if they eventually want to get strong because when you start deadlifting bigger weights (400 lb +), the gloves can slip and tear your hands up really bad. However if Opie never wishes to do that kind of stuff, she may be able to go barehanded and just get her hands slowly used to the metal.

    I dunno. I just find that 90% of women can't stand the thought of weight training, let alone the idea of roughening their hands, tearing up their shins, etc.

    I agree about gloves being suboptimal in general... I carry some in my gym bag just in case I have to use the cheese grater pull-up bar, but I wouldn't use them for anything else. Chalk works very well for calluses, though--I have some, but they are not rough or painful and they do not peel (much). I just use regular sidewalk chalk, nothing fancy.

    My shins, on the other hand, are a bruised, scabbed deadlifting disaster :)
  • theruby
    theruby Posts: 36
    Thank you very much everyone :)

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